Lynams Bid Farewell To Their 'Life Changer'

When Sole Power (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}) arrived at Meydan for the 2017 Dubai Carnival, it was the 10-year-old's seventh consecutive appearance at the Carnival. So it was a fitting that this was also the location for the gelding to run his final race when he finished a staying on sixth to Ertijaal (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) in the G3 Meydan Sprint Feb. 16.

After three respectable runs this term, it was clear Sole Power had lost a step and connections took the decision to call time on a wonderful career that spanned nine calendar years, five countries, five Group 1 wins and 50 runs in group races. When he announced that the Power family's gelding would no longer be a standing dish in top European sprints, Sole Power's trainer Eddie Lynam said, “He was a great horse, but time waits for no man and he's been retired. He's going out on his own terms, as he's totally sound but his form has dipped in recent years as, like all of us, he's got slower as he's got older.”

The story of Sole Power began 10 years ago when he was bred in England by Geoff Russell out of the Distant View mare Demerger. The mare obviously breeds them sound, as she is also the dam of Cornus (GB) (Inchinor {GB}), who won 15 times throughout a 158-race career. Offered at Goffs UK as a yearling in 2008 by Hillwood Stud, Sole Power was bought by his trainer for £32,000, which turned out to be an inspired investment given his career earnings of over £2 million. So what was it that the trainer liked about the diminutive bay?

“He was a sharp, correct yearling with a nice head. I was going home the night I saw him, so I rang John Cullinane to bid on him the next day and luckily, he came at our money,” said Lynam.

Cullinane would take him home to his Horse Park Stud in Wicklow to break and pre-train the youngster before he made the trip to Lynam's Garretstown House stables outside Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath. It wasn't long after he was sent into full training that he started to show that blistering speed that was to become his hallmark. However, a setback delayed what should have been an earlier juvenile debut.

“In March he was our best 2-year-old by a street, but unfortunately, he got a hairline fracture on a hind tibia and had to be box-rested for a number of weeks. That's why he didn't make his debut until the end of June but thankfully, it's the only injury he's had during his entire career, Lynam recalls.

Although Sole Power proved very amenable to the art of training, it was a slightly different story for those charged with pointing him in the right direction on the gallops every morning, as Lynam outlines. “He's always been an easy horse from a trainer's point-of-view, but very difficult from a rider's point-of-view. David Mason always got on particularly well riding him in exercise and deserves a lot of credit because he had a tendency to just bolt. We also gelded him as a 2-year-old because jockeys found him difficult in races, even though he wasn't coltish.”

Sole Power broke his maiden at Dundalk late in his 2-year-old season and after a successful resumption back there the following April, Lynam was looking forward to a fruitful year, without necessarily holding Group 1 aspirations.

“Early in his 3-year-old career after his run in the G3 Palace House S. [finishing fourth to Equiano] we had very high hopes for him, but he had a few below-par runs before the G1 Nunthorpe. I was pleasantly surprised when he showed what we thought he could do at York.”

Lynam is blessed with a wife Aileen and three strong-willed daughters in Sarah, Amy and Emilie and it is clear that Sole Power's retirement has left not just a major void in the family's lives, but he has also bequeathed a lifetime's worth of memories, some unique to each of them. Among a multitude of highs, Aileen singles out the Knavesmire in 2010 as possibly the most significant.

“His first win at York stands out,” she said. “Being there in person and being in complete disbelief, it was unbelievably exciting. The preparation, the travel over, the jockey; it all came together in that minute. I remember Michael Stoute turning around and looking at us because we were in complete shock and couldn't believe it. But then again, I guess Eddie could believe it or he wouldn't have had him there.”

Aileen also appreciates how a horse like Sole Power can catapult a previously unheralded trainer into the limelight and serve to showcase his talents on a grand scale.

