Ruby Walsh: Flat racing needs Paddington express to continue beyond 2023

CLASS ACT: Paddington ridden by Ryan Moore. Odds-on favourite Paddington is all set to bid for a fifth successive Group 1 win this season in Wednesday's Juddmonte International at York. Pic: David Davies/PA

When Paddington walked out of the chilly Deauville sales arena on October 18, 2021, he had just been purchased by MV Magnier for €420,000. I would love to know what MV and his Coolmore advisers believed they had bought, but I doubt in their wildest dreams did they think that this son of Siyouni and Modern Eagle would turn out to be what he is.

I don’t for a minute believe they knew they were buying a multiple-Group 1 winner who could go on to be the champion three-year-old of 2023, but what they did was spot an individual and take a chance. His pedigree is not littered with champions, his only sibling to have raced is a run-of-the-mill racehorse, but his mum was above average on the track, winning a listed race in her native France.

When her owners decided to breed her to Siyouni, who has fared better at stud than he did at the track, there was potential, which obviously the Coolmore brigade spotted, but he still wasn't a steal in October 2021.

Nor did he look cheap when he fluffed his lines on his racecourse debut at Ascot in September 2022. He only managed to finish fifth of eight runners, behind four rivals now upwards of 30lbs  his inferior.

He did make it second time lucky when winning at the Curragh in October 2022, but his starting price of 16-5, albeit that he was favourite, suggests he was hardly expected to win by the five lengths which he did.

Connections may have been pleased that day, but the handicapper wasn’t so sure and duly allotted Paddington a mark of 97 heading into the winter. Most horses are supposed to thrive or improve in the summer, but this one did in the winter and early spring because Paddington started his season in March as a well-backed 6-4 favourite in a premier handicap at Naas. He hasn't looked back since.

That Madrid Handicap win led to talk of a bid for the French Guineas, but a rout of his opposition in the Tetrarch Stakes led to a rethink and a tilt at the Irish Guineas. On the Curragh plains he faced the Newmarket Guineas second, third, and fourth, and he kicked them out of the way before he met the Newmarket hero Chaldean in the St James's Palace at Royal Ascot.

Chaldean jumped out to make all the running under Frankie Dettori but quickly became the mouse stalked by the cat Paddington, who chewed him up at the furlong pole and went to the line with fire in his belly. The way he finished at Ascot suggested a step up in trip was possible, and Aidan O’Brien did just that in July, sending his stable star to Sandown for the two-furlong longer Eclipse.

His main danger was Emily Upjohn, an Oaks and Coronation Cup heroine. Still, her rider William Buick wouldn't be easy prey for Paddington to pounce on and he followed Ryan Moore through the early stages of Sandown’s season highlight.

William also knew he had confirmed stamina that Paddington mightn't have, so he attacked early up the Sandown hill. It was another attempt in vain to derail the Ballydoyle superstar who repelled her to the line and never looked like being passed even if they had to go all the way into Esher village.

Paddington was now in full flow, and his next stop would be at Glorious Goodwood, which could drop the ‘Glorious’ part as it gets so much rain these days. The weather was foul, but it didn't stop Paddington as he repelled the Frankie Dettori challenge aboard Inspiral at the top of the Goodwood straight before pulling away from Facteur Cheval at the furlong pole to add the Sussex Stakes to an impressive haul this season.

Three Group 1s at a mile and one at 10 furlongs are where he stands this morning. It is also a season that shows six wins from six starts, which started early and has had no break. But it is far from over.

This afternoon, in a bid to add the Juddmonte to his glowing CV, he will grace the Knavesmire to tackle two older stars he has yet to encounter: Mostahdaf and Nashwa. He is back up to 10 furlongs, knowing his two main rivals will be stalking him, waiting to pounce somewhere between the two pole and the furlong marker.

He has repelled or accelerated past all his rivals to date this year, and if he can do it again today, then Leopardstown will have a star name to hang its Champions Stakes on. By September, he may have scared off most of the opposition, but that won't be his fault because he has clashed and beaten most generations by tackling all of Britain's summer marquee events.

Today is the last of the fresh contenders in Europe, outside of France, but a champion can only be the best in his time. Paddington is four up with three to go. I don't know where that last race will be this season, but Flat racing needs Paddington.

It needs him to win his next three, and then it requires him to race at four. The sport needs equine stars people want to go and see, but for them to become famous enough for people to want to have tried to watch them live, they need to race at four.