Racing: Sixties Icon plays Classic role

The place of Sixties Icon, and the St Leger he won so splendidly here yesterday, in the greater scheme of things was symbolically summed up by the fact that, five minutes after he galloped passed the post he was no longer the centre of attention. Even as the gallant young stayer stood puffing and panting in the winners' circle, most heads surrounding him were turned to TV screens to watch a titanic struggle between the middle-distance icons, Ouija Board and triumphant Dylan Thomas, in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.

The 230th running of the oldest, longest and toughest Classic also provided a salutary example of the changing faces of racing's spinning coin. A few hours before riding Sixties Icon to victory for Newmarket-based trainer Jeremy Noseda, Frankie Dettori had learned of the sudden death of Electrocutionist, the best horse in the Godolphin stable. The five-year-old died of a heart attack in the small hours of the morning.

The St Leger, transferred here for the first time since 1945 because of building works at its home, Doncaster, was deemed a sub-standard renewal but Sixties Icon could do no more than win it easily. A quarter of a mile from home four horses, Championship Point, The Last Drop, Ask and Mountain were in line abreast across the wide green fairway of the long, demanding straight, with Dettori confidently biding his time.

The Italian waited until inside the final furlong before pouncing on the 11-8 favourite, who quickened two and a half lengths clear on demand. The Last Drop, at 100-1, held off fast-finishing Red Rocks by a length, with Ask fourth.

Although the closest any of the three Ballydoyle contenders could get was Tusculum's fifth place, the Coolmore operation were still winners, even before Dylan Thomas's neck defeat of Ouija Board. Remarkably, the first three were first-crop sons of the Co Tipperary empire's emerging young stallion, Galileo.

It was a first Classic success, at least in his own name, for Noseda, who used to work for Godolphin in the days of Lammtarra and Balanchine and was yesterday in Kentucky sourcing yearling talent. It was a fourth St Leger for Dettori, after Classic Cliche, Shantou and Scorpion last year.

"When I pressed the button," he said, "the horse just shot clear, and I heard the crowd roar. It was a great feeling, and probably my easiest Classic win."

Dettori rode a treble, adding successes on the Godolphin pair Iffraj and Echo Of Light. "In this game you lose and you win," he said. "We have lost our best horse. It is up and down, left and right, but you learn to ride it all."

Sixties Icon may next test his progressive profile in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe next month. "We thought if he did well, and comes out of the race OK, we might spend some of the winnings on supplementing him for the Arc," owner Paul Roy said.

It can be argued that the attraction of the St Leger as a target for the élite - there was no previous top-level winner in yesterday's field - has been sacrificed on the altar of commercial breeding expediency. The bloodstock business short-sightedly eschews stamina, or proven stamina at any rate; it is all right for a potential stallion to be bred to win a St Leger, but to actually have done so is the kiss of death.

The last champion sire to have won a St Leger was Nijinsky 46 years ago and though his victory at Doncaster was cited as the reason for his subsequent defeat in the Arc, it did his stud career no harm.

But autres temps, autres moeurs and today at Longchamp two for whom the Leger might have been a natural target, the Great Voltigeur Stakes winner Youmzain and Derby runner-up Dragon Dancer, are running in the Prix Niel, one of three Arc trials on the card, instead.

The two British raiders, plus another in Papal Bull, take on local wunderkind Rail Link, trained by André Fabre, in the three-year-old contest that has produced nine of the last dozen Arc heroes. Last year's winner, Hurricane Run, and his Fabre stablemate Shirocco go head to head in the Prix Foy.

The third of the preps, the Prix Vermeille is a Group One in its own right. Two foreign raiders travel to tackle local heroine Mandesha, the John Dunlop-trained Oaks flop Time On and the interesting and progressive Fermion, from Ballydoyle.

Arc betting may have changed by close of play but as things stand Hurricane Run and Shirocco vie for top spot. Yesterday's heroes, Dylan Thomas, Ouija Board and Sixties Icon, are 12-1.