Wise Eagle gives Adam Nicol a Saturday winner to savour

Nick Robson
April 8, 2023 4:19 pm

Rider-turned-trainer celebrating biggest success to date.

Adam Nicol celebrated the biggest success of his training career when Wise Eagle swooped down the outside to win the GBP 100,000 tote Summer World Pool Queen’s Cup at Musselburgh.

Nicol made his name as the rider of Phil Kirby’s popular mare Lady Buttons, but when injury brought a premature end to his days in the saddle, he took out a licence to train.

Among the first of his horses stabled at his yard on the north-east coast at Seahouses was Wise Eagle, bought for a mere 7,000 guineas.

Danny Tudhope and trainer Adam Nicol receive their prizes (Steve Welsh/PA)

Nicol said of his 9-1 winner, who was ridden by Danny Tudhope: “He’s unbelievable. I was lost for words. They tried to interview me on TV and I couldn’t speak.

“We’re a family business, there’s me and my partner and we’ve only just taken on a member of staff. My dad does all the tractor work while my mum looks after our two-year-old child.

“We’re with the horses seven days a week so for him to pull this off like that is unbelievable, we bought this horse for 7,000 guineas because Tom Clover said he hated it in Newmarket and needed a change of scenery. He was the second horse we got in.

“At the time I didn’t even have a gallop in so we took him down to the beach at Bamburgh. We actually bought him as a dual-purpose horse, but I’ve told the lads until he gets exposed on the Flat we’ve got to carry on as there’s so much more money.”

Danny Tudhope with Wise Eagle (Steve Welsh/PA)

Nicol went on: “He’s just improved and improved. We started running him in jumpers’ bumpers and he beat a good horse of Donald McCain’s called Dear Sire so I realised he might be decent. He won his first race off 67 and has won today off 98.

“He’s so versatile, I even took the cheekpieces off today as I worried he might be fresh so we’ve got those still up our sleeve. He’s won round Pontefract over two-mile-two yet he’s won over a mile and a half at Newcastle.

“We can look at the Northumberland Plate, the Chester Cup is an option, there’s the Copper Horse race at Royal Ascot and there’s a one-mile-six handicap at the Guineas meeting too. It’s brilliant to be thinking of races like that.

“The lads who own him, they are just builders and the like from the village. I told them to ring the club back home to get some extra crates in because they won’t be shutting tonight!”

Billy Loughnane with Gweedore (Steve Welsh/PA)

Billy Loughnane continues to rack up landmark wins and having won the Brocklesby at Doncaster last weekend, ensured his first ride at Musselburgh was a winner.

Riding Gweedore for Katie Scott in the tote.co.uk BetGBP 5GetGBP 20 Musselburgh Silver Arrow Handicap, despite being unshipped on the way to the start Loughnane bounced the 7-2 joint-favourite into an early lead and he made all to win by two and a quarter lengths to once more prove his liking for the course.

Clifford Lee enjoyed an armchair ride on Karl Burke’s Silky Wilkie (6-1) in the tote World Pool Scottish Sprint Cup Handicap, while Joe Fanning made all on Finn’s Charm (9-1) in the tote World Pool Scottish Sprint Cup Handicap