Sweet Glow

Sweet Glow did not begin his career looking like the horse he would eventually become. His first few runs in Britain were disappointing and, on the face of it, there was little to suggest that he would go on to develop into such a memorable staying performer.

He was beaten favourite in his first three starts, twice at odds-on, and at that stage looked more frustrating than exciting. After those early runs he was gelded, and that proved to be an important turning point.

His next appearance came at Market Rasen in April 1991, where he won at 7/2 and began a sequence of four straight victories. They may not have come in the strongest races, but they hinted that there was something there to work with. Even then, however, it still took time before the full picture emerged.

The real breakthrough came once he was stepped up in trip and ridden with more patience. That was when Peter Scudamore really seemed to unlock him. Switched off off the pace over three miles, Sweet Glow suddenly began to look like a proper staying hurdler with a turn of foot most horses at that distance simply did not possess.

By the time Royal Ascot 1994 came around, the plan for the Ascot Stakes had been in place for a while.

Sweet Glow had been given two Flat runs as preparation, one over a mile and a half at Bath and one over a mile and three-quarters at Sandown, but neither was over anything like the trip he would tackle in the Ascot Stakes. They were there to bring him to the boil, not to show his hand.

Even so, when the early shows came through the day before the race, the price of 28/1 felt extraordinary. This was a horse who had been winning high-quality staying hurdle races and was returning to a track he loved. The gamble began almost immediately.

By the time we were in the paddock, the support behind him had become impossible to ignore. I still remember standing there with Martin Pipe as he marked his racecard. When he asked what I thought the dangers were and then smiled and said, “There are none,” it felt like one of those moments that stay with you forever.

There were still 30 runners to beat and Cash Asmussen had to switch him off near the back, which was never going to make life easy. Turning in, he still had plenty to do and it briefly looked as though he might have been given too much ground to make up.

Then came that familiar burst of speed. Sweet Glow simply picked them off, swept through the field and won the Ascot Stakes with authority. Cash never even had to use the whip.

It was one of those performances that felt every bit as good as you had hoped it might, and better. For us, it was the day he became a legend.