1993: RINGA HUSTLE

The dog who landed seven Derby qualifiers on his way to the final

British bred Daleys Denis had been the winter ante post favourite for the 1993 English Derby and Tom Pett’s dog looked a worthy choice with a stunning qualifying round win in 28.74.
With Plough Lane on the slow side, only six runners broke 29.00. Next quickest was Emerald Bridge (28.85) followed by Skilful Dancer (28.88), Ringa Hustle (28.91), Glengar Ranger and On The Charge (28.98).
Denis (28.72) was eclipsed by Noir Banjo (28.69) next time out. Salthill Champ impressed in 28.80, while Lassa Java (20-1) beat kennel mate Ringa Hustle in 28.86.
The ’48 stage’ proved a bookies benefit night with I’m His (28.72) the only winning favourite. Litter brother Daleys Denis was the shock elimination.
Fastest of the round was Lassa Java (28.64), though Awbell Ball also looked a potential Derby winner with a 28.79 run.
The fastest time of the event was recorded in the quarter finals as Ernie Gaskin’s Greenane Squire gave a six length beating to Sullane Castle in 28.50.
I’m His supporters were encouraged with a 28.74 win, one spot quicker than Hypnotic Stag as the three fancied Irish runners, Greenane Slippy, Skip Pass and Nikitas Sand all booked tickets home.
The remaining quarter saw a ding-dong battle between early paced stars Ringa Hustle and Awbeg Ball until the latter pulled up with a broken hock at the last bend.
The first semi was reduced to five runners when the ungenuine Pineapple Magic was withdrawn lame.
Punters expected a buckle between I’m His and Greenane Squire. The former didn’t perform and was eliminated. Squire won unchallenged in 28.82.
Tony Meek’s two runners were drawn against each other and Hypnotic Stag in the second semi which went to form, Ringa Hustle hugely impressive in 28.67.
The final looked there for the taking. In red was the early paced Northern Flat and Pall Mall winner Sullane Castle.
In blue was the dog destined to set the never-to-be-broken clock for the Derby distance (28.21) when trained by Tony Meek the following year, Greenane Squire.
In white was a dog who had so far won seven Derby heats. He had only finished out of the first two once in 10 qualifiers, when finishing lame in the 1992 Derby semi behind Farloe Melody.
In black was the improving Meek second string and future Pall Mall winner Lassa Java.
In orange was the rank outsider with a best of 29.26 on his card, Ken Shearman’s Cedar Mountain.
In stripes was John Coleman’s Blue Riband and Olympic winner Hypnotic Stag.
The bookies made Squire the 15-8f, but within a split second of the traps opening, those odds looked flawed.
Ringa Hustle burst clear from traps. At the sectional he was three quarters of a length up and when he turned the first bend ahead of the favourite the result was a formality.
Squire eventually checked at the third bend allowing the game Sullane Castle to hold on for second. Hypnotic Stag finished lame on a wrist in third place. The winner clocked his fastest time over the trip 28.62.
The victory was a first (but not the last) for Oxford trainer Tony Meek and owner, Dundrum shop keeper, Phillip Heffernan. He had acquired Ringa Hustle as a pup en lieu of a stud fee following the mating by his stud dog Midnight Hustle.
Following an unsuccessful stud career, the black returned to the Meeks to live out his retirement.
He was put to sleep in February 2003, just short of his 13th birthday.

1969: SAND STAR:

