Jockey Billy Lee was the star turn at last Sunday’s Cork Racecourse Mallow meeting, where the Limerick native bagged a near 760-1 treble that included a high-profile success aboard Tommy Stack’s 11-2 shot Cape Of Approval in the €40,000 Listed Midsummer Sprint Stakes.

David Nagle’s top sprinter Maarek was the long odds-on favourite at 4-11 to land this five-furlong dash, but Lee was seen at his very best when producing Cape Of Approval with a late challenge which saw him overtake the hot-pot close home to score by a length and three-quarters.

The winner carries the colours of Mrs Maureen Haughey, wife of the late Taoiseach Charles Haughey and might not get much time to rest on his laurels as he’ s in the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot later this week and may run according to Fozzy Stack, son of the winning trainer. He said, “This horse is in the Wokingham and may yet travel. He would need the ground to come up soft as he has tricky front legs and needs a dig in it. He’d probably be well-in there now after today’s performance, but we’ll have to wait and see how it goes in the meantime.”

Lee and Stack also combined to take the concluding nine-furlong corkracecourse.ie maiden with Overland Express. Sent off an 8-1 chance, this filly by Dylan Thomas stuck her neck out bravely in the closing stages as she forged to the front close home to beat Dermot Weld’s Lake District by half a length.

Lee’s winning spree had started in the opening six-furlong maiden where he teamed up with trainer David Wachman to score aboard 12-1shot Remember You.

This Magnier-Tabor-Smith-owned filly improved to challenge Aidan O’Brien’s Dove Mountain and favourite backers quickly knew their fate as the daughter of Invincible Spirit quickened up impressively to deny the 8-11 market leader by a length.

This was Lee’s first ever treble despite the fact that he that he has been a regular on the scene for a good few years now having been champion apprentice during his formative years.

Elsewhere on the card at the Rebel County track, the featured €75,000 Noblesse Stakes also proved popular with the bookmaking fraternity as 5-1 shot, Midnight Sporano, made a successful seasonal debut. Off the track since running fourth at Saint Cloud in France back in October, Midnight Soprano showed no signs of rustiness  when powering to the front under 19-year-old Marc Monaghan to register a head verdict over runner-up, Magical Dream.

Paul Deegan, whose horses are in great form at present, trains the winner at his Curragh yard and he said, “This filly did very well physically over the winter and I knew coming here today she would give a good account of herself. I have a few races in mind for her, but the Irish St Leger is the main target.”

Andy Oliver is another young trainer going places and he made the long trek south from his Tyrone base worthwhile when saddling Target Acquired to land the Follow Cork On Facebook Handicap.

Chris Hayes did the steering aboard the 7-2 chance who came out the right side of a tough battle with top-weight Indian Landing when passing the post a head to the good over the Pat Smullen-ridden runner-up. There was a sting in the tail for Hayes, however, as he was suspended for three days when found guilty of careless riding at a subsequent stewards’ enquiry.

Aidan and Joseph O’Brien may have suffered a few setbacks during the day but the father-and-son combination didn’t leave the meeting empty-handed having gotten on the score sheet with 4-9 favourite, Bye Bye Birdie, in the five-furlong EBF Fillies’ Maiden.

Clear from an early stage, this daughter of Oasis Dream appeared in trouble when headed by eventual runner-up Abbakova, but O’Brien junior got to work on his mount who responded generously when fighting back to score by a neck.

 

Cecil – a true giant of the flat

The exploits of Sir Henry Cecil have been well documented since the legendary English trainer passed to eternal reward last week. Few will ever leave such a legacy as the popular 70-year-old has.

A host of top-class horses passed through his hands and his world-renowned Warren Place stables. Names like Oh So Sharp, Bosra Sham, Reference Point, Commander In Chief, Oath, Slip Anchor and more recently Frankel made Cecil a household name on the flat and a revered figure in his chosen profession.

Cecil was a trainer from the old school in that his first thought was always for the horse and its best interest long-term and he never minded what the public felt about where a horse should or should not run as he made up his own mind about such matters.

While Cecil enjoyed much big-race success in his early years, he did go through a very lean spell following a public spat with Sheikh Mohammed but, thankfully, all that changed when the brilliant Frankel came along.

Cecil masterminded his unbeaten run that spanned all of his 14 starts and included victory in the 2,000 Guineas back in 2011. Tom Queally’ s mount captured the hearts of racing fans all over the world and the image of Cecil, whose health was clearly failing at the time, turning up to witness his final couple of victories is one that will live long in the memory.

He was champion trainer 10 times, sent out 36 Classic winners and landed a whopping 114 Group Ones. Ironically, seen as it is taking place this week, Royal Ascot was a particular favourite with Cecil and rightly so as the master of Warren Place dominated at the Berkshire course with his tally of 75 wins making him the most successful trainer to-date at the Royal meeting.

Cecil was associated with a host of top-class jockeys over the years, with Clare’s Kieren Fallon among that illustrious list. The pair combined to land a hat-full of major races including the 1999 Epsom Derby with Oath (Fallon’s first) and paying tribute to his former boss the Ballinruan native said, “He was a legend. My first year with him, I was champion jockey. We had a great rapport and he will be sadly missed. I think Frankel will be on everybody’s mind, the way he trained the horse, one of the greatest horses we’ve ever seen – we’ll not see another one like him.”