"It was heart attack territory!" - memories of a courageous mare who starred at Galway and Goodwood

It's difficult to believe a decade has passed since a Ballybrit day that entered into the annals, when Missunited galloped through the soft rain and into the hearts of the racing public with her commanding victory in the Galway Hurdle.

Mares had an excellent record in the race during the 1990s with four wins in eight runnings, however, since the victory of Black Queen in 1998, Missunited is the only one to have succeeded. But then, Vanessa and Dan Hutch's homebred daughter of Golan is no ordinary horse.

She brought her owner-breeders and trainer Michael Winters, neighbours in the Kanturk area of north Cork, to places far removed. All the way from Listowel's harvest festival to Glorious Goodwood, with Royal Ascot and Longchamp wonderful waymarks on a remarkable ride.

"I was thinking about it only this morning as we were getting ready to go to Galway" says Dan Hutch, speaking on Tuesday. "The weather isn't far off what it was then, it rained all day but Missunited didn't mind the ground. Her best form was on good to firm on the Flat, but ground didn't matter to her."

That best form included when third past the post in the Gold Cup of 2014 (subsequently promoted to second), a showdown on Royal Ascot's home straight between Leading Light, Estimate and Missunited that thrilled, enthralled and moved every spectator whether on course or watching at home.

For her connections, it provoked extremes of emotion.

"It was heart attack territory!' exclaims Hutch. "I couldn't believe what unfolded. It was Jim Crowley's first time riding her and he told us afterwards that if he'd known beforehand she was as tough as she was, he would have stretched the elastic further out in the country. He was afraid she was giving everything."

Dan Hutch, Vanessa Hutch, Michael Winters and Seamie Heffernan after Missunited had won the Oyster Stakes (Listed) GalwayCredit: Patrick McCann

Missunited's 'everything' really was everything. Crowley knew exactly what his partner possessed when they were reunited the following month for the Group 3 Lillie Langtry Stakes at Goodwood, on what would prove to be the final start of a career that included another Group 1 third in the Prix du Cadran, Listed wins on the Flat at Leopardstown and Galway, and a Grade 3 success over hurdles.

She won but finished lame, carried out on her shield having repelled the challenges of Arabian Comet and Waila on the Sussex Downs, with Group 1 winners Talent and Nymphea also among the vanquished.

At this remove, the goosebumps lose none of their piquancy. Missunited possessed a determination and courage that is rare and the final two starts of her career were an eloquent expression of what was written in her heart.

Her absence from the Ballybrit extravaganza a year later had a greater impact on the bookmakers than her presence did.

"I remember hearing from Ray Mulvaney that her Goodwood win was the single biggest loss he had at the Galway races - everyone at the track was backing her," says Hutch.

She returned to her birthplace, the couple's Whispering Grass Stud, to begin her broodmare career and her first foal is now a stallion at the Cashman family's Glenview Stud, not many miles away. Eagles By Day, a son of Sea The Stars, won York's Silver Cup for Clipper Logistics and David O'Meara and, like his dam, earned a Royal Ascot placing when third in the King Edward VII Stakes. Second in the Cumberland Lodge, he was also fourth in the Goodwood Cup and his breeder has been impressed by the strength of his first foals.

Eagles By Day and Danny Tudhope (left) winning the John Smith's Silver Cup Stakes Credit: Dan Abraham

"They're good, big strong horses but he doesn't have a huge crop of foals," says Hutch. "If he's going to make it as a stallion he's going to have to start from the ground up and hopefully get lucky. 

"There are so many National Hunt stallions around now and it's very difficult for a sire to get going, especially with the French stallions dominating."

Eagles By Day is one of three winners from as many runners for Missunited, who has an exciting three-year-old Lope De Vega filly in Japan. Wholeness won a maiden at Niigata for Godolphin in May, and in Cork they are eagerly awaiting her next appearance.

Au Clair De Lune, a winning full-sister to Eagles By Day, has joined Missunited back at the farm and had her first foal, a daughter of Lope De Vega, this year. Missunited's Blue Point yearling will head to the sales in the autumn, while she foaled a full-sibling to Eagles By Day this year.

"Her Golden Horn daughter Young At Heart is at stud in the UK now and, for a family that was low in females, it has turned right round now," adds Hutch. "She's had one colt in six offerings but she's fine and healthy at home, producing big, strong stock."

A decade on from those stirring triumphs, Missunited's story is not yet told, but the legend of her courage only grows with the fading of time.

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