YESTERDAY’S HERO
Graham Buddry remembers unlucky superstar Nathaniel
By any standards Nathaniel was a champion although luck was never on his side.The son of Galileo was foaled on 24 April 2008 and would run in the colours of Lady Rothschild after being named after her son, Nathaniel Rothschild, before being sent for training to John Gosden in Newmarket.
From the outset everyone at Clarehaven stables knew they had something special on their hands and in the gloom of a wet Newmarket evening in the middle of August 2010, Nathaniel made his racecourse debut on the rain saturated ground. Gosden had chosen a one mile maiden event and the whole stable expected their star to go off favourite in the talented field of 12 which included other debutants in Colour Vision, a future Ascot Gold Cup winner, as well as Genius Beast, later favourite for the Derby until that atrocious doping disgrace instigated by Mahmood Al Zarooni.
As Nathaniel paraded before the start, ridden by his Norwegian-born jockey, William Buick, who would partner the colt in all his races, the weight of money brought him in from an opening 7/1 to start at 3/1 but another “talking horse” was also making its highly anticipated debut.
The 7/4 favourite was the incomparable Frankel. What was unlucky for Nathaniel was the little known fact that the Sir Henry Cecil-trained superstar was very nearly trained in Ireland by Aidan O’Brien.
Prince Khalid Abdullah sent ten of his top mares to be mated to Galileo with an agreement to share the offspring, of which seven of the mares fell pregnant. As a yearling in the paddock Frankel impressed sufficiently for the Prince, with first choice that year, to choose him as his first pick. In this simple manner Nathaniel may have been unlucky yet the racing world was incredibly fortunate as in Ireland Frankel would have picked up a few easy pots, had a stellar three-year-old career, maybe even running in the Derby, and then been shipped straight off to stud with little hope of that marvellous four-year-old season ever materialising. For the record, the first pick to stay in Ireland was Powerscourt, a multiple Group winner who ended his own career with success in the Arlington Million.
As it was these two great colts stomped away from the rest of the field but, try as he might, Nathaniel could not overhaul his illustrious opponent. The half length defeat would, in time, prove to be the nearest any horse ever finished to Frankel.
A month later and the Gosden inmate lined up in another one mile maiden, this time at Doncaster with full confidence behind him. The oddson shot took up the running at the furlong marker and pulled away only for yet another Cecil runner to storm through and mug him right on the line in a bobbing of heads. With all the great expectations there had been, Nathaniel finished the season still a maiden.
Confidence counts for a lot and Gosden instilled that in his charge when Nathaniel faced just two opponents in yet another maiden event, this time over 1½ miles at Haydock, which would open his three-year-old campaign. The 1/20 chance was barely off the bridle to score by an emphatic nine lengths.
Next stop was the Chester Vase on ground firmer than he liked and while it played to the advantage of Treasure Beach, Nathaniel stayed on well in the final furlong with his assured stamina but failed by just a head to catch the fast ground lover. With the ground also on the fast side at Epsom, Gosden scratched his star from the Derby and aimed him instead at the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The Berkshire weather was kind to the colt and at last he had his going when facing nine rivals who he decisively put to the sword by an impressive five lengths. At last he had started to show what everyone around him already knew.
On 23 July 2011 five horses faced the starter for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and, on paper at least, four of the runners had an excellent chance.
The 6/5 favourite was Sir Michael
Workforce, impressive winner of both the Derby and Arc de Triomphe the previous season while this term he had comfortably won the Brigadier Gerard Stakes before finding the trip too short when second in the Eclipse to So You Think.
Next in the betting at 3/1 was Rewilding, an impressive winner of the Dubai Sheema Classic before beating So You Think by a head in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot. On 7/2 was the recent Coronation Cup winner, St Nicholas Abbey, who later that season would go on to win the Breeders Cup Turf at Churchill Downs. Nathaniel would start at 11/2, having touched 13/2, with only Rewilding’s pacemaker at longer odds.
