Ten of Sir Michael Stoute's best: superstar Shergar heads titans trained by the Newmarket legend

The legendary Sir Michael Stoute announced on Tuesday that he would retire from training at the end of the year. Throughout his career he trained a galaxy of top-class racehorses and here are ten of the best . . .

Shergar

The best horse Stoute trained. His spreadeagling successes in 1981 pushed the boundaries of what the thoroughbred is capable of and raised him to legendary status, enhanced by his shock kidnapping.

He won first time out as a juvenile at Newbury before finishing second in the Futurity and announced himself to the wider world with ten- and 12-length triumphs in Sandown's Classic Trial and the Chester Vase.

The Derby was a foregone conclusion as Shergar stormed to a record-breaking ten-length victory – a performance without equal in the great race's long history.

Shergar: produces a record ten-length win in the 1981 DerbyCredit: Gerry Cranham

It redefined excellence in the middle-distance colt and glory in the Irish Derby and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes followed, while his brilliance was not tarnished by a laboured farewell fourth in the St Leger.

Despite his extraordinary ability, Shergar became more famous when he was abducted from Ballymany Stud in 1983, fuelling guesswork about his fate to this day.
James Burn

Harbinger

The end-of-year world rankings can often be a talking point as they reward spectacular one-off displays – and few were as dazzling as the one Harbinger produced in the 2010 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

By romping to an 11-length victory from Irish Derby winner Cape Blanco, with fellow Stoute inmate and Epsom hero Workforce a well-beaten fifth, Harbinger earned an official rating of 135. It was a figure bettered since 1998 by only Sea The Stars and Frankel, whose portfolios were far deeper than the Highclere ace, who then suffered a career-ending leg injury.

Unraced at two, the son of Dansili was second in the Wood Ditton and won the Gordon Stakes before defeats on his final starts at three.

He was superbly nursed back the following season when John Porter, Ormonde and Hardwicke victories preceded his devastating King George romp.
James Burn

Zilzal

Zilzal: Walter Swinburn is led in after winning the 1989 Queen Elizabeth II StakesCredit: Mark Cranham

Stoute was synonymous with middle-distance performers in his sublime career, but he possessed one of the all-time great milers in Zilzal, officially inferior to only El Gran Senor and Frankel over that trip since 1978.

His breathtaking career lasted little over five months, but his achievements mean the name Zilzal still resonates today.

Not sighted as a juvenile, he stormed home by ten lengths on his debut at Leicester – one of Stoute's go-to tracks – before a cosy success in the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot. 

The son of Nureyev tanked through the Sussex Stakes to conquer a quality field and took his unbeaten record to five with another commanding victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, while a sixth in the Breeders' Cup Mile – his only defeat – took little gloss off an exceptional campaign that, along with Old Vic, made him a world champion in 1989.
James Burn

Shareef Dancer

Labelled the horse too valuable to race when he was practically retired before he got back into the winner's enclosure after capturing the 1983 Irish Derby, Shareef Dancer might have generated headlines because of the sums associated with his career, but he was still a classic Stoute powerhouse who excelled over a mile and a half.

By phenomenal sire Northern Dancer, he cost a staggering $3.3 million when purchased as a yearling in Kentucky and was beaten in Sandown's Esher Cup before righting that wrong in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.

A trip to the Curragh and clash with Prix du Jockey Club and Derby winners Caerleon and Teenoso followed, and Shareef Dancer confirmed he was a top-drawer talent by beating them, although he never got the chance to show that form again and was syndicated as a stallion for $40m, heralding the bloodstock boom of the mid-1980s.
James Burn

Crystal Ocean

Crystal Ocean: Sir Michael Stoute smiling in the rain after victory in the 2019 Prince of Wales's StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker

A sole success at the highest level probably does not begin to tell the whole tale of Crystal Ocean, a rock-solid middle-distance performer who ended 2019 rated the world's best alongside Enable and Waldgeist.

That was the year he landed the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot from the high-class Magical, but the form book suggests superior efforts came when second in the Coral-Eclipse and Juddmonte International to Enable and Japan, to whom he gave weight.

In the mould of a typical Stoute improver, he also finished second in the 2017 St Leger before flourishing over shorter, including when runner-up to stablemate Poet's Word and John Gosden star Cracksman as a four-year-old in the Prince of Wales's and Champion Stakes.
James Burn

Pilsudski

Described as a "big, raw horse who needed a lot of time" by Stoute, Pilsudski was handled with great patience by his trainer and went on to fulfil his huge potential.

