SIR Michael Stoute Asking This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Sir Michael Stoute - A Barbadian Icon - Thoroughbred Horse Racing at the Garrison Savannah, Barbados Turf Club

   www.barbadosturfclub.com/Racin - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/31/2005   Last Visited: 7/25/2006

   THIS AUTOMATICALLY SETS THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW SIR MICHAEL STOUTE ASKING, "WHO IS THIS BAJAN BORN TRAINER WITH SO MANY HORSES IN HIS STABLE? WHAT SUCCESS HAS HE HAD? WHO DOES HE TRAIN FOR? AND HOW DID HE GET INVOLVED IN ENGLISH RACING?"
   
   OLDER RACE FANS WILL KNOW ALL ABOUT HIM AS MANY OF THEM KNEW HIM BEFORE HE LEFT THESE SHORES WHILST OTHERS HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING HIS HORSES AND PLACING BETS ON THEM AT THE LOCAL RACING POOLS; AT BOOKIE SHOPS WHEN OVERSEAS, OR WHILST AT THE TRACKS IN ENGLAND WHEN HIS HORSES ARE RUNNING.
   
   SIR MICHAEL'S FAMILY ROOTS GO BACK OVER 300 YEARS. HE IS THE SON OF MAJOR RONALD STOUTE THE FORMER COMMISSIONER OF POLICE AND LATER MANAGING DIRECTOR / CHAIRMAN OF THE WELL ESTABLISHED REAL ESTATE COMPANY RONALD STOUTE REAL ESTATE.
   
   HIS LOVE FOR HORSES DEVELOPED VERY EARLY AND BY THE TIME HE WAS 6 YEARS OLD HE WAS VISITING THE GARRISON SAVANNAH ON MORNINGS TO WATCH THE HORSES GO THROUGH THEIR PACES AT EXERCISE.
   ...
   HIS FRIENDS FROM SCHOOL DAYS WILL TELL YOU THAT MICHAEL WAS SO GOOD THAT HE COULD CALL A RACE WITHOUT A HORSE RUNNING AND YOU WOULD SWEAR A RACE WAS IN PROGRESS AT THE GARRISON SAVANNAH.
   
   TO THIS DAY MICHAEL WILL TELL YOU THAT HE THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THE DAYS WHEN HE CALLED RACES IN BARBADOS AND TRINIDAD FROM 1962 TO 1965.
   
   HOWEVER, THIS WAS NOT WHAT MICHAEL WANTED AS A CAREER. HE WANTED TO BE MORE INVOLVED WITH THE HORSES.
   
   SO FOLLOWING HIS LOVE FOR THE SPORT AND HIS AMBITION TO ONE DAY BE A TRAINER, MICHAEL LEFT BARBADOS IN 1965 AT THE AGE OF 19 TO JOIN THE STABLE OF TRAINER PAT ROHAN IN ENGLAND AS A STUDENT.
   ...
   IT WAS IN 1972 AT THE AGE OF 27 THAT MICHAEL DECIDED HE HAD ACCUMULATED ENOUGH KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE AND AFTER WORKING EIGHT YEARS WITH THREE TRAINERS HE DECIDED THAT IT WAS TIME TO MOVE ON AND TAKE OUT HIS OWN PUBLIC TRAINERS LICENSE AND SET UP HIS OWN TRAINING ESTABLISHMENT WHICH HE DID IN NEWMARKET.
   
   HAVING THE GIFT OF BEING ABLE TO ASSESS A HORSE AND THE DESIRE TO DO WELL, IT DID NOT TAKE LONG FOR SUCCESS TO COME HIS WAY AND ON THE 28TH OF APRIL OF THE SAME YEAR HE SADDLED HIS FIRST WINNER, SANDAL OWNED BY HIS FATHER.
   
   THE FOLLOWING YEAR HE WON THE STEWARDS CUP WITH ALPHADAMUS AND THE AYR GOLD CUP WITH BLUE CASHMERE.
   
   IN 1974, MICHAEL WENT IN SEARCH OF HIS FIRST GROUP WINNER AND IT CAME WHEN BLUE CASHMERE WON THE 1974 RUNNING OF THE NUN THORPE AT YORK.
   
   WITH THIS HURDLE BEHIND HIM MICHAEL WAS NOW IN SEARCH OF HIS FIRST 'CLASSIC' WINNER AS HE KNEW IT WOULD TAKE WINNING THESE TYPES OF RACES TO ATTRACT NEW OWNERS AND SOME OF THE MORE ESTABLISHED OWNERS TO HIS BARN, WHICH IN TURN WOULD BE THE WAY TO HELP PROPEL HIM TO THE PINNACLE OF THE PROFESSION HE HAD CHOSEN.
   
   IT WAS IN 1978 THAT MICHAEL NOTICED A LOVELY LOOKING FILLY IN HIS BARN NAMED FAIR SALINA. SHE WAS SHOWING CONSIDERABLE IMPROVEMENT AS A 3- YEAR-OLD, AND HE FELT CONFIDENT SHE WAS 'CLASSIC' MATERIAL.
   
   SHE DID NOT DISAPPOINT HIM AND WENT ON TO WIN THE 1978 EPSOM OAKS AND FOLLOWED THAT UP BY WINNING THE 1978 IRISH OAKS.
   
