Looking Back 90) Ilnamar

                Ilnamar
Ilnamar was a 1996 born bay gelding by Officiel and his dam was called Quillemare.  He began his career in France in the care of trainer Guy Cherel before coming over to Pond House and he was a Cheltenham Festival and Aintree winner for the yard.

In France Ilnamar won over hurdles at Pau and Auteuil, on the flat at Argentan and over fences at Auteuil as well.  He was also placed several times as well before his final start in France which was his win over hurdles at Auteuil in December 2000 after which he was bought privately and came over to England to run in the colours of owner Joe Moran. 

He was not seen on the track for 12 months and it then took him three runs to acclimatise to life over here over fences.   He finished fifth behind Cyfor Malta on debut at Newbury, then fourth at Ascot and then unseated at Doncaster after this.    He returned to hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival in March 2002 and lined up in the Coral Cup with Rodi Greene on board.  Racing off a mark of 137 he was sent off a 25/1 chance.  Having tracked the leaders throughout he went to the front after the third last and was ridden out to beat Joss Naylor by 8 lengths.  He quickened right away from a smart group of handicappers in a time a fair bit quicker than the novice hurdle earlier on the card.  The Racing Post analysis calls it a spectacular performance.

He then went to Aintree the following month and won the Grade 1 Melling hurdle with Ruby Walsh riding.  He had horses such as Rooster Booster and Azertyuiop in behind him this day in another super performance.  This win proved the handicapper was right to raise him a stone for his Cheltenham win. 

Sadly his career was then interrupted further by injury after this day.  He was then not back on the track until January 2003 where he finished third at Haydock in the Champion hurdle trial.  More time off followed as he was not seen again until November 2004 where he finished a close third in the Grade 2 Ascot hurdle behind Monet’s Garden (run at Windsor this year because of Ascot’s redevelopment).  Life was tougher for Ilnamar after this good comeback but at the highest level.  He was well beaten in the Long Walk hurdle and finished down the field in the 2005 Coral Cup.  He ran well to finish fourth behind stablemate Lough Derg at Cheltenham in April but his final run of his career came at Sandown later that month.  He finished down the field on this occasion and with further injury issues following it was decided to retire him.

Sadly although Ilnamar was a very good horse we never got to see quite how good he could have been because injuries got in the way.  He won six races from 27 career starts and he was placed a further twelve times as well.  Rated 159 at best he won just under £200,000 in prize money. 

Watch him win the 2002 Coral Cup here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtTlRp08rMI

Watch him win the Martell Aintree hurdle here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOAGNeMu60c