2000 Guineas Memories: Can't stop the Rock

Rock of Gibraltar (right) cruises to the Irish 2000 Guineas

A great injustice or a triumph of application over ability? Keith Melrose looks back to Rock of Gibraltar's win over Hawk Wing 11 years ago...

In the wider sporting world, the legacy of Rock of Gibraltar is still being felt most keenly in football. The dispute over his ownership between John Magnier and Sir Alex Ferguson raged for well over a year after the horse had run his last race and culminated in Magnier, along with business partner JP McManus, selling their stake in Manchester United to Malcolm Glazer. It would be the single biggest acquisition Glazer made in his gradual takeover of the club, which to this day causes division among supporters. Whether you find the green-and-gold scarves waved at Old Trafford to be an admirable protest against football-as-business or just whining hypocrisy by spoiled fans, you can trace its roots back to Rock of Gibraltar.

Full pieces could be- and have been- written on the feud alone: the nature of the phone call that led to Ferguson coming to own part of Rock of Gibraltar; the infamous '99 questions' put to the Manchester United board by Magnier and McManus in what appeared an act of brinkmanship to deter Ferguson from pursuing litigation; the affair wouldn't look wholly out of place in a John Grisham novel.

The only thing that seems certain about Ferguson's part-acquisition of Rock of Gibraltar, according to Scottish writer Martin Hannan who published a book on the horse, is that an act of mischief by Magnier played a significant role. 

The honour of making the speech at the Gimcrack Dinner, held annually at York racecourse in December, has traditionally gone to the winning owner in that year's Gimcrack Stakes. In 1999 following Mull of Kintyre's success in the Gimcrack, the famously laconic Magnier tried to defer responsibility to his friend Ferguson; this idea was turned down by the organisers. Therefore, as the 2001 renewal of the race approached, Magnier spotted a way to get his own back through his promising Railway Stakes winner, a Danehill colt named Rock of Gibraltar.

From a racing perspective, the Gimcrack is a good place to pick up Rock of Gibraltar's story. He came into the race having won an early-season maiden and suffering a luckless run in the Coventry prior to the Railway Stakes. He was first registered with Horse Racing Ireland as part-owned by Ferguson on the 17th of August and on the 22nd of that month, in Ferguson's red-and-white silks, he would show his true promise for the first time in accounting for Ho Choi by three lengths. 

Rock of Gibraltar lost on his next start, albeit to the similarly high-class Dubai Destination in the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster, but he would from there go on one of the most famous runs in recent Flat racing history.

In the Grand Criterium at the Arc meeting, Rock of Gibraltar showed a blistering turn of foot to blow away an admittedly substandard field. The visual impression of that performance, as well as another dearth of opposition, saw Rock of Gibraltar start at odds on for the Dewhurst Stakes on his final start as a two-year-old. He won, but it was hard work: fellow Ballydoyle colts Landseer and Tendulkar were both within a neck, though the bare facts don't convey the troubled passage Rock of Gibraltar and Mick Kinane had to suffer. 

As 2001 moved into 2002, and Ferguson eventually got to make his speech at the Gimcrack Dinner, Rock of Gibraltar found himself third in the Ballydoyle pecking order despite the fact he'd won two of the premier juvenile races of the year. The undefeated Johannesburg had been Timeform's Champion Two-Year-Old, followed by National Stakes winner Hawk Wing. Aidan O'Brien's inclination, then as it is now, was to keep his best apart early in the season, preferring the Kentucky Derby for Johannesburg (who had won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile), the 2000 Guineas for the lauded Hawk Wing and the Prix d'Essai des Poulains for Rock of Gibraltar. However, after some reportedly sparkling work in the week before Newmarket, Rock of Gibraltar was allowed to take his chance against Hawk Wing.

Kinane, who had ridden Rock of Gibraltar on all of his starts at two, was suspended for the Guineas, and might well have partnered Hawk Wing anyway. Instead, Johnny Murtagh took the ride on Rock of Gibraltar, while Jamie Spencer partnered Hawk Wing. Ballydoyle's first string was the strong favourite at 6/4, while Rock of Gibraltar was sent off at 9/1, behind both Craven winner King of Happiness and French raider Massalani as well as his stablemate.

