Attraction is still the last Northern Classic angel

Twenty years have passed since Attraction, the last Classic winner trained in the north, blazed a path to glory in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Nobody could have imagined the heights she would eventually reach. Trained by Mark Johnston and bred by her owner, the Duke of Roxburghe, from his once-raced mare Flirtation and the sire Efisio.

Particularly when she started life at Nottingham in April as a young two-year-old, possibly reaching her pinnacle of goals at Royal Ascot.

They would be accomplished through Thirsk and Hilary Needler at Beverley before she won by three lengths in the Queen Mary.

She raced as a juvenile, winning her first spin over six furlongs in the Cherry Hinton, where she was even more impressive.

Her season ended prematurely there, and she was not seen again until the Classic when she was spotted during a nearly legendary racecourse gallop at Ripon.

Aside from her natural talent, what set Attraction apart from the others was her peculiar gait, which appeared to have her legs shooting in all directions, but it didn't stop her from moving quickly.

Kevin Darley, who rode her in all but the first three of her runs, stated: “I only rode her once that year before the Guineas and that was when she had her racecourse gallop at Ripon. “When you rode her, she actually felt balanced, it just felt right, but you could obviously see one leg flicking out to the right and the other to the left. Looking at her, you wouldn’t have thought she’d want quick ground, but the one time she ran on soft in France, she couldn’t handle it at all, she was happy just feeling herself on a sound surface.”

Despite taking on a trip that was two furlongs longer than she had previously attempted, Darley started the Guineas as the second favourite behind Sir Michael Stoute's Fillies' Mile victor Red Bloom. From the start, Darley was confident and never saw a rival.

“I think she caught a few by surprise in the Guineas because a lot of people thought she was all speed and that she would be vulnerable over a mile,” recalled the rider. “Speed was her forte, there’s no doubt about that, but when she had to dig deep, she did – and that was credit to her, she never gave in really. When she won the Queen Mary, we weren’t thinking of her in terms of a Guineas horse, but after she won a Cherry Hinton by five lengths, we started to think maybe she could get a mile.”

“After Newmarket, Mark sent her over for the Irish Guineas, when she was good again in beating Alexander Goldrun, who turned out very good, and then she won the Coronation,” Darley went on. 

Darley said: “The year after, she ran disappointingly in Hong Kong, it was probably the wrong thing to do sending her there, in hindsight.

“After that, she had her niggles but it was very nice she was able to go out with a win in Ireland, it showed what a true equine athlete she was, all she wanted to do was race and win and please you.”