Horses That Made History: Brilliant Dayjur was the true sprint king

“He didn’t care for trotting.” Marcus Tregoning, former assistant to the legendary Major Dick Hern for 14 years, reflects that Dayjur always had an inclination for the fast lane.

“It was always a bit hair-raising and he was quite tricky. We legged him up in the yard and he came out jumping and kicking every morning – it was just a nightmare getting him down to the ride. He’d bounce all the way.”

Small, very muscular and a typical Danzig, Dayjur was out of the 1982 American Champion Sprinter Gold Beauty and fetched $1.65m as a yearling.

‘Held up, quickened to lead over 1f out, easily,’ read the in-running comments as this likely sort for Hern and Sheikh Hamdan under regular rider Willie Carson posted a regulation debut success at Newbury. Turned over in Listed company at the same track next time, he was rubbed off for the season – and there it could have all gone wrong.

“He was trotting like they all do through the winter and a piece of steel had fallen off the back of a tractor and cut through,” says Tregoning. “It became a very bad cut behind, almost severing his tendon. It was a worry.”

Dayjur had wind surgery and returned as a three-year-old to test his Guineas claims in the Free Handicap at Newmarket over seven furlongs. Down the field, he never went as far again.

“One day, Willie said to the Major he had so much speed breaking from the gates,” says Tregoning. “And Hern said: ‘Why don’t you just let him go?”

The Group Two Temple Stakes saw the birth of a real sprinting star as inspired by Hern. A no-nonsense military man, he was paralysed from the waist down and in a wheelchair after a hunting accident six years earlier and he underwent heart surgery in 1988.

Dayjur’s glorious summer was to prove the last at West Ilsley stables for the multiple Classic-winning trainer, ultimately evicted from the premises by the Queen’s racing manager Lord Carnarvon in a story that made the front pages. Before the move to Lambourn, Dayjur proved a fitting farewell.

Dayjur made all at Sandown before repeating the dose in the King’s Stand. He was ruthless at Royal Ascot, coasting to the lead and travelling serenely a furlong out as the rest forlornly trailed behind.

His first Group One success arrived in the Nunthorpe Stakes, showing searing speed from the gates and powering away again inside the final furling, changing legs and truly rocketing to the line at York.

There’s something about a horse making all on a big stage that captures the wider imagination and, allied with his pure speed, the impression was not so much horse as machine. “It excites me just to watch it,” said Willie Carson years later.

That victory perhaps looms largest but Dayjur was visually magnificent in the Sprint Cup at Haydock on ground softer than ideal, lobbing along in front with all-comers toiling in behind. The only rival to get close was Great Commotion, best in the July Cup on his previous start for Vincent O’Brien.

Similar tactics were faithfully applied next time in the Prix de l’Abbaye on his first foray abroad, visually with a steadier control in front than at York. He laughed at his rivals, though he did something late on at Longchamp which, with hindsight, pointed to a jaw-dropping moment at Belmont.

Dayjur had never raced on dirt or around a turn, and a shocking draw out very wide denied Carson the chance to adopt customary tactics in the Breeders Cup Sprint on his final start.

Using abundant early speed against a ferocious pace, Dayjur was held together and travelling smoothly on the turn against Safely Kept, a fine sprinter who landed 24 from 31 career starts. On top in the final furlong, Dayjur notoriously, unbelievably jumped a shadow yards from the line. Momentum halted, the $1m contest went begging.

“We don’t get the money but we got the best horse,” said Carson in the post-race interview, who later suggested the shadow from the Belmont turrets may not have darkened the stretch half an hour either side of that fateful run to the line. The incident certainly wasn’t lost on the successful connections, with the first foal out of Dayjur’s ‘conqueror’ named Jumping Shadow.

Sheikh Hamdan and his Shadwell operation have raced some brilliant sprinters and Dayjur stands tallest, although Battaash is making a pretty compelling case and the current sprinting sensation broke Dayjur’s record time in the Nunthorpe on his most recent start. The gelding will not go to stud like Dayjur and he has the chance to scale yet more heights in the years ahead.

"To lower Dayjur's record is pretty amazing,” said trainer Charlie Hills. “I thought there would never be a faster horse than him.”