Sole Power© Photo Healy Racing
This season’s Ebor Festival will mark the 10th anniversary of Sole Power burning up the York turf to regain his Nunthorpe crown. But his trainer Eddie Lynam remembers it like it was yesterday.
The County Meath handler was already established as a high-class operator by the time his rapid but raw son of Kyllachy began his juvenile campaign in 2009, having enjoyed notable success at home and abroad with the likes of Red Feather, Domingues and the multiple Group-race winner Duff.
However, it did not take Lynam long to realise he had now got his hands on a horse that would take his career to another level.
“We knew he was very good, it was just a matter of teaching him how to race,” he recalled.
“If you look back at his history and watch him racing, you could see that would have been a bit of a struggle early on in his career, particularly when he was a colt.
“He was very eager to please, but the more he raced, the better he got and those good lads like Johnny (Murtagh) and Richard (Hughes) got the hang of him and we had some great days.”
Sole Power’s first of seven visits to York came on just his third career start, as after being placed twice at the Curragh, he finished a narrowly-beaten third in the £300,000 St Leger Yearling Stakes.
But it was after being gelded prior to his three-year-old campaign when he really began to excel, winning on his reappearance on the all-weather at Dundalk before placing fourth against his elders in the Palace House at Newmarket.
It was after that creditable effort on the Rowley Mile that the Nunthorpe first came into focus for his connections, but after subsequently finishing out of the places at Naas, the Curragh and Tipperary, Lynam admits he was beginning to have second thoughts.
He added: “After the Palace House, we said we’d aim him for a big sprint in England, because we knew the style of racing would suit him.
“We thought Royal Ascot would come too soon for him, given he was only a three-year-old, so we waited for the Nunthorpe and that was the plan and we were quite hopeful of a big run, but the nearer we got to it, confidence waned, as he ran a couple of very ordinary races here.
“After discussing it with David (Power, owner), he said ‘look, he better take his chance, he’s nothing to lose’. It looked a Hail Mary entry to be fair, but the rest is history.”
Sole Power lined up as a 100-1 shot for the 2010 Nunthorpe under Wayne Lordan, but kicked in the turbo late to mow down the 6-4 favourite Starspangledbanner and secure a shock victory.
“It was a brilliant performance on the day,” said Lynam. “They went off like the clappers, Paul Hanagan rode a filly of Richard Fahey’s (Rose Blossom) that was very quick and they went a million.
“We sat in behind and picked them off, it was my first Group One winner and a day we’ll never forget.
“It was definitely a surprise for me. While we’d been dreaming of it all summer, his race before that, he got very unbalanced in Tipperary and ran no sort of race and the confidence sort of ebbed away.
“It’s a bit like you fancying a horse for Cheltenham pre-Christmas and then by the time Cheltenham comes around you’re kind of going ‘we’re up against it here!’.
“For a 100-1 winner, the crowd were pretty receptive to him. No one would have backed him, I’d imagine.”
Sole Power was a non-runner in the 2011 Nunthorpe due to unsuitable ground and could finish only seventh on his third attempt 12 months later. He was then beaten just half a length into third place in 2013 and Lynam feels that year’s Nunthorpe may be one that got away.
“That was a cracking run. Jwala (winner) was one of those fillies that was on the improve, but we ignored her,” he continued.
“We went to York thinking we had one horse to beat and that was Shea Shea. If you watch the tape, wherever Shea Shea went, we went – if he went left, we went left, if he went right, we went right and if he went to the shop, we went to the shop!
“Jwala got a brilliant ride and kicked for home, we couldn’t catch her and Shea Shea actually beat us a nose for second. Fair play to the winner, the closest we got to her was after the race.”
By the time the 2014 Nunthorpe came around, Sole Power was arguably in the form of his life.
Now a fully matured seven-year-old, he had already won that year’s Palace House and the King’s Stand at Royal Ascot and he was an 11-4 favourite to continue his profitable campaign in the hands of a relatively new partner in Richard Hughes.
What followed was a sensational performance by both horse and rider, with Sole Power delivered as late as Hughes dared, getting up in the last 50 yards without being fully extended to deny a familiar rival in Stepper Point by the cheekiest half-length imaginable.
Lynam believes the victory was even more remarkable due to the fact his preparation was far from ideal.
He said: “That race is more about him and less about me because we were trying to go for the clean sweep of the Group One sprints in England that year and we’d won the first three – the King’s Stand with Sole Power and the Diamond Jubilee and the July Cup with Slade Power. The Nunthorpe was the fourth and the last one would be the Sprint Cup.
“Both horses went to Newmarket for the July Cup, Slade Power won it and Sole Power didn’t run because the ground went soft and both of them picked up a skin infection. They were riddled with it and we couldn’t put a saddle on them for ages afterwards.
“We had awful trouble getting them back, so Sole Power had a very poor prep for the Nunthorpe and then had a very nerve-racking trip, with Richard trying all of our patience!
“With no preparation, he managed to win it, which just shows how good a horse he was. Richard said he had no interest when he pulled him out initially, so he covered him back up again and came with one run. It was definitely a box office ride.
“He wasn’t a percentage jockey’s sort of ride. Richard rode him not afraid to get beat and they won three Group Ones together, so he was pretty good on him.”
Sole Power ran in the Nunthorpe for a fifth and sixth time, finishing fourth in 2015 and eighth in 2016, before the curtain was brought down on his glittering career in Dubai the following season.
Seven years on, the now 17-year-old is enjoying a well-earned retirement in County Wicklow.
“He has a great retirement,” said Lynam. “He’s let himself go a bit and has got a bit fat, but he’s doing great and he’s at Horse Park Stud with John Cullinan, who broke him in as a yearling, so he’s gone full circle really.
“We had brilliant days with him and we loved our days at York. Hopefully, one day I’ll have a horse good enough to go back there again.”
