Horses that start their racing careers at the age of four and over fences in the point-to-point fields may not be the most obvious future Royal Ascot winners, but that was the case with Clondaw Warrior.
As this year’s event gets underway, albeit behind closed doors owing to the Coronavirus pandemic, we look back on that achievement of Clondaw Warrior, winning the Ascot Stakes in 2015.
Carrying the ‘Clondaw’ tag in his name in common with many of Mick Goff’s leading pointing exports, the Overbury gelding ran in his colours, but whilst Goff is now known as a leading handler within the sport, in 2011, when Clondaw Warrior made his competitive debut, the horse was under the care of Colin Bowe.
Having made the trip to Limavady for his debut, Clondaw Warrior finished third to Balinroab in a four-year-old maiden in early April, before re-appearing a fortnight later, when once again a beaten favourite, this time finishing second at Maralin as the odds-on market leader.
His latest defeat coming at the hands of On Your Eoin by six lengths.
Victory also passed him by in the 2011 p2p.ie point-to-point bumper at Tipperary when he went down by a head, however he would eventually gain a deserved success in a Down Royal equivalent, which saw him run out a five-length winner.
After an initial spell racing on the track for Shark Hanlon, Clondaw Warrior was snapped up by Champion Trainer Willie Mullins in 2014, before being pitched at a first visit to the Royal meeting a year later, for some well-known owners that included the wife’s of former jockeys Ruby Walsh and David Casey.
Clondaw Warrior entered the 2015 Royal Ascot fixture for what would be his first run on the flat since landing the November Handicap at Leopardstown seven months earlier, having been competing in valuable handicap hurdles during the winter, finishing placed at both the Fairyhouse and Punchestown Festivals earlier that spring.
Once of the longest races on the flat racing programme, taking place over a distance of 2m4f, the then eight-year-old was the mount of Ryan Moore who held him up throughout the marathon Ascot Stakes.
Brought wide to make his challenge with two furlongs to race, he fit the front for the first time at the furlong pole and dug deep to hold off the challenge of Fun Mac, a horse half his age, by half a length in the Class 2 contest.
His success saw him become the oldest winners of the Ascot Stakes since Full House in 2007, and provided Willie Mullins with the second of what are now four successes in the race, following the initial success of Simenon three years earlier, whilst Thomas Hobson and Lagostovegas subsequently bolstered Mullins’ record in the race.
