Richard Hughes' tears at Newmarket show there really is hope for all in racing this season
MATT CHAPMAN Richard Hughes' tears at Newmarket show there really is hope for all in racing this season
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HOPE. That's what we all need.
And for those battling the superpowers in the world of horse racing hope is everything.
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Richard Hughes couldn't hide his emotion when talking to me after making history in the July Cup - and his underdog tale is the story of the season so far in Flat racing
The good news is this season there is hope emerging on many different levels.
Most recently, of course, Richard Hughes banged in Saturday's Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket.
That will have given Hughes hope, and many other trainers will be thinking 'it could be me next'.
But it's been a Flat season where Hughes - who was in tears during an emotional interview with me moments after his biggest win - is not the only one to have hit the jackpot.
Docklands banged in the Group 1 Queen Anne at Royal Ascot for Harry Eustace.
That's massive for the young up-and-coming handler, and while the horse is owned by a group with plenty of cash to splash, it still gives everyone hope.
Eustace, of course, doubled up in Group 1s by also banging in the Commonwealth Cup with Time for Sandals.
And don't forget old Scotsman Jim Goldie, who was responsible for American Affair taking the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes, also at Royal Ascot.
Don't also forget the Irish raider Cercene, who took the Coronation Stakes and a first Group 1 for both trainer Joe Murphy and jockey Gary Carroll.
Why is this so important? After all sport is just about finding out who is best of the best, it's not about who is actually taking the prizes.
Well it's crucial because, as I have said, everyone needs hope.
Other than those I have mentioned, Group 1 races in the UK so far in 2025 have gone to Ruling Court, Desert Flower, Lead Artist, Jan Brueghel, Minnie Hawk, Lambourn, Field of Gold, Ombudsman, Trawlerman, Lazzat, Delacroix and Cinderella's Dream.
The owners of that lot are some of the richest people in the world in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Ireland and Qatar.
Godolphin, Juddmonte, Coolmore and Wathnan Racing cough up more money than most for horses.
For most people matching them is the stuff of dreams.
But there is not only hope in what has happened in Group 1 races this term.
Eve Johnson Houghton is also giving people hope, as is Jonny Portman, who is having a fantastic season headed by horses like Rumstar and had a terrific treble at Newbury the other day.
He's trading at 20 per cent with a massive 28 victories this season.
Since he started training in 1998 the most victors he has ever had in a campaign has been 33. Portman is on fire.
Eve landed the Group 2 Kingdom of Bahrain July Stakes with Zavateri and also enjoyed success at Royal Ascot thanks to Havana Hurricane in the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes.
Superpowers are needed in every sport to inject cash.
But for the people just below the mega players hope is so important.
And this is a Flat season of hope for all.
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Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) DANIEL DUBOIS could be a young man who is about to step into history. If the 27-year-old Brit beats Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk at a packed Wembley Stadium tonight, Dubois will become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 Daniel Dubois is vying to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world Credit: Getty 7 Brit Dubois will take on Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk at a packed Wembley Stadium Credit: Getty And for once in boxing, all the hype is justified. Tonight will be the first time ever that the undisputed heavyweight championship has been decided on British soil. Dubois holds the IBF belt, but the rest — WBC, WBO, WBA — are in the lethal hands of Ukraine's Usyk. The winner takes all. 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'I've been cheated out of victory tonight,' Dubois said at the time, and he had a point. 7 Usyk stopped Daniel in the ninth round in their last fight Credit: Getty 7 Dubois was once hailed as the future of British heavyweight boxing Credit: Refer to Caption If he genuinely has no fear about facing the destroyer of so many British dreams, then that is because Dubois feels he has beaten his opponent once already. At 27, Dynamite Daniel Dubois — Triple D — has already seen it all. At the peak of his fighting prime, the softly spoken South Londoner has been battle-hardened in ways few other fighters ever experience. 'He has been through his trials and tribulations,' Lennox Lewis recently said of Dubois. 