Canford Cliffs – An excellent runner who could have achieved a lot more
Although Black Caviar and Frankel are considered to be the modern greats, no one can forget the achievements of Canford Cliffs, who had to retire at a very young age because of a leg injury.
Canford Cliffs made his debut in May 2009 at Newbury and was rated as the outright favourite in his very first outing. He was extremely quick and his rivals did not stand a chance against him, as he finished seven lengths ahead of them.
This victory was a proof that the young horse was capable of competing at the highest level, thus he was sent into a Group-2 event. Just like his first event, he was once again given the best odds by the bookies. He lived up to their expectations and claimed
the Coventry Stakes comfortably by a couple of lengths.
The five-year-old took part in his first Group-1 event in August 2009, but was unable to succeed in it. He was quick once again, but had to settle for third place in the end. He did not appear in any more races that year and came out positively in the next
season.
Canford Cliffs failed to win the first couple of races in 2010, but was triumphant in the next three, proving his class to one and all. This hat-trick in Group-1 events clearly showed what the young challenger was capable of achieving.
He continued the positive flow next year and won a couple of more important races before taking on Sir Henry Cecil’s colt, Frankel.
The competition proved to be a one sided one, as Frankel won by five lengths. However, the main reason was the leg injury to Canford Cliffs, which restricted him from pressing hard.
This race proved to be the last one for the Richard Hannon’s trainee and brought his career to a sad end.
Hannon claimed about his runner, “Canford Cliffs was a very rare type in that he had such great early speed as a two-year-old, but also stretched out to be a superb miler at three and four. He is without doubt the best horse I have had in over 40 years as
a trainer.”
However, the veteran trainer was dejected at losing Tagula’s son because of an injury. Despite that, he was happy for what he had achieved with this fantastic runner.
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