Yeats, named after Jack Butler Yeats, a painter and brother to the one and only W B Yeats, poet extraordinaire, is a living Irish horse who is known to be the only horse to ever cruise to victory in the Ascot Golf Cup four times on the spin. He was born in 2001 at Barronstown Stud. His owners are John Magnier and Coolmore Stud.

Career

Yeats started out at the age of two, winning his first race quite easily. At 3 years, he continued his hot spell, winning his first two starts of the season. He however suffered an injury and would be on the sidelines for close to a season. When he came back to the game in 2005, there were difficulties getting to the top, but he did win the Coronation Cup. In 2006, he won the Ascot Gold Cup and would remain a fixture in the competition for the following four years. In these races, Yeats established himself as a stayer. This meant that while he was okay with short races, he was made for the long ones, where his mettle and aura of patience could intimidate almost any rival on the tracks. The Goldwood Cup was also one of Yeat’s spoils of 2006.

Even as Yeats advanced in age, he never showed any signs of lethargy. After 2006, he went on to win the Ascot 3 more times, with the last coming in 2009, the year he retired. His other victories included the Vintage Crop Stakes, Irish St. Leger and Saval Beg Stakes. He now stands as a stud at Coolmore’s National Hunt foaling grounds in Ireland, where he has sired tens of studs at huge fees. His winnings on the tracks at the time he said goodbye to the sport were an astronomical £1,146,977, thanks to his tendency to thrive in the longer , more complex races.

Arrogate, the current leading all-time money earner in North America, is a grey four-year-old racehorse who took the tracks by storm in the middle years of the 2010s and is currently the beast every fan is talking about.

The horse owned by Khalid Abdulla-linked Juddmonte farms has already clocked $17,084,600 in race winnings so far to set a north American record, and still counting.

Arrogate’s success can be attributed partially to his rider Mike Smith, who has repeatedly steered him to wins that have left all,including, and especially his trainer Bob Baffert- baffled. In the just concluded March 25, 2017 Dubai World Cup race held at the Meydan Racecourse, UAE for example, Arrogate suffered a poor start and found himself at the end of a fourteen horse pack at a dangerous point in the race.

The comeback combination

With even Baffert panicked, Man Mike and Beast Arrogate made up for lost time by moving to the outside track before steadily picking up speed to cover lost ground. It was a scene of gasps and awe for all who were watching, as the team closed in length by length to finally win it by 2 ¼ lengths and secure the largest share of a $10 million purse.

Arrogate was not as fancy at his debut, finishing fourth in his first race at Los Alamitos where he was ridden by Martin Garcia. He then partnered with rider Rafael Bejarano to win his next three races, but then Bejarano dumped him for American Freedom in August 2016. At this point he got together with Mike Smith, and went ahead to beat American Freedom by 13 lengths in his next race at the Saratoga, breaking a 37 year 2km record in the process.

After wowing the crowd in the UAE, Arrogate is now on his way back to Los Angeles, but fans might have to wait until August before they can see him in action again. His next race will probably be the Breeders Cup Classic.