Attraction: 'When everyone thought she was cooked, she would always go again'

Fans' Favourites is a weekly feature in the Racing Post Weekender in which we talk to those closest to racing's most popular horses and find out why they tug on our heartstrings. This week's subject: Attraction

The best racehorses in history are born with a touch of brilliance about them. Most of the time. Occasionally, however, the brilliance is disguised by wonky forelegs and an unassuming demeanour, and never more has racing witnessed a diamond in the rough than five-time Group 1 winner Attraction.

With a bold front-running style, deadly turn of foot and success in the face of injury, the resilient mare defied all expectations to win the hearts of racing fans in the early 2000s.

Yet to predict such a legacy was impossible. By Italian champion miler Efisio and out of a good-looking but unsuccessful mare called Flirtation, Attraction was born on the grounds of Floors Castle in the Scottish Borders. The castle was home to Guy Innes-Ker, the tenth Duke of Roxburghe, who had no way of knowing that in 2001 his beloved breeding operation had just unearthed its flagship runner.

She did not look the part and had conformation issues. Both her forelegs toed in and the Duke suspected she had lain incorrectly in the womb.

The crooked-legged filly would never fetch a price in the sales ring. There was little hope of the foal developing into a valuable breeding prospect and even less in her becoming a successful racehorse.

In time, the Duke would discover he was wrong on all counts.

With the sales ruled out, Attraction was instead sent to begin her racing career. She was first dispatched to John Hills, who likened the filly to an Aberdeen Angus when he first laid eyes on her in Lambourn.

The task was to back her and see if anyone would be interested in a lease, but after two weeks Hills sourced a more promising filly from the Duke and Attraction was moved to the yard of Mark Johnston in North Yorkshire. There the magic began.

The apple of his eye: Mark Johnston with his star filly AttractionCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Attraction made her debut in April 2003 at Nottingham. Ridden by Johnston's stable jockey at the time and current trainer Keith Dalgleish, she oozed class to strike by five lengths and instantly set herself up for a trip to Royal Ascot.

The goal was to achieve black type and in just over a month the filly completed the job, landing the Listed Hilary Needler Trophy on just her third start.

Her ungainly gait drew much attention but there was no denying the results. She headed for the Queen Mary Stakes and it was there in the Royal Ascot paddock that Kevin Darley first sat on the two-year-old filly. He would go on to partner her for the rest of her career.

"She came into the race with a big reputation," Darley recalls. "The first thing I clicked cantering down to the start was that her distinctive action wasn't going to be an issue.

"Going past the stands I could see one leg flicking out to the left and the other dishing round to the right, but when she was actually going she felt completely balanced. Whatever she was doing, she was doing right."

Attraction leaped out of the gates, struck the front, and gave nothing an opportunity to pass her. The three-length winning margin was proof of the filly's raw speed, a pace which some considered too explosive for a future over a mile the following season.

The Racing Post analysis of her Queen Mary triumph was particularly damning. "Recent winners of this race have a chequered history and the 25-1 quote from Ladbrokes about Attraction for next year's 1,000 Guineas is laughable," it read. "The filly has too much speed to suggest she will stay a mile."

Calls for the filly to remain over a shorter distance were strengthened after a dazzling five-length success in the Group 2 Cherry Hinton Stakes, now known as the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes, at Newmarket in July.

"Everyone thought she wouldn't get a mile," Darley says. "It was all her speed, but we knew she had resilience too. When something came to her, she just went again."

The Duke hoped to send the unbeaten filly to France for a first Group 1 bid but plans were halted after an overreach and precautionary x-ray revealed bone chips in her knees. Plan B, to head for the Cheveley Park Stakes in September, was also scrapped when she cracked her pedal bone a week before the race.

With a rating of 119, Attraction became the champion two-year-old filly in Europe, yet her juvenile season was over in a rather inconspicuous fashion.

She was off the track for more than ten months. The absence took its toll.

"She just didn't seem to be firing when they brought her back the next season," Darley recalls. "She was her own woman and a bit of a waspy filly. You could quite easily fall out with her.

"I went to see her with the Duke and she was in a box right down the back of the yard. We went in and she was fine, she let us come and give her a pat. But after about 30 seconds she would just decide she'd had enough and you had to get out quickly.

"Since she knew her own mind. I thought maybe we should give her a basic goal and see if it brought her to life. We went to Ripon with a horse rated in the 80s for a gallop. It was the only time I ever rode her outside a race. She looked like a woolly bear, and if we're honest she didn't work great at all. She struggled to even get by the other horse, but the day out just popped her into gear. From that moment on she just kept improving and improving.

"In fairness to Mark he wasn't afraid to go straight to the Guineas, which proved a good move."

Attraction leads the way home in the 1,000 Guineas in 2004Credit: Edward Whitaker

It was a masterstroke. Sent down the far side, Attraction took up her customary front-running tactics and held off the late challenge of Godolphin runner Sundrop by half a length to claim a Classic triumph in her first start in Group 1 company.

The success was only the first of many top-level triumphs for the filly but Johnston already knew she was special.

"I've never trained another horse who has caused me not fear anything else," the trainer said after the win. "Now I think we can fairly say she's the best I've trained."

Attraction's Classic glory silenced any doubters over her ability to stay a mile. For Darley, the tendency for people to underestimate the unorthodox filly played perfectly into his hands.

"I had the confidence she was going to get home," he says. "We knew we could use her speed and I suppose everybody was playing their cards close to their chests because she hadn't run for nearly a year. They thought there was a good chance she couldn't keep the pace up, so they were happy to stay behind, but she just kept going.

