2006

SO often in racing, you just can’t deny a good story being written. Take Irish-bred Willyconker’s improbable rise to Grade 1 winner.

The former €1,000 Goresbridge Sales graduate held off the odds-on Mr Commons, one of California’s leading turf horses, to land Saturday’s Frank E. Kilroe Mile. The result reversed a 1-2 finish in last month’s Grade 2 Arcadia Handicap, another flat mile heat that saw Mr Commons triumph under confident handling. Willyconker’s diligent second in that same race was a harbinger of things to come.

The son of former Ballyhane Stud stallion Pyrus has been no stranger to the winners’ enclosure. He won twice for Austin Leahy at Dundalk in 2009 [as a two-year-old], and after being claimed for $40,000 last August by Doug O’Neill, tallied another pair of wins in late autumn. The last two starts, however, have been the class test for the Islanmore Stud graduate.

After finishing well in the Arcadia’s latter stages under Rafael Bejarano, this time Willyconker was ridden slightly more aggressively by Joel Rosario. Willyconker gained a short lead from between horses in mid-stretch. Mike Smith awaited room at the quarter pole before finding a clear lane for Mr Commons who came up a short neck shy of his first Grade 1 trophy.

The Kilroe winner, produced from the Trempolino mare Arme Fatale, was originally fancied by Austin Leahy’s daughter Susan. Willyconker was consigned as a yearling by Milltown Park Stud in September 2008 at the Co Kilkenny sales company operated by Martin Donohue.

Later sold privately stateside, Willyconker ran competitively in mid-level claimers for Eoin Harty, before being haltered by O’Neill at last summer’s Del Mar meet. He was offered in a claiming race three more times, once for a low of $25,000 in late October, before beginning his ascent up to Grade 1 competition.

His steady climb to stardom could soon land Willyconker halfway around the world, if Doug O’Neill and the gelding’s owners could get their wish.

O’Neill would consider both the Godolphin Mile on Tapeta and the Dubai Duty Free for Willyconker, should an invitation to compete be extended. The trainer already has Handsome Mike under consideration for the UAE Derby on the World Cup programme.

[This Grade 1 victory was to prove the pinnacle of Willyconker’s career, one that saw him win 10 times. He was one of a trio of winning offspring from his dam, Arme Fatale, and her most successful runner.

His sire Pyrus (Mr Prospector) won the Group 2 Richmond Stakes as a juvenile at Goodwood, later becoming a graded stakes winner in the USA. He shuttled during his stud career and he also sired the Chilean Group 1 winner Don Dionisio]