Blast From The Past: Ayr Gold Cup

It’s been a long while since the Ayr Gold Cup was won by a Scottish-trained horse. The last to do so was Roman Warrior in 1975 trained, in fact, just across the road from the racecourse by Nigel Angus at Cree Lodge. That’s one reason for his name being in the history books, but he’s also of note for carrying the most weight to victory in the famous sprint handicap as he was burdened with 10-0 that year.

Racehorses of 1975 described the ‘enormous, strong, lengthy’ Roman Warrior as ‘a horse to break the handicapper’s heart: weight seems to make little difference to him’. Remarkably, ten stone wasn’t the highest weight he successfully shouldered that season. In July, in the Canada Dry Shield Handicap over the same course and distance as the Ayr Gold Cup, he carried a 6 lb penalty for winning the previous month’s Gosforth Park Cup at Newcastle which brought his weight up to 10-6, though that didn’t stop him winning with ‘ridiculous ease’. ‘That’ll blow a fuse in the computer’ his trainer remarked after what was Roman Warrior’s second successive win in the Canada Dry Shield - he went on to win it for a third time in 1976.

It was the Ayr Gold Cup that really mattered, though, and having finished third in it as a three-year-old, Roman Warrior lined up in 1975 after some doubt about his participation before the ground dried up sufficiently – it had been soft the day before, so much so that all the races were started by flag instead of from stalls.

This was how Racehorses described the victory of Roman Warrior who was sent off the second favourite at 8/1 in a field of twenty-three:

‘Racing over on the far side Roman Warrior forged ahead of the favourite Lochnager; on the stand rails the Stewards Cup winner Import [carrying just 8-1!] steamed away from his nearest pursuer Clear Melody. As Roman Warrior and Import flashed across the line separated by the width of the course it was impossible to split them with the naked eye. However the photograph showed that Roman Warrior had held on by a short head.’

Incidentally, the three-year-old Lochnager, who finished third in receipt of 23 lb from Roman Warrior, went on to become champion sprinter the following season, winning the King’s Stand, the July Cup and the Nunthorpe. As might be imagined, Roman Warrior was well up to contesting pattern races himself, and just a week after his Ayr victory he dead-heated for first in the Diadem Stakes at Ascot. He had also finished fourth in the July Cup and Nunthorpe (five furlongs was on the sharp side for him) and ended the second finishing runner-up in the Sprint Cup at Haydock, then run in November.

Carrying 10-0 again in 1976, Roman Warrior was sent off the 3/1 favourite in his bid to become the first dual Ayr Gold Cup winner since the 1930s but he could finish only eighth. That did little to take the gloss of his record, though. ‘One couldn’t wish for a tougher and more genuine animal’ said Racehorses who rated him 132 in 1975. ‘Roman Warrior is a colossus of a horse with a heart to match.’