"I saw the public rallying around her that day. It was partly because of her unusual action but she just wore her heart on her sleeve. She was a genuine front-runner."

While success in the 1,000 Guineas would earn any horse a place in the record books, Attraction's tale was far from over. Just three weeks after success at Newmarket, the three-year-old lined up at the Curragh in another Classic bid.

No-one could underestimate her this time but again she had no equal. Attraction became the first filly to complete the British-Irish 1,000 Guineas double in the 82-year history of the race. Her speed put her rivals to the sword early and Alexander Goldrun, who would go on to claim her own five Group 1 victories, was a length behind in second.

"The best judges in the world assumed she was going too quick over a mile," Darley says. "They thought she couldn't keep it going. But she could."

Early plans to drop back in trip for the July Cup were scrapped. Attraction would stay at a mile. Next on the list was a return to Royal Ascot and the Coronation Stakes presented new worries with a first test around a bend. Once more, she proved the doubters wrong and secured her place as a star of her generation with a blistering success, finishing more than two lengths clear of her rivals and just 0.03sec off the course record.

Darley's celebration over the line cost Attraction the course record at AscotCredit: Edward Whitaker

Darley recalls: "I got a bollocking off the Duke of Roxburghe for celebrating over the line after they found out how close she was to the course record. If I hadn't, she would have smashed it.

"I felt so much relief after that race. Everyone thought she'd be vulnerable because of her action round the turn and attacked her in the straight, but actually it played to her favour because when she hit the turn she filled herself up.

"When she came off the bend, I gave her the office to go and she just picked up and absolutely annihilated them.

"Walking in at Royal Ascot, with the round of applause and cheers that she got, it struck me people truly realised how brilliant she was."

Attraction suffered her first defeat in the Falmouth Stakes, going down gallantly to Soviet Song, who narrowly got the better of the filly again in the Matron Stakes two months later.

A trip to Deauville in August also taught connections a valuable lesson. Sent off 11-4 for her first start against the colts in the Prix Jacques le Marois, Attraction never looked content and her unusual running style was at odds with the testing French conditions. She trailed off to finish last of ten.

Johnston was adamant after the race. "Attraction will never run on soft ground again," he said.

Her three-year-old season ended in the same manner as it began, with a Group 1 triumph at Newmarket. This time it was the Sun Chariot Stakes, where the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Chic was held by a neck thanks to the gusty efforts of Johnston's star filly. It was Attraction's fourth Group 1 success and only the mighty Ouija Board topped her in the standings for European three-year-old filly.

Yet spring ushered in disappointment. Attraction finished 11th in May's Champions Mile at Sha Tin, but the warning signs were there well before she headed to the track.

"When I saw her in the paddock, you could just tell she wasn't happy," Darley says. "She was getting sweaty and it just wasn't like her. I think the race knocked the stuffing out of her. She wasn't right for a long time after that."

Attraction wasn't seen again until August, where she dropped back in trip for the first time in more than two years in the Group 3 Hungerford Stakes. Bowling along in front, the filly tired in the closing stages to finish fourth, but Darley kept faith that her ability remained.

He says: "People say some horses would run through a brick wall for you. She was one of those. She was special. When everyone thought she was cooked, she would always go again."

The filly who spent her career defying expectations had one last point to prove. She lined up for the Group 1 Matron Stakes at Leopardstown against a competitive field including that year's British and Irish 1,000 Guineas winners Virginia Waters and Saoire. It was 11 months since Attraction's last success and good to yielding ground threatened to ruin her chances.

She was almost withdrawn. Instead, racing fans were gifted one final victory from the historic miler, who streaked clear of her rivals and claimed her final Group 1 victory against the best the younger generation had to offer. The success pushed her earnings just shy of £900,000, but it was the shrewd training performance of Johnston which was most celebrated. His patience and care for the quirky filly was paid back in full.

Darley says: "It's hard to imagine she would have come back the way she did with anyone else. He knew her so well; I was just privileged to ride her. She shouldn't have run as well as she did, she defied so many, but she thought she was invincible.

"People still mention her to me today. Strangers come up and tell me their memories of Attraction. That's the mark horses like her make and I'm just thankful I was part of it."

The injuries that plagued her career finally won out and Attraction was retired prematurely before plans to head to the US could come to fruition.

The Duke took his illustrious runner back to her birthplace at Floors where – in spite of his initial assessment four years earlier – she more than earned her place as a broodmare.

Attraction as a broodmare at Floors CastleCredit: Duke of Roxburghe

Life at stud would turn out to be yet another task Attraction would take in her stride and her remarkable ability on the track continues to be passed down to her offspring.

She remained at Floors Stud until the Duke's death in 2019, during which time she foaled unbeaten two-year-old and York Stakes winner Elarqam, also trained by Johnston.

The 2021 Golden Mile winner Maydanny was another valuable foal out of Attraction, with the subsequent Listed winner sold for 1,350,000gns at the 2017 Tattersalls October Sale.

Attraction's fillies were also a valuable breeding proposition and 2010 foal Cushion continued the Duke's precious pedigree by delivering this year's Queen's Vase third Hafit.

Attraction now resides at Fittocks Stud in Newmarket. Her exceptional talent has begun to pass down to future generations but her conformation issues have not. She will forever remain one of a kind.

Read more from our Fans' Favourites series:

Deirdre: 'Our dream came true – we came to the origin of horseracing and we won'

Lady Aurelia: 'I can remember Frankie shaking his fist and thinking he'd won'

Marsha: 'Once the bidding went past three million guineas, it was a blur'

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