Giants of the turf: superb colt who surpassed even my lofty expectations

This article was first published as part of the Racing Post's Giants of the Turf series on Saturday, November 12, 2011

Many years ago the Aga Khan famously remarked that, bearing in mind the size and quality of his broodmare band he could hope to breed one top-class horse every year. He would never know which mating would result in the star performer, but he felt reasonably confident that one would always hit the jackpot.

The Aga’s breeding operation is all about constant experimentation. He naturally supports his own stallions, but he will invariably use a wide variety of others and it is rare for any of his mares to visit the same horse in consecutive seasons. In such circumstances it is hardly surprising that he cannot begin to guess which experiment will prove most successful, and if he can’t then I have no chance.

It is common knowledge that the Aga is not interested in producing precocious juveniles. His aim is always to breed a Classic three-year-old, so during the winter I would generally spend a couple of idle hours mulling over the performances of his juveniles with a view to trying to identify his star of the following season. Like as not I would come to the wrong conclusion, and for every Blushing Groom – who was more precocious than most and an obvious selection – there would be a dozen who defied identification.

Who could have hit upon such as dual Derby winners Shahrastani or Kahyasi on the basis of their juvenile form? But one I did get right was Sinndar, which was perhaps not terribly clever considering that he was already a Group 1 winner. However, the form did not look very special – he was ranked 20lb off the top in the 1999 International Classifications – and his pedigree seemed far from exciting. I just had a hunch that he would turn out to be a lot better than he had shown himself to be at two.

In his first season Sinndar was not seen out until early September. He’d evidently been working well before that 1m Curragh maiden and justified strong market support with a smooth victory. The ground was on the fast side of good that day, very different from the rain-drenched surface for the Group 1 National Stakes over the same course and distance a fortnight later. This was the third year in which the race had been staged over 1m instead of its traditional 7f and it was to be the last. Ratings from the previous two renewals had been low and it was in danger of losing its toplevel status. Things did not seem likely to improve this time around, as only Bernstein – easy winner of the Raliway Stakes – had any black-type form to show among the eight who lined up.

Ran 8 Won 7 2nd 1
Earned £1,750,842
Big races won National S., Irish Derby Trial S., Derby S., Irish Derby, Prix Niel, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe
Gr1-winning progeny Shawanda (Irish Oaks, Prix Vermeille), Youmzain (Preis von Europa, Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud), Rosanara (Prix Marcel Boussac).

Unsurprisingly, the Ballydoyle contender started a prohibitive favourite at 4-11, but after leading from the start he fell into a heap at the furlong marker. Place money seemed to be the best that Sinndar could hope for at that stage, but the picture changed dramatically in the run to the line and it was he who ploughed most effectively through the bog, getting up close home to win by a head from Murawwi, who had won only one of four previous starts.

It was all well and fine that Sinndar completed his first brief campaign unbeaten, but it did mean that at three he would be obliged to carry a Group 1 penalty for winning a race at that level that barely seemed to be of Group 3 standard.

What could be predicted for Sinndar at three? His sire Grand Lodge had been a champion two-year-old, albeit in a moderate year, and he had trained on to win the St James’s Palace at three, also proving effective up to 1m2f. His dam Sinntara, by the good racehorse but bad sire Lashkari, had needed 1m4f and had shown her best form at 2m, winning a Listed event and the Irish Cesarewitch over that trip. The female line had not thrown up much of real consequence for three or four generations, but stamina always seemed to be its long suit. All that evidence might have been construed as pointing to Sinndar as a prospective mediocre stayer; reason told me that would represent his likeliest status at three. And yet I had that hunch . . .

Sinndar began his Classic year in the Ballysax Stakes, a Leopardstown Listed event over 1m2f, and his Group 1 penalty meant he had to concede 7lb to each of his three rivals. He gave it his best shot, leading until inside the last furlong and failing by only a head against Grand Finale, whose fitness edge told – he’d returned with a win at Gowran that month.

As John Oxx had left something to work on, the loss of Sinndar’s unbeaten record did not matter, there would be better to come.

Sure enough, better came a month later over the same course and distance in the Group 3 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial. That 7lb penalty had its effect again, but only to the extent that joint-favourite Bach was beaten by no more than a head.

Sinndar’s resolution in beating off that Ballydoyle challenger earned him plenty of new admirers and he was down to 8-1 for the Derby. On the big day Sinndar was a point shorter, joint-fourth in the market behind the highly regarded Newmarket Listed winner Beat Hollow, impressive Dante victor Sakhee and Aristotle, who had lost the Prix Greffulhe in the stewards’ room last time out.

It promised to be a Derby well up to standard, even after the withdrawal of ante-post favourite King’s Best the day before. In the end it was an excellent Derby and Sinndar gave an excellent performance to win it. Never far off the pace, he was the only one able to keep tabs on Sakhee once Richard Hills had set sail on that colt early in the straight and from the two-furlong marker it was obvious that the race lay between the pair. Under strong driving from Johnny Murtagh, Sinndar edged ahead just inside the last and galloped on strongly to win by a length. The distances between the next three home were five, four and three lengths.

Sinndar’s Epsom performance was so convincing that he started at 11-10 for his shot at a lucrative Derby double at the Curragh where Prix du Jockey Club winner Holding Court and King’s Best, now supposedly restored to fitness, featured among his ten opponents, along with three of his own stable companions.

The race provided some surprises, as King’s Best suffered a career-ending injury after only five furlongs and Holding Court, expensively supplemented for the race, never reached the firing line. Sinndar himself needed some stoking up on the turn from home, but once his stamina came into play the contest was all over. He came home alone, nine lengths clear of his nearest rival.

Sinndar headed for the Arc by way of the Group 2 Prix Niel, run three weeks before Europe’s championship decider over the same course and distance. He gave another emphatic display, chasing the strong pace set by his pacemaker Raypour until two furlongs from home then taking command and striding clear to score by eight lengths. Of course Sinndar had still not competed in open company and he would have Montjeu – last year’s Arc hero and imperious in the current season’s King George – to contend with. It was also a fact that no horse had ever won the Derby, Irish Derby and Arc in the same season. There would be serious questions to answer at Longchamp.

However the 2000 Arc was contested by only ten runners, the smallest field since 1946, and for the punters only two seemed to matter – Montjeu at 4-5 and Sinndar at 6-4. But if those prices led us to expect a battle royal between the pair, they were misled.

Montjeu was not at the top of his game, failing to find his trademark acceleration when pressure was applied. To those who knew his style, Sinndar looked the likely winner a long way out. The first furlong was a shambles as pacemaker Raypour missed the kick, but plan A was restored soon enough with Murtagh keeping his mount close in second, waiting for the appropriate moment to kick on and defy those in pursuit. That moment came entering the home straight and once Montjeu’s bid was seen to falter the result was never in doubt. Kept up to his work, Sinndar came home with a length and a half to spare over Prix de Diane heroine Egyptband, and in a time bettered previously only by 1997 winner Peintre Celebre.

Seven wins from eight starts with his sole defeat coming when beaten just a head in trying to concede 7lb to a fitter rival, Sinndar had compiled a career close to perfection. I had thought he might be good but I never imagined he would be that good.