The year Ascot came to the North

THERE were highlights galore for our region last year, but nothing could surpass the one-off Royal Ascot at York meeting.

The five-day world-class festival of racing, which came north as a result of the redevelopment of Ascot racecourse, was a resounding success - with a handful of local winners putting the icing on the cake.

Although a tad chilly for the first half of proceedings, the last couple of days were blessed with sizzling sunshine as flaming June arrived in the nick of time.

Never before has the Knavesmire witnessed such crowds, with 400,000 spectators coming through the gates. .

In keeping with tradition, every day before the action began, the Royal Procession paraded in front of the massive stands, the pomp and ceremony bringing colour to an already highly charged atmosphere.

It would have been a huge anti-climax had the runners from the North failed to strut their stuff. Fortunately, this was not the case, though two agonising days passed before we found our way into the winners' circle.

Fittingly in many ways, the combination to come up trumps consisted of the two-year-old Group 3 Norfolk Stakes hero MASTA PLASTA, trained in County Durham by Howard Johnson, and ridden by Maltonbased jockey Robert Winston.

"It's great to have a winner here, but it takes me all my time to get all this clobber on, I'm more of a cloth cap man myself, " quipped Howard, referring to the mandatory top hat and tails required to grace the Royal Enclosure.

Johnson had every reason to be pleased with this inaugural Royal triumph, because not only did he train the winner, he also set up Transcend Bloodstock with Graham Wylie.

Masta Plasta, bought for 50,000 guineas, wore Transcend's colours for the victory.

"Howard and I formed the operation in the hope of selling them on at a profit, " said Wylie, who invested in racing after selling his £115m holding in Newcastle software company Sage, a firm he and a friend founded during the 1980s.

Much of that cash was invested in thoroughbreds, a policy which soon paid dividends as Wylie and his wife, Andrea, had no less than three winners - Arcalis, No Refuge, plus Inglis Drever - at last year's Cheltenham Festival.

Another tantalising 24 hours went by before a home-county Yorkshire success emerged in the shape of Mark Johnston's MELROSE AVENUE, a gutsy winner of the Group 3 two-mile Queen's Vase.

Johnston's legendary Royal Ascot record during the past ten years had been under threat, as the canny Scot normally hits bullseye by day two, but once the Middleham handler broke the ice, the inevitable occurred and he supplemented his tally thanks to BANDARI in Saturday's Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes.

Saturday also proved a redletter occasion for trainer Bryan Smart, based near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, who stepped onto the Royal Ascot rostrum for the first time by virtue of TITUS ALONE's triumph in the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes.

"The plan was always to come for this race and, thankfully, it has come off, " said the trainer after his lightning-fast two-yearold edged out Strike Up The Band, trained by one of his near-neighbours, David Nicholls.

Nicholls had good reason to look rueful after the five-furlong dash, since his juvenile also finished runner-up to Masta Plasta earlier in the week.

But STRIKE UP THE BAND'S season wasn't about to hit the buffers. Far from it, because at Glorious Goodwood, Dandy's dashing youngster won the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes, ably partnered by his son, Adrian.

For once, the prefix Glorious was somewhat misplaced as the rain spoiled many a picnic - not that the spirits of team Nicholls were dampened as they enjoyed further success with FIRE UP THE BAND and GIFT HORSE.

Fire Up The Band's victory in the Group 3 King George was a tactical triumph as Adrian switched the speedy six-year-old to the far rail, where the ground was much faster than the stands side.

In a bid to win the Stewards' Cup, champion jockey Kieren Fallon was booked as insurance for the heavily backed 9-2 second-favourite, Gift Horse.

The clinching of Fallon proved to be inspired as the Irish ace forced the gelding's head in front to beat Richard Fahey's Fonthill Road by a neck.

Two weeks later and all eyes were back on York, where the three-day Ebor Festival saw one of the major rags-to-riches stories of the season.