Aileen continued, “The most important thing that Sole Power did for us was raising Eddie's profile–showing the world how good he is and what he could do when he had the right horse. The feeling I have most about the whole thing is relief–that it all worked out, that the plan came together and that Eddie got the chance to show what he could do. That relief came every time he won because every single thing had to go according to plan because of his style of racing. The ground, the timing, the gaps appearing, the margins are so fine.”

Lynam's daughter Sarah, currently his assistant trainer, knows the horse as well as anyone though she did abandon him temporarily as she explains.

“I actually left the yard after Solo's first Nunthorpe win to gain experience in other yards,” Sarah said. “People were always asking how he was, and my holidays were usually built around his races, so he's always been a huge presence in my life. I went back working for Dad in 2013, so Solo was a daily fixture in my life from then on. It's hard to think of him not being part of the string any more. He loved putting on a show on the gallop, and is such a bonny little horse in the stable. He's just a pleasure to be around. I'll miss seeing his cheeky face over the stable door every night. That'll take some getting used to.”

Sarah has made the brave decision to embark on a training career of her own and is currently in the process of applying for her licence. What she wouldn't give to unearth another like Sole Power to train under her own steam, or even another former Lynam star, Slade Power (Ire) (Dutch Art {GB}).

She added, “I think these sprint stars only come along once in a blue moon, and I'm prepared not to encounter another in my lifetime. However, the dream lives on and we're lucky to still be able to follow Slade Power in his career. Whether his progeny will be in our price bracket or not is another matter, but from what I've seen of his stock they look strong, quality types. I'm looking forward to seeing them on the track.”

Sarah also concurs with her father's assessment of Sole Power being a tricky customer in the mornings, as she experienced one or two hair-raising moments on the occasions she rode him.

“I only rode him the odd Sunday when he needed to stretch his legs before an upcoming race,” she said. “However, there was one Sunday when he spooked and nicked himself with me riding him, and I got the sack. Not my finest hour, but I still maintain it wasn't my fault.”

Although middle daughter Amy shied away from the daily grind of a training yard, she has established her own career in the racing industry through working for Irish Thoroughbred Marketing and also developing a sideline in racing and bloodstock photography. In many ways she attributes her current roles to horses such as Sole Power, who helped introduce her to international flat racing and all the contacts associated with it.

“Obviously I've always been interested in racing, but my knowledge of international racing is because of the horses we've been lucky enough to have,” said Amy. “Travelling the world with Solo, Slade and Balmont Mast opened my eyes up to a different way of doing things and to different aspects of the industry. Along the way I met the late Mark O'Hanlon and became aware of ITM and it made me realise I might be able to work in the industry. I then made a career change and I don't think I would have been confident enough without that international experience behind me, or without the support of the people I met along the way.”

Emilie, the youngest of the Lynam family, has obviously got her head screwed on given she has pursued a career beyond racing and while many in her situation would have been only too delighted to join in the champagne lifestyle associated with an international Group 1 sprinter, she made sure it counted for something in her professional life.

“I was in college for most of Sole Power's career and because he brought us to some amazing places that we would never usually get to visit, I started a college photography project based on the racecourses he competed at, places like Sha Tin and Meydan,” Emilie recalled. “So luckily, I got to use Sole Power's jet-setting as research. I'm the only one in the family not involved in horseracing, but Sole Power definitely brought me closer to the industry.”

Sole Power will soon spend the rest of his days back where his early training days began–at Horse Park Stud–and reflecting again on the horse's stellar career, it is hard to pinpoint just one highlight. Certainly the summer of 2014 comes close when he put together three wins in a row, a hat-trick that included repeat wins in both the G1 King's Stand S. and the G1 Nunthorpe S.

Lynam concurs up to a point. “His two King's Stands were visually very impressive but on form, his first or last Group 1 wins when he beat Starspangledbanner and Peniaphobia [in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint]. I think they were his best.”

In his illustrious career, Sole Power was partnered by 12 different jockeys, some of the world's finest among that dozen. Asked which one of them was his best match, Lynam offered, “Murtagh was very good on him, but Hughes was better.”

Succinctly put but hard to disagree with.