CHESTER VASE HISTORY

ONE legendary horse and one legendary trainer will forever be synonymous with the Boodles Chester Vase. Yet they share no connection, other than one was just about old enough to watch and appreciate the other’s extraordinary talents, and the dramatic twist in the tale which followed.

Aidan O’Brien hadn’t even enrolled for secondary school in his native Co Wexford when Shergar and romped away with the Chester Vase in 1981. He had already won one Derby trial, the Guardian Newspaper Classic Trial at Sandown less than a fortnight earlier, by 10 lengths when he arrived on the Roodee just a week-and-a-half later as a red-hot 4-11 favourite for the Vase.

After another wide-margin win, this time by 12 lengths, Shergar was being proclaimed as the reincarnation of Pegasus, and was duly sent off as the odds-on favourite for the 1981 Derby at Epsom. Ridden by 19-year-old Walter Swinburn, who had replaced

Lester Piggott as the horse’s regular jockey earlier that season, Shergar breezed his way into the record books with a 10-length triumph that remains the largest-winning margin by a Derby winner to this day. To put some context on Shergar’s performance, the horse he beat into a distant second, Glint Of Gold, went on to win a string of top races in four different countries, including six Group 1s!

Shergar subsequently won both the Irish Derby, with Piggott deputising for a suspended Swinburn, and the King George. But after a hugely disappointing display in the St Leger at Doncaster, where finished only fourth, he was ruled out of taking on Europe’s finest in the Prix de l’Arc De Triomphe at Longchamp in Paris, and instead retired to stand as a stallion at his owner-breeder HH Aga Khan’s private stud near the Curragh in Co Kildare.

Only then was the Shergar story beginning. Following a modest first season as a sire, Shergar was stolen from Ballymany Stud by an armed gang on the night of February 8, 1983, in what transpired into one of the most high-profile unsolved mysteries of the 20th Century.

The thieves demanded a ransom of £2million, which was not paid. It was believed Shergar, who was valued at £10m, was taken by a reportedly cash-strapped IRA desperately seeking new funds. But no arrests were ever made and Shergar’s remains have never been found. O’Brien would have been only 13 at the time of Shergar’s disappearance. Yet almost a quarter of a century later, the master of Ballydoyle began laying the foundations for a remarkable era of domination of this prestigious Group 3 prize.

His first strike with Soldier Of Fortune in 2007 coincided with the Vase’s 100th anniversary. A record nine further victories have followed, most notably in 2011 with Treasure Beach, who emulated Soldier Of Fortune by winning the Irish Derby, and in 2013 with Ruler Of The World, who conquered Epsom’s Derby the following month. His most recent success being with Changingoftheguard last year.

Fact File

Conditions: 3-y-o colts and geldings only

Race distance: 1m 4f about 63yds

Prize money: £120,000 total prize fund

Historical Background

The Chester Vase, which dates back to 1907, is one of the trial races for both the Epsom Derby and St Leger at Doncaster. Hyperion achieved the treble following victory here by going onto success in both Classics, while numerous horses have won one of the two Classic contests on the back of winning this race.