Constitution Hill only the latest racing great to grace Southwell

While Constitution Hill will add a real touch of stardust to Southwell on Friday night, he is far from the first superstar to appear at the course. Here, we look at some other equine greats who have graced the Nottinghamshire track, in their case prepping for the Breeders’ Cup Classic:

Aidan O’Brien knew he needed to try something different if the ‘Iron Horse’ was to provide him with a first Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2000. Having finished runner-up in both the English and Irish 2000 Guineas he went on to win the St James’s Palace Stakes, the Eclipse, the Sussex Stakes, Juddmonte International and Irish Champion Stakes. As Southwell’s surface was Fibresand at the time, the closest surface that resembled American dirt, O’Brien wanted him to experience kick back for the first time and a public workout was arranged. He would go on to be beaten just a neck by Tiznow in the Classic at Churchill Down in truly a race for the ages.

Just 12 months after coming so close, the brilliant Galileo provided O’Brien with another chance to win the Classic. Galileo won his first six races which included the English and Irish Derbys and the King George. Mick Kinane came over to put him through his paces but while he appeared to act well enough at Southwell, he could only finished sixth in the Classic, with Tiznow winning for a second time, denying Sakhee and Frankie Dettori.

Starcraft arrived at Luca Cumani’s Newmarket yard in 2005 following a successful career in Australia and having won the Prix du Moulin he went on to beat Dubawi in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. Both of those wins were over a mile but he would be stepping back up to 10 furlong for a crack at the Classic. Cumani was on hand to witness him go through his paces in a public workout and check upon how he handled the kick back. Starcraft ultimately finished seventh in the Classic, won by Saint Liam.

It was not hard to get behind the Toast Of New York story given he was trained by a former jump jockey in Jamie Osborne and it soon became apparent he had a top-class horse on his hands. Two wins at Wolverhampton by an aggregate of 28 lengths teed up a trip to Meydan where he won the 2014 UAE Derby and then went on to contest the Belmont Derby on turf. Osborne then kept his powder dry with the Classic in mind, prior to that he sent his big hope to Southwell in October for a spin and it so nearly paid off. ‘Toast’, as he was affectionately called, was beaten by the narrowest of margins in the Classic by Bayern, and remains the closest any UK-based trainer has come to winning the race on dirt.

After over 20 years O’Brien returned to Southwell with one of the most talked about horses of a generation. The champion juvenile flopped in the Guineas but bounced back to win the Derby, the Eclipse and Juddmonte International. By a Triple Crown winner in Justify, hopes were high City Of Troy would have no trouble with the surface at Del Mar, but to be sure O’Brien took him to Southwell. However, in his years away the track had been relaid and the Tapeta surface was far removed from the old Fibresand that served Giant’s Causeway so well. Nevertheless there was a real carnival atmosphere on the day, with thousands given free admittance and the whole Ballydoyle team arrived adorned in City Of Troy merchandise to add to the occasion. Alas, it did him no good as he could only finish eighth behind Sierra Leone.