He progressed from running in handicaps to becoming one of the best in the world, winning multiple Group 1s across the globe.

A Ballymacoll Stud homebred, Pilsudski came of age at four, landing the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden in Germany and becoming Stoute's first Breeders' Cup winner when landing the Turf under Walter Swinburn at Woodbine in 1996.

He was at his zenith the following year, where his big-race wins included the Coral-Eclipse and both the Irish and English Champion Stakes, before signing off a stellar career with victory in the Japan Cup. He was also second in two Arcs and shared the global stage with popular stablemate Singspiel during the 90s.
Lewis Porteous

Shahrastani

Shahrastani: winning the 1986 Derby from Dancing BraveCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Best remembered for beating the luckless Dancing Brave in the 1986 Derby, Shahrastani was high-class in his own right and followed up his win at Epsom with an eight-length success in the Irish Derby.

Bred by his owner the Aga Khan, Shahrastani had a faultless run into the Derby, winning the Sandown Classic Trial and Dante at York.

Dancing Brave, the impressive 2,000 Guineas winner, was favourite in the Derby but Shahrastani and Walter Swinburn opened up what proved to be an unassailable lead early in the home straight and had half a length to spare over the fast-finishing market leader at the post.

Stoute believed Shahrastani "peaked" in the Irish Derby at the Curragh on his next start but by winning by such a commanding distance on a baking-hot day may have "used too much petrol". He subsequently finished fourth to Dancing Brave in both the King George and Arc before being retired.
Lewis Porteous

Marwell

Rated the best sprinter to have passed through Stoute's hands, Marwell was once described as an "oil painting" by her trainer and proved a stunner over five and six furlongs.

She won ten of her 13 races, beating colts and her elders along the way, and was the highest-rated filly of her generation in Europe at both two and three.

She won all her five races as a two-year-old in 1980, including the Molecomb, Flying Childers and Cheveley Park Stakes.

Stoute always believed she could be just as effective over a mile but, despite being found to be in season after after finishing fourth in the 1,000 Guineas at three, owner Edmund Loder decided she should revert to sprinting. She went on to win the King's Stand Stakes, July Cup and Prix de l'Abbaye to secure her legacy.
Lewis Porteous

Workforce

Workforce came home seven lengths clear in the 2010 DerbyCredit: Edward Whitaker

Workforce was earmarked for greatness from the day he made an emphatic racecourse debut at Goodwood.

His reappearance at three came in the Dante at York, where he suffered a tack malfunction and a three-and-a-quarter-length defeat by Cape Blanco.

Confidence was restored with a "serious" piece of work at Lingfield before the Derby. So impressed with that workout, big-race rider Ryan Moore insisted there and then Workforce would win the Derby.

Moore's bold prediction proved spot on and at Epsom in 2010, Workforce put up one of the great Derby-winning performances, winning by seven lengths and taking almost a second off Lammtarra's track record.

Below par in the King George on his next start, Workforce bounced back to form to give Stoute his only victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, showing tremendous resilience to go with the brilliance he had shown in the Derby to beat Japan's Nakayama Festa by a head at Longchamp.
Lewis Porteous

Kribensis

Kribensis: winner of the 1990 Champion HurdleCredit: Mark Cranham

Stoute may have failed to unearth a horse capable of landing Flat racing's Triple Crown, but he managed it over hurdles when Kribensis became the first horse to win the Fighting Fifth, Christmas Hurdle and Champion Hurdle in the same season.

He also gave owner Sheikh Mohammed his first Cheltenham Festival success when winning the 1988 Triumph Hurdle.

Before his hurdling days, Kribensis finished third in the 1987 King George V Handicap over 1m4f at Royal Ascot, but he came of age when switched to jumping.

In 1988 he landed the Triumph, Gerry Feilden and Christmas Hurdle. The following year he took the Fighting Fifth and repeated his Christmas Hurdle win and in 1990 he added the Kingwell and Champion Hurdle.

Not only the first top jumper to be owned by Sheikh Mohammed, Kribensis placed Stoute among an elite band of trainers to have won Classics on the Flat and a championship race at Cheltenham.
Lewis Porteous

Read these next:

Sir Michael Stoute to stop training at the end of the year after 'a great and enjoyable journey' 

Sir Michael Stoute: 'I still enjoy it but probably not as much as I ever did' 

Sir Michael Stoute and Ryan Moore combine with exciting two-year-old prospect hours after trainer announces retirement 

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