Tony Morris
Stakes were always high with Royal Palace in town A colt who won the 2,000 Guineas and Derby and could have completed the Triple Crown in the St Leger but for a setback, Royal Palace will always be one of Tony Morris’ all-time greats
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n the immediate aftermath of Royal Palace’s victory in the 1966 Royal Lodge Stakes at Ascot, I, as the Press Association’s junior reporter on the course, was told to find the colt’s owner-breeder, Jim Joel, and ask about future plans. I suspect that my senior colleague, who sent me on the errand, knew that I was not going to learn very much, but I did at least gather a quote that I would never forget. “You must ask the trainer,” he said, then added: “Mr Murless allows me to name my horses, but while they’re in his care he makes all the other decisions.” As it turned out, the Murless decision in this case was that Royal Palace had done enough for the season. He had run only three times – down the field in the Coventry at Royal Ascot, then successful in the Acomb at York – before the Royal Lodge performance over which opinions were divided. It was not hard to take a positive view about that second win. He had missed the break, giving his rivals a six-length start, but he had made smooth progress to snatch the lead with two furlongs to run, and wound up with a length and a half to spare over his runner-up, the filly Slip Stitch, who had won her two previous races. What was more, Royal Palace covered the mile in a time that shaved four-fifths of a second off the previous record for a two-year-old at Ascot. However, many felt that the 1966 Royal Lodge was not as competitive as some recent renewals of that contest, and while his parentage promised him adequate stamina for the following year’s Classic tests, it was a fact that his sire, the outstanding runner Ballymoss, had yet to get a colt of real distinction. Whatever, there was never a chance that Royal Palace would head the juvenile Free Handicap. That accolade had to go to unbeaten – and barely tested – Bold Lad, who had been impressive in the Coventry, the Champagne and the Middle Park. Paddy Prendergast regarded the son of Bold Ruler as the best two-year-old he had ever trained – quite a compliment from the man who had handled the likes of Windy City, The Pie King, Floribunda, Noblesse and Young Emperor. Sure enough, Bold Lad was named champion of his crop, while Royal Palace ranked second – 3lb lower on official ratings, 4lb lower according to Timeform. Both authorities placed Ribocco, winner of the Observer Gold Cup, 1lb below Royal Palace. For my money Bold Lad was too speedy to prove a factor beyond a mile, and could not even be guaranteed to last the Guineas distance. Of the other pair, I much preferred Ribocco, for the not entirely logical reason that I idolised his sire, Ribot, the undefeated dual Arc hero whose deeds at stud already seemed to suggest that he might prove in a league of his own in that role as well. One of my colleagues at the PA was a fanatical follower of the Murless stable, regularly profiting from the successes achieved by inmates of the Warren Place yard, and he made sure everyone around him knew what a clever punter he was.
Jim Joel with Royal Palace, winner of the 2,000 Guineas, Derby, Eclipse and King George during a golden period in 1967 and 1968
As he came from wealthy stock anyway, the bragging over the boosts to his bank balance struck the rest of us as quite unseemly and vulgar, so we were inclined to wish him a run of bad luck. That would come in time, but meanwhile I was daft enough to present him with another substantial payday. Over the winter there were obviously no Murless runners, but he was already thinking of the 1967 season, when he fancied that the master of Warren Place would saddle the winners of all five Classics, and he told a group of us in the pub that he was hoping a bookmaker would lay him 100-1 about the prospect. I knew that feat had never been achieved and pooh-poohed the very idea, suggesting that he would be lucky to win one. I should have let it go at that, but the beer was speaking for me by that point, and the next thing I knew was that I’d rashly laid him 100-8 in pounds sterling about Murless winning one Classic. I learnt my fate at the earliest opportunity, watching Royal Palace, as 100-30 joint-favourite, thwart Taj Dewan by a short-head in the 2,000 Guineas. My take-home pay then was about £15 a week. Months would pass before I could hope to settle the bet. I cursed Royal Palace at the time, but if the photo verdict had gone the other way, it would have made no difference. The following day Murless’s filly Fleet won the 1,000 Guineas. A month later came the Derby, a race I would always remember for a colleague’s statement that matched mine for rashness. Ribocco’s first three races that season had resulted in defeats at Newmarket, Chester and Lingfield, pathetic efforts that prompted The Observer’s Richard Baerlein to promise that
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27/06/2019 15:06