If Ulysses wins the Derby, and he is one of the market leaders for Saturday’s race, the air at Epsom could well carry the scent of long-sought revenge being accomplished.
The colt carries the pale and dark blue silks of a racing empire whose founder, the late Stavros Niarchos, vowed in 1980 his horses would never run in Britain again. This followed the controversial disqualification of Nureyev after he was first home in the 2,000 Guineas that year.
Nureyev had cost of $1.3m, the second most expensive thoroughbred ever sold at public auction at the time. He showed brilliant acceleration to pass the post in front at Newmarket, but his jockey had caused interference and the French-trained colt was demoted to last place.
Niarchos, who died in 1996, felt that a Greek who accrued his fortune from oil supertankers had been treated badly by English traditionalists.
In the years following that incident, the Niarchos colours did return to British racecourses – succeeding notably with Nureyev’s daughter Miesque winning the 1,000 Guineas in 1987, and when the Henry Cecil-trained Light Shift won the 2007 Oaks.
Light Shift, another to carry Nureyev’s bloodline, is the dam of Ulysses – so the Niarchos story could turn a full circle on Saturday.
The Niarchos dynasty are known not to discuss in public the events of 36 years ago, but Stavros’s daughter Maria Niarchos-Gouazé, who became head of the family’s racing operations, will certainly have cause for satisfaction if the family are in the winner’s enclosure on Saturday.
They came closest to lifting the Epsom Classic in 1985 when Law Society, trained by the mighty Vincent O’Brien, was second to Slip Anchor. Law Society went on to win the Irish Derby. The Niarchos colours have also been successful in the French Derby.
Ulysses is trained by Sir Michael Stoute and will be ridden by Andrea Atzeni. He is a 7-1 shot to give the Niarchos family a full set of Europe’s leading Derby prizes.
