Legends of the Turf - A Look at the career of John Dunlop

I was supposed to be starting my series of articles on “Better Betting” in this month OCP’s but the death of trainer John Dunlop means I am putting that on hold for another month.

It had always been my intention to do an article on the legend that is John Dunlop, I had just not got around to doing it. So, the sad news of his death on July 7th at the age of 78 looks the right time to do so.

John Dunlop for those of us of a certain age will always be fondly remembered as we grew up watching his horses run in the maroon silks of Sheikh Mohammed and blue and white colours of Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, with top jockeys riding for him like Willie Carson and Pat Eddery.

The son of a doctor, born at Tetbury, Gloucestershire on July 10, 1939, John Dunlop was one Britain's longest-serving and most respected trainers until his retirement at the end of the 2012 flat season in the main due to a reduction in the number of horses he had in training and his wife’s illness. He took out a licence to train in 1966 and was soon asked to take over the Duke & Duchess of Norfolk’s historic Castle Stables at Arundel Castle in the English county of Sussex. From his training base, he would train over 3,500 winners including, 10 Classic winners and a total of 74 Group 1 winners.

He won the Champion Trainer title for the first and only time in 1995.

He was at the forefront of trainers to travel their horses abroad to race in Italy, France and Germany and pick up some nice prize money.

It has been said that it was Dunlop who also helped to ignite Sheikh Mohammed's enthusiasm for British racing when he trained Hatta to win at Brighton in June 1977. Hatta’s win was Sheikh Mohammed's first win as an owner.

Classic Winners & Great Horses

John Dunlop’s first classic win came just four years after he started training when Black Satin won the Irish 1,000 Guineas. His first classic win in Britain came in the 1978 Derby with Shirley Heights a race he would go onto win with Erhaab in 1994. It should have been three Derby wins as Silver Patriarch was beaten a short head in the 1997 renewal. The same horse did provide some consolation for the trainer when he went onto land that seasons St Leger. A race he had first won in 1984 with Moon Madness, in the colours of Lavinia Duchess of Norfolk, and would go on to win again in 2000 with is last Classic winner Milenary.

A great trainer of fillies and mares, he tasted success in the English 1000 Guineas with Quick as Lightning(1980), Salsabil (1990) and Shaayid (1991) and also won the Epsom Oaks with Circus Plume (1984) and again in 1990 with Salsabil.

During his long, illustrious training career, the only English Classic to elude him was the English 2000 Guineas.

Other famous races he won included the Ascot Gold Gup with Ragstone in 1974 for the Duke Of Norfolk, as well as Marju in the St James's Palace Stakes, Lahib in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and Bahri, who won both those races. The latter three winning in the blue and white silks of Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum.

At the height of his career in the mid-90s, he was training over 200 horses at Castle Stables for some of racing’s biggest owners.

For me the two best horses he trained were Champion sprinter Habibti and of course Salsabil:

HABIBTI
Who was unbeaten on her three starts as two-year-old winning the Lowther Stakes at York and then going over to Ireland to win the Moyglare Stakes in 1982.

Trained for the 1000 Guineas as a 3-year-old she could only finish 3rd in the Fred Darling on her seasonal reappearance and then failed to stay the mile at Newmarket when only finishing 4th in the first fillies classic. Her last start on heavy ground in the 1000 Guineas was a total failure as she trailed a well beaten 9th.

The skills of her handlers were in evidence on her next start as she was dropped back to 6f to land the Group 1 July Cup. She would then go onto win the Nunthorpe at York and Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp, both over 5f, later that season breaking the 5f course record in the latter race.

As a 4-year-old she won the King Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot by just a short head in the main due to a power packed finish by jockey Willie Carson sadly that was the last race she would go on to win before she was retired to the paddocks. Timeform would go onto described her as “a magnificent filly with a blistering turn of speed”.

Here is a video of the great Habibti winning The William Hill Sprint Championship.

SALSABIL
Had cost Hamdan Al Maktoum $800,000 as a yearling before been sent into the care of John Dunlop. A winner of a Nottingham maiden on her racecourse debut in September 1989. The daughter of Sadlers Wells, could only finish runner-up at Newbury on her next start but her trainer’s confidence in the filly’s ability was borne out when she went on to land the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp. Just 18 days after that short head defeat at Newbury.

It was a 3-year-old that we saw her really develop into the great horse she became. A 6 length win the Fred Darling over 7f, was followed by a narrow success in the English 1000 Guineas. The step up to 1m4f looked set to suit her on pedigree and so it proved as she went on to land the Epsom Oaks by 5 lengths.

Instead of going the usual route of the Irish Oaks connections rolled the dice and decided to take on the colts in the Irish Derby. Their punt was a successful one as she turned over a strong field of colts, including the Epsom Derby winner and runner-up, to record ¾ length win. In winning the race she became the first filly to win the Irish Derby for 90 years.

Rested till the autumn she returned with another battling success in the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp. She was then made the favourite for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe but it was to be no fairytale end to her career as the effects of a long season probably caught up with her and she ran well below form in 10th.

Enjoy Salsabil quickening up to win the 1990 Epsom Oaks in great in style.

Arguably the best horse he trained was Sakhee who won the Sandown Classic Trial and the Dante Stakes in 2000 and then just got worn down in the final 100yds by Sinndar in that years Epsom Derby. The colt who was one of the highest rated 3-year-olds never to win a Derby would go on to win the Juddmonte International and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, as a 4-year-old for Saeed Bin Suroor. He also just failed by a nose to win the Breeders Cup Classic on dirt that year.

One horse best forgotten is Snaffi Dancer, who cost Sheikh Mohammed $10.2 million when going through the ring at Keenland Sales in 1983. At the time a world record fee for a yearling.

The son of Northern Dancer never saw a racecourse, deemed to be too slow to do himself justice and was described by Dunlop as “A sweet little horse actually, but unfortunately no bloody good”.

Racing almost lost Dunlop in 2001, when he was rushed to hospital after the normally fatal rupture of his aorta and then spent three weeks on the critical list in Chichester hospital. Happily, he survived that trauma and was able to carry on training for another decade.

Outside of training, he was Trustee of British Racing School, a Trustee of Racing Welfare and a Trustee of Moorcroft Racehorse Welfare Centre. His many open days at Arundel raised thousands of pounds for racing charities year on year.

His two sons Ed and Harry followed their father into the training ranks and other present-day trainers who learnt their craft at Castle Stables include Jeremy Noseda, David Menuisier and Simon Crisford.

Clearly, on a human level, it’s a sad loss for his family. But it’s also a time to celebrate the life of a trainer who played such a major part in one of the golden ages of British horse racing and the many memories he gave us.
A true gentleman of the turf. He will be sadly missed but never forgotten by those of us who love this great sport.

John Dunlop RIP.