But the one to top them all is an Irish-trained five-year-old mare, bought as a yearling for just 5,000 guineas, unbroken at two, lightly-raced at three, yet one destined to turn back the clock to the 19th Century with exploits on the racecourse that astound even to this day.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Stanerra winning the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, over a mile and a quarter, followed three days later by her memorable victory in the Hardwicke Stakes, over a mile and a half, with the double triumph trumpeted as the highlight of the Royal meeting of 1983.
If Stanerra’s achievement is seen as incredible in the modern era, her jockey Brian Rouse’s effort in stealing the limelight from Piggott, Carson, Cauthen and Eddery that year is no less remarkable.
Rouse rode his first winner, Gay Bird for his boss Ted Smyth, at Alexandra Palace in 1957 but had to wait 15 years for his second, New Tack at Chepstow in 1972. His career stuttered when he took an apprenticeship as a trainee electrician in Hammersmith but it was Epsom trainer John Sutcliffe (junior), who persuaded him back to race riding.
The Stanerra epic — with the Rouse backstory attached — is an irresistible throwback to Royal Ascots of a century ago when it was commonplace for horses to hold multiple engagements at the meeting and for jockeys to emerge from the most unlikely beginnings.
But what sets Stanerra apart from other dual winners is her two wins came over middle-distances. She became the first since Shaddock in 1896 to complete the Prince Of Wales’s / Hardwicke double in the same year, a challenge rarely attempted never mind pulling it off.
Rouse, 83, retired and living with family in Surrey, has no doubt what made Stanerra so different. Putting political correctness to one side, and with an admiring chuckle, he says: “She was a big strong cow. You could never get enough work into her. She would take a hold…and she was in charge.”
That toughness and relentless desire to keep galloping paved the way in 1983 for the mare to embark on an astoundingly adventurous campaign. Her Royal Ascot double was one thing, but she also won the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown, the Joe McGrath Memorial Stakes (now the Irish Champion) at Leopardstown, and to round it off, the Japan Cup in Tokyo. That season, she also contested the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown (4th) and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp (6th).
She was trained by her owner Frank Dunne, a sports-loving tycoon, whose family business was Dunnes Stores in Ireland. He decided to take out a licence after the mare had a few early outings for Jim Bolger, who had rented stables from Dunne at Clonsilla, near the Phoenix Park in Dublin.
Rouse was installed as Stanerra’s regular jockey following the retirement of Wally Swinburn (senior) in 1982. “My connection with Frank came through Wally,” Rouse recalls. “He put in a good word for me and that’s how I came to be riding this brilliant mare.
“Frank had amazing training facilities,” he adds. Dunne had turned to training after purchasing Hamwood Stud in Co Meath, later also buying historic Ballymacoll Stud, the birthplace of Arkle, from Lord Weinstock. Dunne’s commitment to the Turf was immense despite his extensive business interests.
Rouse loves talking about the old days and, in particular, that famous Royal Ascot 40 years ago. “Stanerra won that Prince Of Wales’s by four lengths. She frightened me, really, she surprised me just how strong she went to the line. Lester rode Sabre Dance for Henry Cecil, and he started favourite. But my mare was too strong for him.
“She had won the Brigadier Gerard at her previous start and that gave us some idea of her talent but the Prince Of Wales’s was a race where we were finding out how good she really was,” he adds.
Stanerra answered that question in emphatic style but Dunne then came up with a plan that, if successful, would see his mare enter into Royal Ascot folklore. “Frank said he was going to run her again later in the week, in the Hardwicke. Three days between races. She was big and strong and I knew that wouldn’t bother her.”
The idea that a five-year-old mare could master the best over a mile and a quarter and then come out and beat an elite group who had dominated Epsom’s Coronation Cup only weeks earlier was fanciful in the eyes of many. But the owner-trainer knew what he was doing.
Stanerra turned in one of the finest performances of her career in the Hardwicke, cruising into contention on the home bend and then drawing clear of the Jockey Club Stakes winner Electric to win by a length and a half, with a yawning gap of 12 lengths back to the Coronation Cup winner Be My Native.
Royal Ascot had witnessed something very special. Stanerra went on to complete that memorable 1983 season with victory in the Japan Cup, which Rouse finds more incredible every time he goes over how events unfolded beforehand. “She was so badly tied up when she arrived after the long flight to Tokyo, she had to be walked eight hours a day just to get her to the race.
“We were all taking it in turns to walk her. It’s amazing that she ever got there,” Rouse says. But get there she did indeed, with the result being a triumph over a truly international field to become the first Irish-trained winner of the Japan Cup.
The Royal Ascot records show there have been some incredible horses, who have won two races at the meeting in the same year. In modern times, Choisir (2003) and Blue Point (2019) pulled off the King’s Stand / Golden (Platinum) Jubilee Stakes double, while in the staying ranks, Trelawny (1962 & 1963), Mountain Cross (1978), Baddam (2006) and Simenon (2012) landed the Ascot Stakes / Queen Alexandra Stakes double.
But Stanerra stands alone in the modern era as a mare with an uncrushable enthusiasm for racing that lasted for several seasons. But like many great mares, Stanerra’s stud career paled beside what she had achieved on the racecourse. Five known foals recorded only one win between them.
Postscript: Frank Dunne died late last year, aged 79. Brian Rouse rode around 1000 winners in Britain and abroad (mostly Hong Kong, where he finished his career) and the former jockey looks forward to watching Royal Ascot on television, perhaps in anticipation of another great mare establishing a reputation for class and toughness, just like Stanerra.