The outsider who beat racing's elite
| Date | 09 June 2021 |
| Published date | 09 June 2021 |
| Publication title | Weekender |
Advising readers to back him each-way at 50-1, Kealy wrote: "I don't remember ever being as close as I have been to advising a maximum bet at such a big price he's worth whatever you can get on each-way."
It was not only Kealy's loyal followers who raised a glass to Accidental Agent after his thrilling swoop proved the tipster bang on the money. This was a triumph that struck a
Volume 34No. 50 £3.404.0
chord with many racing fans; a victory over the big battalions for a quirky but talented miler, unsung trainer Eve Johnson Houghton and rising young jockey Charlie Bishop.
THEWEEK'S PREVIEWS,PLUS EXCLUSIVETRAINER
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In a year when Ballydoyle, Godolphin, John Gosden and Sir Michael
Stoute dominated the Royal Ascot Group 1s, Accidental Agent shook up the established order. Not only was it a first victory at the royal meeting for his trainer and jockey, it was
also their first Group 1 success.
Summing up the magnitude of their achievement, Bishop says: "We only get one shot at it, whereas the bigger trainers have a lot of options and have runners in every Group 1 all through the year. For Eve to go to Royal Ascot and get it right on the day is a massive credit to her."
The importance of this 'one shot' was brought home to Bishop before the Queen Anne. Despite his odds, Accidental Agent was not unfancied after a promising sixth in the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury the previous month. He had won a valuable seven-furlong handicap down the Ascot straight the previous autumn and connections
CARDSAND FORM INSIGHT Inside this week's issue
felt he would run
BATTAASH Hills has
Ourman Charlie thelateston hisstable starahead oftheKing's StandStakes
a big race.
SATURDAY Bestbetsfor anothertop dayofracingincluding bigsprintsatSandown andYork
Johnson Houghton, who had to be helped to put her badges on because she was shaking
TOMSEGAL Pricewisebelievesthere is onlyoneangle left for thepunternow -and it revolvesaroundsires
so much, was a bundle of nerves at saddling time and it was left to the rider, then 24, to be a calming influence.
"Eve said 'oh God, I feel sick', and I told her she'd done everything she could...
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