Kia Joorabchian congratulates jockey Rossa Ryan on her Valiant Force victory. Photo: Shutterstock/Ian Headington
Kia Joorabchian waited even longer for the Ascot winner than the king. In fact, not just the winner of Ascot, the first place in any of the great races has long seemed out of reach for him.
The man who made his name as the agent who brought Carlos Tevez into English football (and then got embroiled in an all-powerful legal dispute over who the player really owned) invested a royal ransom in the pursuit of racing glory. But finally, after nearly two decades of huge financial outlays running Amo Racing, he got his way at Ladies Day. And when the Valiant Force equaled Nando Parrado in 2020 as the longest-running winner in Royal Ascot history, galloping home to the Norfolk Stakes with a frankly incredible 150-1 scoreline, Joorabchian looked like someone who could hardly believe this was happening.< /p >
“We tried for a long time, kept going,” he said, jumping around the winners' enclosure, enclosing everyone who got in his way in an extravagant bear hug. “We continue to resist and we broke our duck in our own way.”
Indeed, in our opinion. Joorabchian is an unusual racehorse owner who has challenged the orthodoxy of the sport by incorporating external methodologies. In short, this is a man who brought a bit of the football business to the Flat tradition. While most owners tend to stick with coaches no matter what, win or lose, Joorabchian tends to treat them the way a football club chairman treats a manager: lose too many times and you're out.
It is considered as such. who has worked with him to be one of the most demanding owners, he is more than happy to cut ties with anyone who does not deliver. Over the years of misses and failures, second places and unfortunate defeats, there were many those with whom he broke up. There was a measure of his approach in his Ladies Day entries: his seven horses had six different trainers. This is called spreading your bets.
But now, under Irish coach Adrian Murray, his technique has finally paid off. “I can not believe this”. Kurabchian said. “I'm completely speechless this time.”
Valiant Force crosses the victory line at Ascot. Photo: Getty Images/Tom Dulat
It's not like he was slow to point out who was responsible for the victory by pointing generously in Murray's direction.
“The credit goes to these guys, the coach, the groom, the workers,” he said. “They get up at 4 am every morning, work, work, work. They deserve it.”
Of course they do. Joorabchian trains five horses at Murray's yard in County Westmeath. He first contacted the Irishman two years ago, and since then he and Tom Pennington, his race manager, have been in touch almost every day, checking progress and following developments.
“I have to thank Kia. Murray said pleased. “He is tough, but a very good person.”
Murray definitely did some work on the Valiant Force, a two-year-old in race three. The foal quickly left the stall and remained there for five furlongs. Leading the full 1,000km of Ascot's dash, he finished the race with just under a minute of pace, power and perfect application.
“We loved him all along, always knew he could do it,” said Jurabchian with a smirk.
When Ryan led the horse into the winners' corral after the Ross race, the owner pointed to the jockey and yelled, “I told you so!” Ryan beamed back and said, “You were right.”
It was an intriguing exchange considering that Joorabchian terminated Ryan's contract as Amo Racing's lead driver as recently as last September. At the time, he claimed he was acting in Ryan's interests. Perhaps that was the case, given that the young Irishman, now serving as a gunfighter for hire, was on board his first Ascot winner.
This transfer clearly worked. Not that Joorabchian, who is still Aston Villa's agent for Philippe Coutinho, was keen to draw any parallels between his two sports.
“Was that horse your best contract since Carlos Tevez? » asked him. “Please, I can't think about football right now,” he replied.
Perhaps the time to ask him was after the third race, the Ribblesdale Stakes, when his horse Maman June, trained by Richard Hannon of Marlborough, showed the result, more typical of his past racing history. It came last.
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