   THAT WAS EXACTLY WHAT MICHAEL NEEDED AS IT CONFIRMED HIS ABILITY TO COMPETE AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL AND AT THE SAME TIME ATTRACTED SOME OF THE MORE ESTABLISHED OWNERS IN THE SPORT TO HIS BARN.
   
   BY THE 1980'S HE WAS A DOMINANT FORCE WITH WINNERS SUCH AS GREEN DESERT, AJDAL, MILLIGRAM, SADDLER'S HALL, SHARDARI, MARWELL, AND ZILZAL.
   
   FIRST TRAINERS TITLE
   
   A BITTER SWEET PERIOD IN MICHAEL'S CAREER CAME WHEN IN 1981 HE WON THE EPSOM DERBY FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH THE AWESOME BUT ILL-FATED COLT SHERGAR AND FOLLOWED THIS UP BY ALSO WINNING THE 1981 IRISH DERBY WITH HIM.
   
   MICHAEL, AT THE SAME TIME ALSO FULFILLED ANOTHER OF HIS GOALS BY WINNING HIS FIRST ENGLISH TRAINERS CHAMPIONSHIP.
   
   THERE ARE FEW PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE NAME, 'SHEGHAR'. HE WAS A LIGHTLY RACED COLT AS A 2-YEAR-OLD AND FINISHED THE YEAR 1980 AS A 33/1 SHOT FOR THE 1981 EPSOM DERBY.
   
   MICHAEL TOOK HIS TIME WITH THIS HANDSOME YOUNG COLT AND BY THE TIME HE TURNED 3 HE WAS AN AWESOME RACEHORSE.
   
   HE WON THE SANDOWN CLASSIC TRIAL BY 10 LENGTHS; THE CHESTER VASE BY 12, AND BY DERBY DAY, HIS ODDS WERE DOWN TO EVEN'S.
   
   IN THE DERBY TURNING FOR HOME SHERGAR WAS THE ONLY HORSE IN THE RACE STILL ON THE BRIDLE, AND WHEN EASED, HE WENT ON TO WIN BY 10 LENGTHS THE WIDEST MARGIN IN THE HISTORY OF THE DERBY.
   
   SHERGAR WENT ON TO WIN THE IRISH DERBY AND THEN TOOK ON HIS OLDER RIVALS IN THE KING GEORGE VI & QUEEN ELIZABETH DIAMOND STAKES WHERE HE FOUND HIMSELF BOXED IN WITH NO WHERE TO GO FOR MOST OF THE RACE; IN A RACE WHICH WAS BEING RUN AT A VERY SLOW PACE
   
   IT WAS ONLY WHEN CAVALRY SLIGHTLY MOVED OFF THE RAIL IN THE STRAIGHT THAT SHEGHAR SAW SOME DAYLIGHT AND HE WAS THROUGH THE OPENING IN A FLASH GOING ON TO BEAT HIS OLDER RIVALS BY AN EASY 4 LENGTHS.
   
   ALTHOUGH FAILING IN THE ST. LEGER, THE ONE RACE THAT HAS ALSO ELUDED THIS GREAT HORSEMAN OVER THE YEARS, HE HAS TO BE CONSIDERED ONE OF THE GREAT HORSES OF ALL TIME AND THE BEST OF HIS GENERATION.
   
   UNFORTUNATELY HE WAS KIDNAPPED AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS CAREER, WHICH WAS NOT ONLY A TRAGEDY AND LOSS FOR HIS TRAINER BUT TO ALL OF THOSE INVOLVED IN THE SPORT.
   
   MICHAEL HAD NOW ESTABLISHED HIMSELF AS ONE THE TOP TRAINERS IN ENGLAND AND WAS THEREFORE ABLE OVER THE YEARS SINCE THEN TO ATTRACT SOME OF THE WORLD'S WEALTHIEST AND MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONALITIES TO HIS BARN SUCH AS THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND, HH AGAKHAN, PRINCE ABDULLAH, SIR EVELYN DE ROTHSCHILD, THE MAKTOUMS FROM DUBAI, AND THE NIARCHOS FAMILIES FROM FRANCE
   ...
   MICHAEL WON A SECOND IRISH DERBY IN 1983 WITH SHAREEF AND IN 1985 SADDLED AN INCREDIBLE 120 WINNERS IN THE YEAR.
   
   CLASSIC YEARS
   
   THE YEAR 1986 WAS A 'CLASSIC' YEAR FOR MICHAEL HE WON THE 1000 GUINEAS WITH SONIC LADY; THE IRISH OAKS WITH COLOR SPIN; THE ITALIAN OAKS WITH IVOR'S IMAGE, AND THE EPSOM DERBY WITH SHAHRASTINI, GIVING HIM HIS SECOND SUCCESS IN THE ENGLISH DERBY.
   
   THAT YEAR HE ALSO BECAME THE FIRST TRAINER IN ENGLAND TO SADDLE HORSES EARNING OVER 2 MILLION POUNDS.
   
   ANOTHER CLASSIC RACE FOLLOWED WHEN UNITE WON THE ENGLISH OAKS.
   
   HIS CLASSIC SUCCESSES FOLLOWED IN 1988 AS DOYOUN WON THE ENGLISH 2000 GUINEAS AND AGAIN WON THE ITALIAN OAKS.
   ...
   IN 1989 SHAADI WON THE IRISH 2000 GUINEAS AND MICHAEL FINISHED THE 1989 SEASON AS CHAMPION TRAINER IN ENGLAND FOR THE THIRD TIME.