The unbeaten Irish trained Derby winner from Northampton

Only one Irish trained dog had ever won the English Derby when ‘Hammy’ Orr first presented Sand Star to the White City stewards in May 1969
The likelihood of emulating Paddy Dunphy’s 1962 winner The Grand Canal was halved when the only other entry, Santas First, was eliminated in the first round.
Star was an incredible model of consistency in his Derby preparation. In his first solo around the Wood Lane circuit he clocked 28.88, followed by a 28.85 mixed trial.
After winning his Derby qualifying trial in 28.84, Orr said: “I’ll have to keep him now but he would be sold should there be an offer of around £5,000.”
He was just spots quicker when beating the highly rated Kilbelin Style by four lengths in the first round in 28.82.
But it was in the second round that the acid test came. Drawn six in easily the toughest of the four qualifers, he was up against ante post favourite Yellow Printer (28.88 -1st rd), Infatuated (28.84) and the highly rated Pallas Joy (29.02).
Drama! Sand Star, backed down to 7-4f was in fifth place midway along the back straight until unleashing a tremendous burst of pace that saw him rocket to the front for a short head victory over Kilbelin Style. Yellow Printer was eliminated in fourth.
The other qualifiers went to Valiant Ray (28.78), Smokey Bracelet (28.70) and Barrack Street (28.93).
Pauline Wallis reputedly offered Orr the £5,000 he had craved for his dog after the second round, but the post officer engineer turned it down.
All four winners, plus Kilbelin Style, met in the same semi final. Kilbelin Style again led up but Sand Star rallied bravely and then short headed the Tom Johnston trained runner for a second time in 48 hours.
The winner did 28.83 with big priced outsider Barrack Street a further length and a half adrift. The other semi won by Hard Held in a modest 29.26.
Sand Star (T4) had met Kilbelin Style (T1) three times and won the lot (though twice by a short head) and punters duly went 5-4f and 6-4 about the pair in the decider.
The white jacketed Stow runner Barrack Street was next in at 11-2, followed by the George Curtis trained Hard Held (13-2). Jack Harvey’s 23rd Derby finalist Petrovitch was the 20-1 outsider.
Some 35,000 racegoers wondered whether the 65 pound Sand Star could pick up Kilbelin Style for a fourth time. So when saw the 64 pound white and black favourite surprisingly led into the bend, the result was a formality.
Style briefly reduced the lead, but Sand Star came home with two lengths to spare in 28.78.
It was his 10th victory in 24 races to date.
Not only had the dog from Newtownabbey near Belfast gone unbeaten through the competition, he had completed the Derby course on seven occasions recording between 28.78 and 28.88.
What’s more, the confirmed railer had never been favoured with better than a trap three draw.
(Though clearly unaware of it at the time, it would also be as close as Tommy Johnston would ever come to emulating his father Tom, trainer of the second Derby Boher Ash.)
While it was a great Northern Irish victory for Star’s owner breeder, the reality was, Orr had left the dog in the Northampton kennel of builder Eric Adkins and returned to Ireland for the duration of the event.
The lady who trained him through-out, and paraded him on the night, would be back to win the following year’s Derby in her own right – the remarkable Barbara Tompkins.

1951: BALLYLANIGAN TANIST

Post war record 62,000 attendance see Lesley Reynolds win third Derby

When the 48 runners for the 1951 Derby were published, White City racing manager Percy Brown had Ballycurreen Garrett as his number one choice.
A beaten favourite in the 1950 final, the George Flintham owned dog was in his third season of racing having previously won the Puppy and Welsh Derbys.
However the bookies had Ballylanigan Tanist and Black Mire, seeded two and three respectively, as the 10-1 joint ante post favourites. British bred Rushton Smutty was third best at 16-1.
Other runners include Greenwood Tanist who had contested the previous year’s American Derby and the previous year’s Derby runner-up Quare Customer.
However a flying 28.77 pre-Derby trial and a huge gamble from Ireland saw the Jack McAllister owned Black Mire cut to clear 11-2 Derby favourite. Meanwhile the tripe Irish track record holder Fire Prince is withdrawn after dislocating a toe.
As soon as the draw is made, the competition opens up. Four of the leading fancies, Ballycurreen Garrett, Rushton Smutty, Ballylanigan Tanist and Black Mire are drawn in the same heat.
Something had to give and it proved to be the no.1 seed Ballycurreen Garrett who finished fourth in a 28.88 heat won by Black Mire. Ballylanigan Tanist was beaten three quarters of a length with Rushton Smutty in third.
Junes Idol was the quickest winner in 28.80, one of four 100-1 ante post heat winners.
The Southend runner then repeated the feat when clocking the fastest time of the second round (28.66) with Rushton Smutty second and Derby favourite Black Mire scraping through in a photo for third.
The other heat winners were Ballylanigan Tanist and Atomic Line (both 28.93) and Greenwood Tanist (29.04).
Junes Idol’s luck ran out two nights later in the semi finals. He led up but was baulked and finished fourth. Atomic Line beat Ballylanigan Tanist in 28.81.
However Black Mire once again showed his best form when beating Mad Miller in 28.62.
When the draw the final was made, trainer Reynolds expressed delight that Ballylanigan Tanist had drawn red, though he would have preferred that his other runner Mad Miller had drawn stripes instead of orange.

Owner Norman Dupont with his 1951 Derby winner Ballylanigan Tanist

The racing press thought the shortest priced of the three Mad Tanist sons would start as favourite but the punters, and sheer weight of ante post betting saw Black Mire start as the 9-4f.
Neither of the leading pair were blessed with great early and at trap rise Atomic Line led up from Rushton Smutty on the rails. Ballylanigan was fourth away, one place ahead of the favourite.
At the first bend Smutty moved to middle and Ballylanigan Tanist moved up on his inside. Ballylanigan was noted for his middle distance pace and sure enough he soon pulled clear.
Although Black Mire ran on gamely for second, Ballylanigan was on his way to the fastest Derby win to date, 28.62.
Bought relatively cheaply by Haylin Island businessman farmer Norman Dupont, the Derby winner had began his career in graded company at Wembley before setting a national record for 500 yards at Stamford Bridge.
His Derby success was his sixth win in 16 races. Just 48 hours later Ballylanigan clocked the fastest heat in the Welsh Derby with Atomic Line and Rushton Smutty behind him.
He duly won the final, which also included Black Mire, by seven lengths, but was denied the triple crown when beaten in a photo finish by Rushton Smutty in the Scottish Derby.