The first couple of furlongs were a crawl where Nathaniel had to lead the way before the pacemaker remembered his job. Quickly the tempo increased with St Nicholas Abbey and Workforce tracking Nathaniel while Rewilding sat at the rear of the field.
Down the back they thundered then round the long, sweeping bend into the home straight where Buick unleashed his partner and suddenly everything else was treading water. Nathaniel galloped powerfully all the way to the line for an impressive victory, the first three-year-old to win for eight years, while none of the others were able to get close enough to mount a serious challenge.
Workforce drifted across to the stands side to eventually take second while St Nicholas Abbey kept to the far rails for third place. In the home straight Rewilding unfortunately suffered a terrible, yet freak, accident, shattering a front leg and falling. He wouldn’t have won but it was a tragic end for a brilliant racehorse.
Gosden immediately nominated the Arc de Triomphe as his next race but Nathaniel’s luck was out again as those plans were scuppered by unusually firm ground. Dropped back to an insufficient 1¼ miles, Nathaniel roundStoute’s ed out his season with fifth place in an exceptionally strong Champion Stakes behind Cirrus des Aigles, So You Think, Snow Fairy and Midday, the only time he would finish out of the first three.
Horses are for racing and so Nathaniel returned the following season. His first race was the Eclipse which he won after making it a real test of stamina and then running on well up the steeply rising ground close home. Next stop was the defence of his King George crown at Ascot.
Sea Moon started favourite ahead of Nathaniel with old adversary, St Nicholas Abbey next best. A Germantrained horse who had been campaigned all over Europe and beyond, winning the 2011 Arc de Triomphe among others, was the 9/1 chance, Danedream.
In a much faster pace than the previous year the field of ten made it a true test. Dunaden and Brown Panther headed the field while Buick kept Nathaniel nicely placed in midfield
with the German horse sticking like glue to his inside with St Nicholas Abbey at the rear.
Rounding the home turn Nathaniel moved smoothly up to third behind the leaders, with Danedream strongly ridden on his inside to stay with him. Into the straight and Nathaniel hit the front and made for home, quickly opening up a gap.
The previously leading pair dropped away under the onslaught and St Nicholas Abbey started to close from the rear but was never close enough to challenge, eventually finishing third. Nathaniel had the race won when suddenly Danedream found a turbo charge and quickly moved up onto his shoulder. This only spurred Nathaniel on as he lowered his head and fought back, two horses giving their all but Danedream was still closing the gap, however slowly.
In a flash they crossed the line locked together, the television coverage closing on Nathaniel, convinced he had hung on and then the slow motion replay. Nathaniel was always just ahead but the horses were on different strides. Just feet from the line Nathaniel was the clear winner but his head was coming up as Danedream’s was going down, the line being the only place in the whole race, or indeed after the post, that his nose was in front. Nathaniel, for all his brilliance, was a very unlucky horse that day as Danedream was awarded the spoils.
Six weeks after Ascot, Nathaniel made the trip to Leopardstown for the Irish Champion Stakes. Again Nathaniel accounted for St Nicholas Abbey on ground listed as good but in reality riding far faster than he liked as he led the field with two furlongs to go. Soon the globetrotting superstar Snow Fairy hit full flow and powered past our hero on the rattling ground to leave him having to settle for second place again.
The Arc de Triomphe was once more the target but again Nathaniel had to miss the race, a high temperature and poor blood test ruining his chance this year. For his final race Nathaniel returned to Ascot for the Champion Stakes and for a second time finished behind Cirrus des Aigles yet they only took the minor placings. Nathaniel had started his career facing Frankel and he closed it the same way, the Khalid Abdullah owned wonder horse winning his own final race as a champion should.
And so Nathaniel retired to stud, unlucky to have won only four of his eleven starts yet he was, without doubt an outstanding champion, if somewhat unlucky.
Nathaniel may not have been fully accorded the credit he deserved for his marvellous performances on the turf yet at stud it would be a different story where his first crop would include the illustrious Enable.