Racing mourns Duke of Roxburghe
Highly successful ownerbreeder dies aged 64 Johnston pays tribute to man behind Attraction
The Duke of Roxburghe, ownerbreeder of the 2004 English and Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Attraction, chairman of the National Stud, racecourse steward and owner of Kelso racecourse where he was on the board for 40 years, has died after a battle against cancer. He was 64.
Guy Innes-ker, the 10th Duke, inherited Floors Stud, which had been established by his father, along with the Floors Castle estate at Kelso when he succeeded to the title in 1974. It became his abiding passion and, in a country hitherto not known for bloodstock production, the 125-acre stud punched well above its weight not only breeding good horses but achieving sizeable prices at the sales.
An early success was Shady Heights, winner of the 1988 International Stakes, and one of the most recent is the Frankel colt Elarqam, owned by Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, who finished third in the same race at York last week.
But it is the story of Attraction, the dam of Elarqam, which will not only define his tenure in charge of the stud but offers hope to all breeders. As a yearling she had “crooked” legs. She was turned down by the sales companies so the Duke tried to lease her.
When that failed, he sent her into training with Mark Johnston and the rest is history; she won her first eight starts including the Queen Mary, Cherry Hinton, both Guineas and the Coronation Stakes. She also
Trailblazer: The Duke of Roxburghe took Floors Stud to new heights
won the Sun Chariot and, at four, the Matron Stakes.
Speaking yesterday Johnston, who has had more winners than any other trainer, said: “Although we knew it was coming it is still very sad. It is the end of an era for us – he played a huge part in my career.
“I have always said Attraction was the horse I got most pleasure out of training because there were so many stages when we could have called it a day and retired her. After she won the Hilary Needler [on her third start] the Duke always told the jockey to go out and enjoy himself as everything from now on was a bonus. She was a tremendous horse to train and the Duke being her owner was a big part of that.”
Jump racing’s Christmas showpiece, the King George VI Chase at Kempton, will be sponsored for the first time by Ladbrokes. The bookmaker has signed a five-year deal to sponsor the £250,000 chase as well as the Christmas Hurdle and Desert Orchid Chase at the same meeting. It takes over from 32Red.
The Ladbrokes portfolio already includes Newbury’s Ladbrokes Trophy, formerly the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup, which is the biggest handicap chase outside of the Grand National.