Derby winner Desert Crown put down
Last year’s Epsom Derby winner Desert Crown has been put down due to the injury he picked up on the gallops in August.
A six times Epsom Derby winner, the Newmarket trainer has also picked up a record number of Royal Ascot winners, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the St Leger, The Japan Cup twice and four Breeders' Cup turf titles.
The most famous horse he has trained is arguably Shergar, who won The Derby on 1981 and then was kidnapped and never to be seen again.
Stoute's father Ronald was the Chief Police Commissioner on Barbados and the Stoute family home backed on to the Garrison Savannah racecourse, meaning a young Michael could peer over the fence for a view of proceedings.
It was a media move that brought Stoute to Britain in 1964 as he chased a job as a racing commentator with the BBC. He got down to the final six of a recruitment processes that eventually saw Julian Wilson get the gig.
But Stoute wasn't done with the UK or British racing, and he got a job with Pat Rohan at his North Yorkshire yard.
He spent three years comprehensively learning the job of trainer before moving to Newmarket to assist Douglas Smith and then Tom Jones, for whom he was on hand as assistant when Athens Wood won the 1971 St Leger at Doncaster.
By 1978, Stoute had a significant filly on his hands in Fair Salinia, who won him his first classic with the Epsom Oaks, followed by the Irish Oaks for good measure.
One of the young horses sent to Stoute was a bay colt with a bright white face called Shergar.
Shergar showed promise as a two-year-old but flourished at the age of three, where he filled out considerably in frame and was targeted at the 1981 Epsom Derby.
Shergar won both his prep races for the Derby in fine style, prevailing in the Sandown Classic Trial by 10 lengths and then the Chester Vase by 12 lengths.
Swinburn simply switched on Shergar's finishing speed to race clear in the straight and open up a record-breaking ten length advantage.
Negotiations with the kidnappers (believed to be the Provisional I.R.A.) failed and Shergar was never returned.
One theory is that Shergar died or was killed early on in negotiations, but this has never been substantiated, meaning that the horse's demise remains a sad mystery to Stoute to this day.
Although the Shergar affair was a terrible ordeal for all involved, it was notable that Stoute won his first British Champion Trainer title in 1981 and he was able to bounce back into real success in the '80s.
In 1981, Stoute proved his worth as a trainer of sprinters by winning the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot with Marwell, teaming up successfully with Shergar's jockey Walter Swinburn.
This Bajan trainer was certainly not sticking to Carribean cliches about being laid back and in 1986 was to claim an historic Epsom and Irish Derby double.
Sired by the triple-crown winning Nijinksy, Shahrastani had impeccable breeding and a superlative owner in the Aga Khan and proved to be an able competitor to the great Dancing Brave.
The 2000 Guineas winning Dancing Brave started favourite for the 1986 Epsom Derby but could not catch Stoute's 11/2 shot Shahrastani, who prevailed by half a length.
That winning margin for Shahrastani lengthened to eight lengths in the Irish Derby at the Curragh, securing a brilliant double for Stoute.
The late 80's saw Stoute achieve a variety of success, winning his second and third Champion Trainer titles in 1986 and 1989 and he even managed to cross over to National Hunt hunt racing to win the Triumph Hurdle. He also secured the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival for Sheikh Mohammed with Kribensis.
The summer of 1993 proved to be stellar for Stoute as Opera House hit the high notes with a trio of Group One wins.
Ezzoud also took the International Stakes at York in 1993 for Stoute, following up in the same race in 1994, also adding the Eclipse Stakes for good measure.
Cezanne painted a pretty picture in the Group One Champion Stakes at Leopardstown in September 1994, but Stoute had his eyes on a trans-atlantic prize.
Named after the Polish statesman Jozef Pilsudski, Pilsudski put together an imposing run of form that went from handicaps in 1995 to a second in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1996.
The encouraging run in Paris saw Stoute enter Pilsudski and stablemate Singspiel in the Breeders' Cup Turf in October '96.
At the Woodbine track in Canada, Pilsudski stalked Singspiel, with jockey Walter Swinburn attacking from one furlong out and drawing clear for a Stoute one-two in the prestigious North-American Group One.
Singspiel continued the globetrotting with a flight to Japan a month later to contest the Group One Japan Cup.
The colt Singspiel won under Frankie Dettori in Tokyo while Stoute returned a year later in 1997 and won it again with the 134 Timeform rated Pilsudski.
The Aga Khan provided Stoute with yet another classy animal in Kalanisi and the horse hit form in late 2000 with a win in the Champion Stakes at Newmarket before flying to the USA to take the Breeders' Cup Turf at Churchill Downs under Johnny Murtagh.
By 2003, Stoute had another serious Derby contender on his hands in Kris Kin.
The 6/1 shot Kris Kin had 11/4 Dermot Weld favourite Refuse To Bend to contend with but found Aidan O'Brien's The Great Gatsby the toughest opponent at Epsom.
Yet, Kris Kin finished like a train under Fallon for a one length victory, writing Stoute into the history books with a third Epsom Derby win.
Stoute being Stoute came back the next year and won the Derby again with North Light as his position as a class-act in British racing was rubber-stamped.
His ability to bring horses on was epitomised by the handling of Notnowcato who went from finishing seventh in a class 2 handicap at Goodwood to picking up three Group One races in the space of two years.
The hardy Notnowcato won the international Stakes at York, The Tatersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh and the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown and proved to be a horse that would just not know when he was beaten, much like his enduring trainer.
Conduit proved a staggeringly good runner for a horse that won a maiden on the all-weather at Wolverhampton.
Sired by the successful Dalakhani, the well-bred Conduit went on to earn over three and half million pounds in prize money, winning the Breeders' Cup Turf two years in a row at Santa Anita under Ryan Moore.
Stoute capped the decade with a tenth Champion Trainer title, sending a note of intent to his rivals that he wasn't about to ease off with the Group One stunners.
At a Timeform rated 133, Workforce was not even the highest rated Stoute horse that season with Harbinger stealing a march and securing a lofty rating of 140.
Harbinger went unbeaten in the Summer of 2010 winning the Hardwicke Stakes at Ascot before returning in July to blitz the field with an 11-length success in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
He then popped over to Arlington Park in August 2013 to show his international runners he had a bright future as Dank won the Beverly D Stakes at Arlington Park for a cool purse of £267,791.
The 2014 and 2015 seasons had Stoute target more North American success, this time in Canada where Hillstar won the Canadian International Stakes under Ryan Moore with the jockey winning the race again the year after on Cannock Chase for Stoute.
As the clock ticked towards the 2020's and Stoute entered his seventies, the Group One wins started to become more sparse. But in November 2018 he proved his expertise in the Breeders' Cup by winning the Breeders' Cup Mile with Expert Eye, using the tried and tested US performer Dettori.
Dream of Dreams beat another sprint specialist Archie Watson's Glen Shiel for an emotional victory for owner Saeed Suhail, whose King's Best was trained to 2000 Guineas victory as far back as 2000 by Stoute.
Dream of Dreams wins the Diamond Jubilee Stakes 💎
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) June 19, 2021
Sir Michael Stoute goes to 82 wins at Royal Ascot.
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He also claimed his third Champion Stakes crown in the same year with 10/1 outsider Bay Bridge, who inflicted the only defeat of superstar horse Baaeed's short career.
Sir Michael Stout's net worth is believed to be £15million.
Last year’s Epsom Derby winner Desert Crown has been put down due to the injury he picked up on the gallops in August.
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