Ya Malak

Ya Malak (18 January 1991 – ca. 25 March 1999) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. A specialist sprinter, he won ten of his forty-nine races in a track career which lasted from May 1993 until September 1998. In his first three seasons he showed consistent form, winning the City Walls Stakes in 1994 Achilles Stakes in the following year. He appeared to lose his form as a five-year-old and was sold cheaply at auction at the end of the season. After entering the stable of David Nicholls in 1997 he improved into a top class performer, winning the Epsom Dash and the Sprint Stakes before recording his biggest success when dead-heating for the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes. His victory in the Nunthorpe made Alex Greaves the first woman to ride a Group One winner in Europe. The gelding failed to win at seven and died the following spring after complications arising from colic surgery.

Ya Malak was a bay horse bred in the United Kingdom by Bobby and Helen Kennard.^[2] He was sired by Fairy King, an American-bred stallion who was retired after sustaining an injury after a single racecourse appearance in Ireland. He became a very successful breeding stallion, siring major winners including Turtle Island, Helissio, Oath and Falbrav.^[3] Ya Malak's dam La Tuerta was a useful sprint handicapper who won three races from eleven starts and earned a Timeform rating of 96 in 1995.^[4] She was a daughter of Smarten Up who won dead-heated for the Temple Stakes in 1978 who also produced the outstanding sprinter Cadeaux Genereux.^[5]

As a yearling the colt was sent to the Tattersalls sales in September 1992 and was bought for 73,000 guineas by the British Bloodstock Agency.^[6] The horse entered the ownership of G Jabre and was sent into training with John "Pip" Payne at Newmarket, Suffolk.

As a two-year-old in 1993, Ya Malak was ridden in all six of his starts by

For the 1997 season, Ya Malak was trained by Nicholls in Yorkshire and ridden all his races by Alex Greaves, Britain's leading female jockey and Nicholls' wife.^[12] Nicholls rode the horse in some of his training gallops and described the horse as the fastest he had ever ridden.^[11] On his first appearance for his new connections, the gelding finished fifth of six behind Bolshoi in the East Riding Stakes at Beverley in April, tiring in the closing stages after leading a furlong out. On 20 May at the same track he recorded his first win for almost two years in the Angel Stakes. He was restrained by Greaves in the early stages before taking the lead a furlong out and winning by two lengths from the favoured Tadeo.^[13] Six days later he was stepped up in class for the Temple Stakes at Sandown and started a 25/1 outsider. He dropped to the rear of the field two furlongs out after being denied a clear run but finished strongly and finished fifth, just over a length behind the winner Croft Pool.

The Dash at Epsom on 7 June saw Ya Malak assigned top weight of 128 pounds against eleven opponents headed by the

On 21 August at York, Ya Malak was one of fifteen sprinters to contest the Nunthorpe Stakes and started at odds of 11/1. The July Cup winner Compton Place started favourite ahead of Coastal Bluff, the winner of the Stewards' Cup and the Ayr Gold Cup in 1996. The other runners were Mind Games (Temple Stakes), Indian Rocket (Mill Reef Stakes), Almaty, Averti, Don't Worry Me, Easycall (Flying Childers Stakes), Struggler, Eveningperformance, Bolshoi, Hever Golf Rose, Croft Pool and Cyrano's Lad. Greaves restrained the gelding in the early stages as Eveningperformance set the pace from Coastal Bluff and Mind Games before beginning to make progress at half way. Mind Games went to the front a quarter mile out before Coastal Bluff took the lead entering the final furlong. Ya Malak stayed on strongly in the closing stages and crossed the line level with Coastal Bluff, just ahead of the fast-finishing Averti with the 50/1 outsider Cyrano's Lad taking fourth. After examining the photo finish the racecourse judge declared a dead heat between Ya Malak and Coastal Bluff.^[17] Greaves became the first female jockey to win a Group One race in Europe. After the race Greaves commented "Today I think I've shown that if the animal is good enough then so am I" whilst Nicholls said "Ya Malak showed what a good horse he is today and the jockey did the same. I don't have to tell anyone how good she is any more. Everyone in England, Ireland and France can see how capable she is. She's philosophical and realises there are owners and trainers who will never put her up, but that's their problem."^[18]

The horse remained in training but failed to reproduce his 1997 form. He finished unplaced in his first four races before finishing third in a minor stakes race at Newmarket in July. After finishing fifth at Leicester he ended his racing career by finishing sixth behind Almaty at Beverley on 22 September.

Ya Malak was scheduled to return to racing in 1999 and was reported by Nicholls to be "showing his old sparkle" before developing a severe case of colic in March. He underwent surgery at the Minster Veterinary Surgery in York^[19] but contracted peritonitis and died shortly afterwards.^[20]