‘Beautiful’ Nayef is still the apple of Marcus Tregoning’s eye

‘Even now at his ripe old age, he looks magnificent at Shadwell,’ says trainer.

Marcus Tregoning may have won the Derby, but one horse with whom he is indelibly linked is 2002 Juddmonte International winner Nayef.

Having learned his trade under the great Major Dick Hern and been his assistant when Nashwan won the Guineas, Derby, Eclipse and King George in 1989, Tregoning was pinching himself at the chance to train his half-brother.

And it started well, a debut victory in the Haynes, Hanson & Clark Conditions race at Newbury was followed by a romp in the Autumn Stakes, just like his sibling, and the bookmakers were running scared with the following year’s Classics in mind.

As with so many, the timing of the Guineas caught him out and he was only eighth to Golan. But halfway through the season he came good, winning three Group Threes before a first Group One at Newmarket.

“As a younger horse, I was trying to do the same thing with him as we’d done with Nashwan, but I started Nayef in a Conditions race rather than a maiden and then he went and won the Autumn Stakes on bottomless ground,” remembers Tregoning, whose Sir Percy took the premier Classic in 2006.

Marcus Tregoning has a soft spot for Nayef
Marcus Tregoning has a soft spot for Nayef (Dan Abraham/PA)

“He was favourite for everything through the winter, but unfortunately in the spring, he just went a bit weak on us. He was a big horse and didn’t come to himself.

“Thank goodness, he got it right towards the end of the year and won the Champion Stakes, so it was justified giving him the time. He probably wouldn’t have won that Derby anyway, as it was Galileo’s year.”

His four-year-old season was due to commence with an audacious crack at the Dubai World Cup – and being by American sire Gulch, the promise of switching to dirt held no fears for his trainer.

He would leave Dubai a winner, and considerably richer, but Tregoning was left wondering what might have been.

He said: “Ironically, I think he was the best I ever had him when we were training him for the Dubai World Cup in 2002.

“For some reason, we got rerouted to the Sheema Classic, which he won – Sheikh Hamdan already had Sakhee for the World Cup, you see.

Golan (left) and Nayef battle it out in the King George. Revenge was sweet at York
Golan (left) and Nayef battle it out in the King George. Revenge was sweet at York (Tony Harris/PA)

“In our opinion, at the time, he’d have won any World Cup, as he was absolutely flying on the dirt, he’d adapted to it really well.

“I was very lucky to train him, he was the best horse in Dubai that year and won the Sheema Classic very easily, but that was our big chance on the dirt.

“He did win plenty of good races over a mile and a half, but there are people who think a strong-run 10 furlongs was his best trip. The same could be said of his half-brother, Nashwan, who was by Blushing Groom, his best trip was a mile and a quarter.”

It took Nayef a couple of outings to get back to his very best again after Dubai, like with so many others, but by the time of the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes, he was right back on top form, and Tregoning still rankles at only picking up silver.

“Obviously, I remember the King George very well, because if you remember, Golan got up our inside and he shouldn’t have got beat that day really, but that is the way it happens,” said Tregoning.

That made victory at York all the more sweeter, as the pair met again on the Knavesmire arguably over Nayef’s favourite distance.

Nayef hit the front a long way from home under Richard Hills, tracked by Kieren Fallon on Golan. They battled all the way up the last two furlongs, but Nayef held firm.

“He went into the York race in top, top order and he went and won it well. He was a very sound horse and a very good one, obviously,” said Tregoning.

“He was a very laid-back horse, as was Nashwan, who Dick Hern kept having to take away to wake him up, as I was there when he was in the mix.

“Nayef was such a beautiful horse, even now at his ripe old age (26), he looks magnificent at Shadwell. He was so sound, the soundest I ever trained. I’ve seen him fairly recently and I couldn’t believe how well he looked.

“Sheikh Hamdan was a very patient owner, which always helps. Remember a horse like Mubtaker, an entire who was still winning Group races when he was nine. That can’t have been done before. He just loved those older horses.

“It would have been very easy for him to send Nayef to stud having won the Juddmonte, but we got another year out of him. What he realised was that it is very difficult to get a good horse, you only get them now and again.

“Nayef was just so versatile; any ground, on dirt, I’ve never had a sounder horse and he won the Prince of Wales’s at five.

“The York race was fascinating, though, because I think Kieren at his best was one of the best jockeys we’ve ever seen, a great horseman – and he got horses so well balanced. I think on that day, Richard was just on the better horse.”

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