Monday 16 December 2013

TUESDAY DECEMBER 17th RACING POST 2013. INTRODUCTION PART THREE CLIVE BRITTAIN'S BOOK THE SMILING PIONEER WITH ROBIN OAKLEY ' WORKING MARVELS WITH MYSTIKO


 
TUESDAY DECEMBER 17th RACING POST 2013
WEEK MONDAY DECEMBER 16th  TO SUNDAY DECEMBER 22nd
http://www.racingpost.com/news/live.sd
Ch4 Racing Channel
REVIEW YESTERDAY'S EQUUS  RESULTS
      
PREVIEW TODAY'S EQUUS CARDS 
http://www.racingpost.com/horses2/cards/home.sd
http://www.racingpost.com/news/live.sd


BIG RACE ENTRIES
http://www.racingpost.com/horses2/cards/big_races.sd  
 
 

STORIES
OF 2013

Peter Thomas Part Two of a series looking  at who and what grabbed the headlines in the past 12 months.
 
Dwyer's Mumbai drama Page 12
 
 

GRAB A GRAND FOR CHRISTMAS
2013

WITH  DAVID ASHFORTH

DAY-ONE PLUMPTON YESTERDAY
       Puzzle suggests a long struggle in store. .... 

 David Ashforth's week-long quest to win £1,000 for charity, this week -  before Christmas ... ... Can David achieve this? Get your Racing Post all this week and find out how he is getting on. See Page 8 in the Racing Post today.
 
 
 

INTRODUCTION PART THREE
Working Marvels with Mystiko
Chapter Twelve pages 147 to 168 
 

"Clive first saw Mystiko, a son of Secreto, at Barn 11 at the Keeneland  Sales in Kentucky, where he cost £90,000. Joss Collins of the British Bloodstock Agency was struck with the colt but warned his future trainer: "You may not like his colouring. " Clive says: "As it happened, I had already seen him and liked him but I did think he was a very odd colour. He had those Tetrarch dashes on him covered in white blotches. My other favourite, Terimon, was a very strong grey but Mystiko looked like a decorator's mistake. " Clive was drawn to Mystiko less by his conformation  than by something more intangible: "There was just this spark about him' .

 

"When the colt arrived at Carlburg, Clive's team, then numbered around 75, got to work. His allotted lad, Jim Murphy, helped to educate Mystiko into his racing routine. Feed man Mick Leaman, like Clive a former apprentice, was responsible for the colts sustenance, which, in the approach to the Derby for example, consisted of  3lb of Canadian corn for breakfast at 4.30am and another 9lb, laced with garlic honey, for 'lunch' around 8.30am. For dinner Mystiko would have to wait for 6pm and another 9lb of corn accompanied this time by bran, molasses and blood salts. On Wednesdays and Saturdays there was the treat of a linseed and barley mash.
 
 

"Other key figures in Mystiko's life were assistant trainer Jock Brown, often his partner in the saddle on work mornings, and travelling head lad John Spouse, not to mention the lad Dean Eaton, who, for security, slept in Mystiko's box with him before the Derby with a Max Faulkner nine-iron to hand ready to cope with any unwanted intruders.


 
MYSTIKO and TONY
Epsom Derby 1991

Racing career[edit]


1990: two-year-old season[edit]

Mystiko made his first appearance in a six furlong maiden race at Newmarket in July in which he finished second to Act of Diplomacy after briefly taking the lead a furlong from the finish. Three weeks later he ran in another maiden race over the same course and distance. On this occasion he was allowed to lead from the start and was never seriously challenged, winning by two lengths from Wolf Hall who in turn finished eight lengths clear of the other nine runners.[6] On his next start at the end of August he was moved up in class for the Group Two Gimcrack Stakes at York and finished third to the odds-on favourite Mujtahid.[7]



1991: three-year-old season[edit]

Mystiko began his three-year-old season on 17 April in the European Free Handicap over seven furlongs at Newmarket, in which he carried 128 pounds. He disputed the lead with Anjiz for the first five furlongs and then pulled steadily clear to win by three and a half lengths from the filly Zigaura.[8] On 4 May, Mystiko returned to Newmarket to run against thirteen other colts in the 2000 Guineas over one mile. The undefeated Craven Stakes winner Marju was made 6/4 favourite with Mystiko the second choice in the betting at 13/2. Mystiko was among the front-runners from the start and went into a clear lead three furlongs from the finish. In the final furlong he was strongly challenged by the French-trained colt Lycius, but maintained a narrow advantage to win the Classic by a head. The first two pulled six lengths clear of Ganges in third, with Generous in fourth.[9] Brittain later admitted that Mystiko's win was rather fortunate as the colt did not really stay one mile but that he and Roberts had decided that the best tactic was stay close to the rail on the side of the course nearest the stands: "if I am honest it was the plan and jockeyship that won us that race."[10]



 
 

As a result of his Newmarket win, Mystiko became regarded as one of the main contenders for the Derby a month later. At Epsom on 5 June he was the third choice in the betting at odds of 5/1 behind the 4/1 joint-favourites Corrupt and Toulon. Mystiko took the lead from the start and was still in front turning into the straight. Two and a half furlongs from the finish however, he was overtaken and dropped away quickly to finish tenth of the thirteen runners behind Generous, beaten more than thirty lengths.[11] The race was his first and only attempt to run a distance further than one mile. On his first run after the Derby he finished last of the eight runners in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood in July.[12]
In September, Mystiko was tried over six furlongs for the first time in more than a year when he contested the Ladbroke Sprint Cup at Haydock. He appeared to be outpaced by the specialist sprinters and finished fourth behind Polar Falcon and Sheikh Albadou.[13] Mystiko's final race of the year came in the Group Two Challenge Stakes over seven furlongs at Newmarket in October. Carrying top weight of 126 pounds he made all the running and drew clear of his opponents in the closing stages to win by two lengths from the filly Only Yours.[14] All three of Mystiko's wins in 1991, like his maiden win the previous year, came on his home track at Newmarket: he appeared to have a distinct dislike of travel.[15]


1992: four-year-old season[edit]

Mystiko stayed in training as a four-year-old but made no impact. He finished unplaced in the Lockinge Stakes, the Celebration Mile, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and the Challenge Stakes.[5]



 

 

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