Too often, the economics of the breeding industry has dictated racing’s caution when matching its champions. In America and Australia, defeat is an occupational hazard; in England, defeat means lower stud fees. So the duel between Shamardal and Motivator in the Coral Eclipse at Sandown on Saturday marks not just racing’s equivalent of the heavyweight championship of the world but also a refreshing return to old-fashioned sporting values.
Bell, Motivator’s plethora of owners, Sheikh Mohammed, Simon Crisford, Godolphin’s racing manager, and Saeed bin Suroor, Shamardal’s trainer, deserve a round of applause for turning a highlight of the racing calendar into a wider sporting spectacle.
After giving Shamardal three hard races in just over a month, Godolphin had every excuse to bypass the stiff 10 furlongs of Sandown Park for easier targets deeper into the season. But the son of Giant’s Causeway has clearly inherited the qualities of his father, the “Iron Horse” possessed of a Frazier-like tenacity and a heart the size of New York. Giant’s Causeway won the Eclipse five years ago. For Shamardal to emulate the feat, he would have to beat a horse prompting comparisons with Shergar and Nijinsky.
“He’s a very uncomplicated, very straightforward horse and with all championship horses you have to get them at the right moment,” says Crisford. “He’s on a roll, he’s in a great rhythm and he deserves his place at the top table.”
Some fare it will be, too. Since being ignominiously overturned by his stablemate, Blues and Royals, in the UAE Derby at Nad al Sheba in the spring, Shamardal has won the French 2,000 Guineas over a mile and the French Derby over its new distance of 10Å furlongs, following up those hard-fought victories with a stroll down the York straight.
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Connections believe the horse is improving with every run and the bare form would suggest as much, although several handicapping experts decried the merit of Shamardal’s Derby win at the end of a muddling race.
The performance of second-placed Hurricane Run, recently bought by Coolmore and hot favourite for the Irish Derby at The Curragh today, will either endorse or expose the criticism. No such doubts accompanied Motivator’s glorious romp down Epsom Downs. Even those who had no financial interest in the son of Montjeu that afternoon instinctively joined in the acclaim for the new champion.
That the Derby winner was owned by a syndicate, albeit the Royal Ascot Racing Club, and had been guided by a trainer less willing than a few to regard his profession as a branch of MI5 only added to the genuine sense of a pleasure shared. Despite saying that Motivator was the sort of horse who “could change your address”, Bell has stayed happily at Fitzroy Stables, his base for 17 years, and planned a course for his star that acknowledges few boundaries.
“I wasn’t surprised by the way he won at all,” Bell says. “We had Housemaster, who finished fourth in the Derby, beaten three lengths or something like that, and if Motivator wasn’t 10 lengths better than Housemaster, I was seeing things. He had the race won long before Johnny [Murtagh] pressed the button in the home straight. But it was his turn of foot which was so impressive. He’d never been asked to do that before.
“It was a refreshing result for racing. I was at my son’s sports day last week and there were parents coming up to me and saying well done, and we’ve got 650 letters that we’re just about to reply to. I’m not a big-league trainer and the horse isn’t owned by one of the major owners, so it showed that everyone has a chance. It was a result the Derby needed.”
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If the trainer is thriving, enjoying every moment of the dream, Motivator is in equally good spirits. “He has done only one proper bit of work since the Derby and was in rude health,” Bell says. “If anything, I think he’s improved physically, he’s certainly matured.”
Motivator v Shamardal, English Derby winner v French Derby winner. Whatever happens on Saturday, racing will be the only sure winner.