It's often said that ground is racing's great leveller, but on the Flat the draw can be- and frequently is- a more decisive factor. The 2000 Guineas of 2002 probably wasn't the purest example of that theory, but it is arguably one of the most infamous in recent memory. 

As the field left the stalls, they split initially into three main groups. Rock of Gibraltar, drawn highest of all in stall 22, was always going to be part of the far-side group. Spencer on Hawk Wing had a more difficult call, having broken from stall 10. He chose the near-side group; it was a decision that would play a vital part in the denouement.

Although unbeknownst to those watching the field in real-time rather than a TV screen, by halfway the race was starting to look lop-sided. Overhead shots showed that the far-side group was three or four lengths ahead of the near-side group. Rock of Gibralatar was poised in the centre of the leading bunch; Hawk Wing, though perfectly covered up behind the vanguard on the near-side, already had a bit to do.

It was as they approached the Dip that the impending drama started to unfold. Murtagh was expertly picking Rock of Gibraltar's way through the leading group, easing past Free Handicap winner Twilight Blues and getting to long-time leader, Greenham winner Redback, well over a furlong from home.

As Rock of Gibraltar took the overall lead, the strong-travelling Hawk Wing was just being angled out by Spencer, who appeared for all the world to be unaware that he was in arrears to the far-side group. Once belatedly unleashed, Hawk Wing showed a marvellous turn of foot, making up the lengths he'd conceded to Redback with 50 yards to go but always looking odds-against to reach the strong-staying Rock of Gibraltar, who prevailed by an ever-diminishing neck.

There was no doubt that Hawk Wing shaped as though the better horse on the day. He'd won his 'side' by five lengths (from overall sixth Aramram) and had passed the winner within a few strides of crossing the finish line. 

Spencer rightly received some of the blame for overdoing the waiting tactics, but at the time just as much centred on the idea that worse ground on the near side had caused Hawk Wing's defeat. Whether or not there was anything in that, the evidence points to it being a secondary, even tertiary concern. So often when there is a perceived track bias it turns out to be self-fulfilling, as the runners congregate on the preferred side, duly taking the pace with them in most instances. Redback was a good example: on breaking from stall 16, Darryll Holland made a beeline to the far rail, the upshot of which was a stronger pace on that side. 

There would never be another meeting between Rock of Gibraltar and Hawk Wing, the pair deliberately kept apart for the rest of the season. Hawk Wing's luck got no better as the year wore on, with a win in the Eclipse the only real bright point among a number of narrow defeats. He would have his day in the sun as a four-year-old, but that's another story for another time...

Where Hawk Wing's season was one of continued frustration, Rock of Gibraltar's could hardly have been smoother. With Kinane back in the saddle, he would win the Irish 2000 Guineas (recording one of the easiest successes you're ever likely to see in a classic), St James' Palace, Sussex Stakes and the Prix du Moulin, bringing his winning streak to seven Group 1s by the time he travelled to Arlington for that year's Breeders' Cup Mile.

The 2002 Breeders' Cup Mile couldn't have gone much worse for Rock of Gibraltar, who broke sluggishly and was left well off a steady pace, was hampered by the stricken Landseer turning in and failed to reel in Domedriver despite delivering a late thrust down the short Arlington straight.  

It was Kinane's turn to face the critics (Andy Beyer referred to him as a 'pinhead... any reasonably competent American jockey would have won easily'), but the fact is that he, like Jamie Spencer at Newmarket, was chiefly a victim of circumstance: his only real failing was not adapting to the adverse run of the race. 

Comments like Beyer's came not just because Mick Kinane was caught napping, but also due to the perceived invincibility of Rock of Gibraltar, who was retired a few weeks after Arlington. They might have been correct on the first point, but the second not so: the fact is that, for all his stellar race record, Rock of Gibraltar's form didn't stack up in the same way other as other recent champions. His final Timeform rating of 133 is 3 lb lower than Hawk Wing, 6 lb lower than Sea The Stars and a stone below Frankel.

Ratings, though, are only part of the make-up of a champion racehorse. Few who saw the 2002 Guineas, or the 2003 Lockinge, would assert Rock of Gibraltar to be a more able horse than Hawk Wing, but you can bet the majority would rather have owned 'the Rock'. As John Magnier said to Irish broadcaster RTE while Rock of Gibraltar was on his famous winning streak: 'He is a tough, durable, versatile horse... And Alex is lucky'.