Mabs Cross: The story of a special sprinter

In an interview with Thoroughbred Owner Breeder magazine in 2012, David Armstrong credited an evening meeting at Haydock Park for sparking his interest in racing. ‘I had never seen race-fit thoroughbreds in the flesh before that,’ he recalled. ‘We went to the winner’s enclosure, to watch the winner and placed horses come in, and I was immediately smitten.’

Armstrong and his wife, Emma, were so smitten that it wasn’t long before they were taking their first steps into ownership, and last week marked the 15-year anniversary of their first visit to the winner’s enclosure for an altogether different reason, when greeting Miss Meggy after her 20/1-success in a fillies’ minor event at Thirsk. The first horse to win a race in their all-red colours with white spots on the cap, Miss Meggy followed up on her next start in the listed Hillary Needler Trophy at Beverley, and though she would go on to win only one of her 19 subsequent starts, her part in the story was by no means over so far as the Armstrong’s racing life is concerned.

Of course, there have been numerous other chapters in the last 15 years, belonging to the likes of Mayson, a homebred who provided them with their first Group 1 success in the July Cup in 2012, and Garswood, a son of Dutch Art who also took top-level honours when winning the Prix Maurice de Gheest two years later. That pair now stand at Cheveley Park Stud in Newmarket, where they have been well-supported in their second careers by their former owners – indeed, eight of the Armstrong’s top 13 earners in 2018 were sired by either Garswood or Mayson.

It was a mating between Dutch Art and a certain Miss Meggy that proved the most fruitful last season, however, with the filly that was born in 2014 providing the latest – and possibly the most eventful – chapters of the Armstrongs' life in racing.

Named Mabs Cross after a Grade II* listed structure in Wigan – her owners name most of their horses after landmarks or places local to their Highfield Farm in Chorley – she failed to make it to the racecourse as a two-year-old, but quickly made up for lost time by winning four of her six starts the following year. The last of them came in a listed event at Musselburgh, signifying that she could be a filly with pattern-race potential in 2018.

The Queen is back. All the latest on Mabs Cross returning to Denton Hall on our Facebook page now. https://t.co/2B16po3G55 pic.twitter.com/ut4tpbIofg

— Michael Dods Racing (@mdodsracing) February 17, 2019

Mabs Cross began her four-year-old campaign in another listed race at Bath and was arguably unlucky not to extend her winning run to five, making headway on the front-running Mrs Gallagher when meeting trouble over a furlong out, in the end losing out by just a neck. She quickly got back to winning ways when coming through fast and late to win the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket a fortnight later, before improving further to make the frame in even higher grades in the Temple Stakes at Haydock and the King’s Stand Stakes (behind Blue Point and Battaash) at Royal Ascot.

15 years is a long time in racing, but the Armstrongs are likely to have endured few more painful – albeit proud – days on a racecourse than at York last August, when Mabs Cross was cruelly denied a first Group 1 success in the Nunthorpe Stakes. With both Battaash and Blue Point below form, the race was blown wide open and boiled down to an unlikely photo finish between 40/1-chance Alpha Delphini and the fast-finishing Mabs Cross. It took judge Di Clark over five minutes to split the pair, with both sets of connections waiting anxiously in the view of the ITV cameras before the judge found a pixel in favour Alpha Delphini.

A huge upset in the @coolmorestud Nunthorpe Stakes!

A photo finish was called, but it was Alpha Delphini (40-1) who got the verdict from Mabs Cross in a thriller. #Ebor pic.twitter.com/CIyQSPTmZY

— York Racecourse (@yorkracecourse) August 24, 2018

Trainer Michael Dods, speaking the next day, was typically gracious in defeat, saying: ‘It was tough, it’s racing and it’s sport but deep down you want to win – we’d have settled for a dead heat before we got the result. She ran her heart out and she’s only four, so there’s other days for her. We always thought early on this season that she was going to be a six-furlong horse, when Silvestre [de Sousa] rode her at Haydock he said “you’ll win a Group 1 over six furlongs with her any day of the week”, but she’s got faster every time she’s run. She’s getting quicker and she doesn’t know when she’s beat, and we’re looking forward to Group 1 success with her one day.’

That day came on Mabs Cross’ next start, when she gained the reward she deserved for her consistency all season in the Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp. Posted wide from a high draw, she benefited from a brilliantly-timed late swoop under her new rider Gerald Mosse, who got the ride as a result of injuries to regular pilot Paul Mulrennan and first-reserve Tom Eaves (rode her in the Nunthorpe). Dods had described his stand-in rider as ‘world class’, and afterwards Emma Armstrong seemed delighted with the ride, saying: ‘I asked Gerald to do what he did to us in 2012 when he came late on Wizz Kid to beat our horse Mayson. That’s exactly what he did. It was incredible.’

Incredible was a rather fitting word to describe Mabs Cross’ rise through in the ranks in 2018 – she swept the board with top sprinting honours at the traditional end-of-year awards ceremonies – and it would be no surprise if she proved capable of climbing higher still this season, especially if her reappearance win in the Palace House is anything to go by.

Reunited with Mulrennan, she was forced to concede at least 4 lb to each of her ten talented rivals, but the now-five-year-old was not to be denied, demonstrating all the qualities that gained her so many followers last year to get the verdict by a neck from Equilateral. Speaking strictly in terms of ratings, that represented a career-best effort by some margin, one that suggests she will continue to be a big player in all the major five-furlong races once again.

On the line!

Back-to-back victories for Mabs Cross in the Zoustar Palace House Stakes at @NewmarketRace

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📱 https://t.co/8ihZAKYLMP pic.twitter.com/OawLSzgbVm

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) May 4, 2019

Clearly, there are plenty more chapters to be written in the Mabs Cross story, and the next one is likely to revive plenty of happy memories for her owners, as she heads back to the venue where it all began. Before Mabs Cross. Before Mayson and Garswood. Before even Miss Meggy.

Saturday’s Temple Stakes would by no means be the most prestigious race that the Armstrongs have ever won, but it would be comfortably their biggest win at Haydock, the location that played host to that first racecourse visit and the winner’s enclosure that inspired a deep-routed passion for racing and breeding alike. Should Mabs Cross be the one who is standing in the winner’s spot come 4.05pm on Saturday, I doubt the word ‘smitten’ will do the Armstrongs' feelings justice…