Tuite relives Ebor triumph following death of former leading light Litigant

Joe Tuite on Tuesday reflected on how lucky he was to train Litigant, the fragile Ebor winner who died recently having been retired last year.

In capturing the 2015 Ebor under Oisin Murphy, Litigant gave Tuite the finest moment of his career and the trainer spoke fondly when paying tribute to his former stable star.

A Darley cast-off, the son of Sinndar raced only six times for Tuite, but made it count, winning the Ebor on his debut for the yard and following up three months later in the November Handicap at Doncaster. He was retired to a non-racing yard in Wales last year.

Watch Litigant win the Ebor

"Winning the Ebor was massive and what surprised me was how big a race the Ebor is up there," Tuite said.

"A year later I was racing at York and people would come over and talk to me about Litigant because up there the Ebor is a huge, huge race.

"It was great to be part of it and I'd love to find another one like him."

Tuite, who trained Litigant for Tony Byrne, added: "On his day he was very talented and he had a lot of class. I suppose his best day was the Ebor, but I think he was a better horse the day he won the November Handicap. I think he improved from the Ebor and he won at Doncaster on the bridle. It was a great few months."

Find out about plans for Joe Tuite's string in the Racing & Outlook Flat Guide

Asked how good the seven-time winner may have been, Tuite replied: "He probably would have never been with me! That's the way it goes. If he hadn't had his problems he'd never have ended up at the sales and I wouldn't have ended up with him. You get lucky in life and I was lucky the day that horse was sent to me."

Tuite, who hopes Surrey Hope, Machine Learner and Redgrave will be able to propel his Lambourn operation back into the spotlight this season, also thanked his head lad Chris Martin for his role in the Litigant story.

He said: "Chris did a lot of work with the horse and was very dedicated. He put a lot of time and effort in and if it wasn't for Chris and Nora Looby, who worked for me at the time, he might not have got there.

"You're only as good as your team and Chris is number one on the team sheet. He loved the horse, like all of the lads and lasses in racing do."

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