'He's the King Slayer.' Dubois knows what it is to be lionized, ridiculed, robbed blind and then lionized once more. In his early twenties, he was the rising star of British boxing, claiming the vacant British heavyweight title in 2019 with a fifth-round knockout against Nathan Gorman. Beating AJ in such devastating fashion showed the world one irrefutable fact: There is nothing wrong with Daniel Dubois' heart. Tony Parsons Commentator Steve Bunce wrote: 'Dubois fought like an old-seasoned bruiser, his feet flawless, his jab a stiff weapon inherited from the relics of the ring.' Young and unbeaten, Dubois was hailed as the future of British heavyweight boxing until the strange night at the start of the pandemic, when he suffered his first defeat. Joe Joyce, a decent but ageing fighter who Dubois was expected to walk through, shattered the orbital bone around Daniel's left eye early in the fight, causing retinal bleeding. Dubois took a knee in the tenth round and stayed down — possibly saving his eyesight, and probably his career. But the backlash from fellow and former pro boxers for quitting a fight because he was in danger of losing his eyesight was vicious and merciless. Top fighters who Dubois had hero worshipped tore him to shreds. David Haye said that he would rather be 'knocked sparked out' than ever quit. 7 Dubois did not simply beat Anthony Joshua, he destroyed him Credit: �Mark Robinson Photography/Matchroom 7 Daniel with dad Dave, sister Caroline and brothers Prince, left, and Solomon in 2020 Credit: Getty Many feared Dubois would never recover from that defeat, because it called into question the one thing no boxer can have called into question — his heart. But his greatest victory came in September last year. In front of 96,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, Dubois did not simply beat Anthony Joshua, he beat him up. Daniel dropped British boxing's former Golden Boy multiple times until he knocked him cold in round five. You could sense the torch being passed from one generation to the next. It was the final act in the rehabilitation of Daniel Dubois. Scar tissue Beating AJ in such devastating fashion showed the world one irrefutable fact: There is nothing wrong with Daniel Dubois' heart. It is not too much to suggest the fighter has been preparing for this moment all his life. He has never had a sip of alcohol. Never taken drugs. Doesn't own a smart phone. One of seven children, he was raised in a council flat in Deptford, South London, by a single father in a devout Christian household. Dubois and his younger brothers and sisters were home-schooled by their ruthless market trader dad Stanley, doing press-ups on their closed fists in the front room while reciting Psalm 144, verse 1 from the Bible, the prayer of David, the Warrior King. If Dubois wins, it will be one of those boxing nights that transcends the only sport that can never be called a game. Tony Parsons 'Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.' This tough upbringing certainly worked for Daniel's sister Caroline, too. At 24, she is an undefeated world champ, holding the WBC and IBO lightweight belts. Can her older brother grab the glory tonight? Usyk is a truly great champion, and it is widely believed that he beat much bigger, stronger men — not least Tyson Fury, Joshua and Dubois himself — because he is ultimately a better boxer than all of them. But Usyk is also 38. The world has already witnessed Daniel Dubois take Usyk to places the Gypsy King and AJ never managed to. 7 And only Father Time keeps his unbeaten record for ever. Dubois remains what he has always been — a knockout artist, a virtuoso of the lights-out KO, defeating all but one of his 22 vanquished opponents by stoppage. The Brit has, as they say, heavy hands. He also has scar tissue from past trials and tribulations, inside and outside of the ring, that most fighters never know. Being mocked after losing to Joyce, being robbed blind when he was beating Usyk in Poland — all of it has made him stronger. If the Ukrainian champion is ever going to be beaten, the time is tonight, the place is Wembley. Hero for the ages And the man to beat him is a devout, clean-living young Londoner who styles himself Triple D. Daniel Dubois is ready. He is one fight, one night — possibly one punch — from a truly historic victory, the kind of event that comes along every 100 years or so. Holder of all the belts, rightful heir to a place in the sparsely populated pantheon of British heavyweighted heroes who have been undisputed champion of the world. If Dubois wins, it will be one of those boxing nights that transcends the only sport that can never be called a game. Do what no man has ever done — beat Usyk — and Daniel Dubois will be a British sporting hero for the ages, up there with Bobby Moore, Chris Hoy, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Lewis Hamilton, Andy Murray and Mo Farah. Now that's what I call undisputed.
