2011 Supreme Novices' Hurdle: Keith Melrose
A vintage renewal. That's what journalistic convention dictates we should call the 2011 Supreme. The reference to wine, however hackneyed, is more relevant in this case than most. Those who drink aged wines claim that as you sip you can feel the faint sense of history, that what you're holding has been a decade or more in the making. Looking back at the 2011 Supreme has a similar effect.
Back then, Sprinter Sacre was far from the behemoth he's become today: he was a horse with a big home reputation more than anything, his five previous starts offering bags of flavour but still somewhat lacking in body. He was duly sent off at 11/1, joint-fourth in the betting and apparently the Henderson second-string behind Spirit Son.
For all he would finish only third, the Supreme was the clearest sign yet that Sprinter Sacre was going to prove up to justifying the regard he'd been held in by Henderson. He tanked through the race under AP McCoy, pressing on with the under-pressure Cue Card approaching two out but seeming to pay for that- as well as a mistake at the last- as Al Ferof and Spirit Son went past on the run-in.
Of course it's not just Sprinter Sacre that has graduated from that race onto much better things. Cue Card, who eventually finished fourth, has won the Ryanair and the Betfair Chase, passing the 180 mark with Timeform as he made all in the second-named contest. Winner Al Ferof is yet to hit quite the same heights, a Paddy Power Gold Cup currently the next-best entry on his CV, but all indications are that his time will come. It could be as soon as this year's King George, in which Cue Card stands most obviously in his way.
All of that isn't to mention runner-up Spirit Son, who was seen only once after that race when demolishing Cue Card and subsequent Champion Hurdle winner Rock On Ruby at Aintree. His failure to ripen as promised will only become more tantalising as Sprinter Sacre, Cue Card and Al Ferof enjoy further success in the coming seasons. While Cue Card and Al Ferof hunt mere Grade 1s, Sprinter Sacre's target is more nebulous: history, and proving that he is indeed of the finest vintage.
2011 Novice Chase at Doncaster: Joe Rendall
At first sight there are few comparisons between a sunlit 18th green at Augusta National and a murky afternoon at Doncaster racecourse. However what links these otherwise wildly differing settings is that they both bore witness to explosive sporting debuts; April 1997 in Georgia saw Tiger's inaugural Masters victory, in which he annihilated the field to break the records for the youngest winner, widest winning margin and the lowest overall score simultaneously.
Fast forward to December 2011 at Doncaster and the racing world bore witness to the chasing debut of Sprinter Sacre. Caroline Mould's five-year-old had been a smart novice hurdler, beaten only on his hurdles debut at Ascot and when third in an outstanding renewal of the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
Built to excel over fences, Sprinter Sacre was duly sent off at odds of 2-9 when making his chasing debut in what was otherwise an ordinary novice affair. However come the finish line those odds looked generous as he stormed home on the bridle, beating Lightening Rod by 24 lengths with the rest of the field a further 35 lengths adrift, smashing Doncaster's track-record in the process.
Despite the fluency and power with which he travelled it was his jumping which left a lasting impression. The race reporter on duty at the time described it as 'spectacular on occasions'; I'm not sure how often that word has been used in Timeform's 65-year history to describe a horse's jumping, especially on their chasing debut, but I can't believe it's a particularly common occurrence.
Despite all he has achieved in his nine unbeaten starts since, it is that Friday afternoon at Doncaster which stands out as where it all began for Sprinter Sacre, and if I could only have been at one venue Augusta wouldn't have stood a chance.
2013 Melling Chase: Tony McFadden
Having achieved a rating of 192p at Cheltenham, surpassing the best performance Kauto Star had produced on the bare figures, Sprinter Sacre's reputation as a 'Modern Great' had, of course, already been assured by the time he arrived at Aintree to contest the Melling Chase. A phenomenally-impressive winner of the Champion Chase just over three weeks earlier, Sprinter Sacre was tackling two and a half miles for the first time, as well as meeting a pair of top-class chasers in the shape of Cue Card and Flemenstar, but he barely had to come off the bridle to win by an effortless four and a half lengths, justifying his lofty rating in no uncertain terms.
The subsequent exploits of second-placed Cue Card, who went on to impressively win a hotly-contested renewal of the Betfair Chase, makes Sprinter Sacre's performance almost impossible to fathom: he beat the second-best horse in training with any amount in hand. It would appear that no race is beyond him.
A series of processions back at the minimum distance, where his presence will effectively render highlights of the jumps season such as the Tingle Creek and the Champion Chase walkovers, will do little to raise the pulse, or raise the horse's profile, but the Aintree success, where he proved at least as effective over two and a half miles, raises the tantalising prospect of Sprinter Sacre competing over three miles in the future. In spite of connections' reservations, Sprinter Sacre may have to test his mettle over longer trips at some point if he is to be remembered as fondly as other giants of recent times such as Desert Orchid and Kauto Star.