Kevin Ryan, who, from his base high above Thirsk at Sutton Bank, had been peppering in winners all season, albeit at a modest level, produced PALACE EPISODE out of the blue to stun his rivals with a shock success in the Listed Acomb Stakes.

The 16-1 outsider's win was a massive boost for the Yorkshire yard, and Ryan was in the mood for more. Another of his flying juveniles, AMADEUS WOLF, pulled off a prestigious victory on day two, romping away with the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes.

Although it was Fallon who had steered Palace Episode to victory, this time the successful jockey was Neil Callan, Kevin's number one rider, bagging the £75,400 first prize in the sixfurlong contest.

It came as no surprise when Amadeus Wolf, a strong and powerful son of Mozart, went on to claim a first Group 1 prize in Newmarket's seven-furlong Middle Park Stakes.

Ryan was still hungry - and even though Palace Episode was the 20-1 outsider of seven, he notched a second Group 1 win with a gritty one-and-a-halflength triumph in Doncaster's Racing Post Trophy.

Amazingly, Kevin's fantastic season wasn't quite finished yet because yet another two-yearold, BALTHAZAARS GIFT mopped up a Listed event at York in October, then nabbed Maison Lafitte's six-furlong Group 2 Criterium Stakes.

Mark Johnston stable-star, ATTRACTION, struggled in the early part of the year with injury. However, the 2004 dual English and Irish Guineas heroine came back to her best by winning the Group 1 Matron Stakes in Ireland.

It was turning into a golden autumn for trainers based in our area, not least in view of COLLIER HILL picking up the £111,497 first prize for the Group 1 Irish St Leger.

Neither Alan Swinbank, nor veteran jockey Dean McKeown had previously tasted victory at such a high level. However, Collier Hill, who'd been on the go since collecting another decent prize at the Dubai carnival in the spring, would not be denied at the Curragh.

Not far as the crow flies from Swinbank's Thorndale Farm, David Barker's Scorton-nearCatterick stables also enjoyed a memorable campaign.

Multiple sprint winners WHINHILL HOUSE (winning seven), MECCA'S MATE (five), and SIERRA VISTA (five), improved out of all recognition, notching a remarkable 17 victories between them.

Barker's stable-star, CELTIC MILL, also grabbed Sandown's Group 2 Temple Stakes, prior to a nasty-looking fall back at the same venue later on in the year.

To his credit, he bounced back and ended his season on a high note by scooping a decent all-weather prize at Southwell.

Having already made reference to Bryan Smart's inaugural Royal Ascot triumph with Titus Alone, it would be fair to assume that win was the pinnacle of his season.

Nothing could be further from the truth since, on October 1, Smart bagged Redcar's Listed Two-Year-Old Trophy, one of Europe's richest juvenile races, with MISU BOND.

The victory netted a monster £111,360 for Smart's principal owner, Reg Bond, a famous success setting up the possibility of a crack at this year's 2,000 Guineas with the well-bred son of Danehill.

Numerically, other trainers to thrive were Richard Fahey, notching 78 winners and nearly £800,000 in prize money, David Nicholls, whose 67 scorers mopped up over £900,000, plus Karl Burke and Tim Easterby, both of whom passed the halfcentury of winners well before the end of the year.

To round off yet another terrific year for northern trainers, Patrick Haslam, the only trainer to have plied his trade from Newmarket, Lambourn and now Middleham, passed another milestone by sending out his first-ever Group 1 winner in the guise of KINNAIRD.

The venue was Longchamp's Arc de Triomphe meeting in October, the race the Prix de l'Opera worth over £100,000.

Starting at the phenomenally generous odds of 33-1, and under a canny tactical ride from Kevin Darley, Kinnaird beat a top-class field to take the tenfurlong feature with half a length to spare.

It was Haslam's day all right - so often one of the unsung heroes of both the Flat and National Hunt scene, he had finally achieved one of the crowning glories of an already long and illustrious career.