Powell recalls Panto’s Ascot battle with jumps great Dessie

Not many races – if any – can have had a first renewal as memorable as the 1989 Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot between Desert Orchid and Panto Prince.

It was never supposed to be that way, of course. The race was inaugurated in 1987, but was frozen off and then 12 months later dense fog claimed the card.

That meant when Desert Orchid lined up in 1989, the contest had been blessed with racing’s biggest star in the way Frankel lit up the very first Champions Day in 2011.

During the 1988-89 season, the David Elsworth-trained Desert Orchid really was at the peak of his powers.

Unbeatable from two miles to three and a quarter on heavy ground in the Gold Cup later that season, the only chance the others had was Elsworth’s fondness for running him in handicaps.

He was having his fourth run by the time of the Victor Chandler, having already won the Tingle Creek and a second King George, but plenty thought he would struggle to give 22lb to Chris Popham’s giant Panto Prince.

A smart horse, he was just shy of the very best so needed some assistance and as more of a two-miler, a plan was made to put it up to Simon Sherwood and the dashing grey a long way out.

Brendan Powell was the man on board Panto Prince for much of his career and he remembers the day well.

“It was a great day to be part of, they were three or four deep at the paddock to see Dessie like they were for all his races, but Panto more than played his part,” said Powell.

“Obviously Dessie was giving me a lot of weight, the best part of two stone, but that is what handicaps were for.”

In receipt of so much weight, Powell and Popham had decided there was only one way to approach the race, despite Desert Orchid’s front-running ways.

“We chatted in the week and decided we were going to take him on from the outset, which is what we did. Probably a stride before and and stride after the line we would have won,” Powell continued.

“At the end of the day Dessie was that sort of horse, he wanted a battle and when Simon pulled him across to my horse, he wanted to race.

“They were two of the most genuine, two-mile chasers of the time you could get.

“There was a fence down the back I really tried to quicken it. He wasn’t the quickest in the world, Panto, whether over two miles or three miles he went a flat-out gallop but what he was, for a tall, gangly horse, was quick away from a fence.

“I think he unseated a conditional one day over hurdles, but other than that I barely remember him making a mistake throughout his career, he was the most trustworthy jumpers you could ever get. I think I won the best part of 20 races on him – at Wincanton he was almost unbeatable.”

With Vodkatini a relatively early faller, Long Engagement tried to keep tabs on the front two but by the second-last, he was a spent force.

“That race was just speed the whole way,” said Powell.

“It was a fantastic race and that is what handicaps are for. I always say he was about 8lb or 10lb shy of top-class. If he had that little bit of class, he could have been anything.”

Far apart over the second-last, they came together over final fence but Powell made a move for the rail and was again quicker away, going a length up.

But as soon as Sherwood angled him towards Panto Prince, Desert Orchid yet again advertised that famous will to win and the pair flashed across the line together.

“I wasn’t sure who’d got it, what I knew was I was in front before and after the line, but that was Dessie,” said Powell.

“The race has changed now, but it was a small field that day so nothing much has changed. We were prepared to take on Dessie and it nearly paid off.

“Had it been a level-weights race that day we’d have been stuffed, but Dessie was pure class, any distance, any ground and that year he was so far clear of the rest.

“But Panto was a great horse in his own right and he was very good to me.”