Quito ran his first race for trainer David Chapman in July 2002 as a 5 year old having previously won twice in Dubai. He soon showed himself to be a tough competitor on the all weather and ran up a hat trick within a fortnight that autumn under the jockey who was to be his regular pilot, Tony Culhane.
I began following him at the start of the 2003 season having been impressed by his performances on the polytrack, especially a 6 length win at Wolverhampton where he trounced a reasonable performer called Geronimo. The first time I actually backed him was in a handicap at Doncaster when he looked all over the winner running hard against the stands rail until just caught on the line by Grey Cossack. Despite that narrow defeat Quito was a very profitable horse to follow that season with wins at Thirsk (7/1) and Newcastle (14/1) beating the useful Celtic Mill in the latter handicap. The best was yet to come that season though when, with a late flourish which was becoming his trademark, he got up close home to land the Ayr Gold Cup at 20/1. His first win for David Chapman was gained off a mark of 59 but such was his progress that he won at Ayr off a rating of 92.
Quito’s career took off from there and in total during his career he won 20 times from 121 starts. The son of Machiavellian struck up a fine partnership with Tony Culhane who rode him to 14 of his career victories. More than handicapper later in his career Quito won seven times in listed company notably when accounting for New Seeker in the John O’Gaunt Stakes at Haydock in 2006. Arguably his finest performance was when finishing strongly to when 2nd, beaten a neck by Reverence in Haydock’s Group 1 Betfred Sprint Cup at the age of 9.
David Chapman bought Quito for only 3,500 gns in 2002 and by the end of his career he had won nearly half a million pounds in prize money. In fact his trainer maintained that the horse never really fulfilled his potential as a result of problems with his joints.
A horse with a lot of ability and a great engine, ee was initially retired after suffering from sore shins in the summer of 2007 but after not finding retirement to his liking made a brief comeback running 3 times in 2008 at the age of 11.
Although he always ran in blinkers Quito was 100% genuine and the old warrior was as tough as they come. He is now enjoying a well earned retirement with trainer Ruth Carr, who always looked after him and has now taken over the license from her grandfather David Chapman.
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