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The seventh Sunday race will be held for the Stanisław Sałagaj Cup, who died on 20 January this year, great rider and an outstanding trainer. We recall the memory of Stanisław Sałagaj below.

He didn’t have an easy life.

Stanisław Sałagaj was born in 1935 in the village of Złotniki, near Mielec. He was the seventh of nine children. His mother died giving birth to the tenth child. His father left the family after a few years. He moved to one of the neighbouring villages, where he founded a new home. Staszek was raised initially by his older brothers and sisters. He slept in a stable because it was warmer there, and besides, there was no place for him in the house. Then, he went to the orphanage, from where he was taken and adopted by a childless couple from Cracow. However, when his adoptive mother became pregnant, Staszek again had to return to the orphanage.
From the monastery to Służewiec
The next stage of his childhood was a stay in one of Cracow’s monasteries. He served during the mass for the care he received. However, he didn’t look like a future monk. After reading an ad in the newspaper on search in Warsaw for boys to work in the stables in Służewiec, he left the monastery without notice and went with a friend to the capital. It was the year of 1949. He began to work as a stable boy and participate in races. It was not easy because the competition was fierce. He didn’t win the hundredth race and obtain the title of jockey earlier than in 1959. In the same season, the jockeys also became Mieczysław Mełnicki and Arkadiusz Pink (who died in April 2011).
The curse of Dziwaczka
During his riding career, he remained somewhat in the shadow of the then giants: Jerzy Jednaszewski, Mieczysław Mełnicki and Vasyl Hutulaeca. He was tagged as unlucky man. Not even once did he manage to win the Derby (he took the second place five times) and the Great Warsaw Race. He said years later that his racing fate was under a curse of a defeat on Dziwaczka in the Derby in 1961 with Solali. He believes he won that race. But there was not any photocell on the track yet to resolve doubts. The judges determined the results in the winning post by eye. They found that Solali was slightly better.
The most unfortunate choice he made in 1976. It was the time when he won the Ruler Stakes (1,600 m) on Iranda and very easily the Iwno Award (stallions most often compete in this race, and mares rarely) on Jurystka. The trainer Stanisław Dzięcina gave his namesake the right of first choice. Sałagaj chose Jurystka because he was convinced that it could win. Meanwhile Iranda ridden by Jan Filipowski won, and Jurystka took only the fourth place. Similarly, he unluckily chose the horse to the Derby in 1980. At that time, the trainer Józef Paliński had two good mares, tiny Sinaja and massive Sonora. He offered him the first one. Staszek decided to ride on Sonora. The winner was Sinaja, ridden by Bolesław Mazurek.
The best season for Staszek was in 1979. During the meeting of Socialist States in Berlin, Staszek won on Czubary, trained by Arkadiusz Goździk, twice: at first the Interderby (2,400 m), and after a week, the most prestigious race in the annual event for the Cup of Congress (2,800 m). In the second run, Czubaryk broke a record, which belonged to the legendary Russian Anilin that won the Grand Prize in Cologne three times under jockey Nasibow. Then, he started on Czubaryk just in Cologne. There were also two other Polish bred horses in this race, i.e. Skunks, the Derby winner, and Pawiment, the winner of the Great Warsaw Race from 1978 that already ran in the colours of the German owner. Czubaryk struggled with the host favourite Nebos in a beautiful manner, but Staszek was joyful and uncomfortable at the same time after the race because he took …… the second place again. He lamented that one of his rivals knocked the whip out of his hand in the heat of battle. He claimed that he would have won with the whip! Skunks was fourth at the finish, and Pawiment was fifth.
Due to Jan Ciszewski, who promoted races on TV, Staszek became so popular that he was ranked 16th top Polish athlete in the “Sport Review” Plebiscite.
Injuries did not break him down
He struggled with injuries for his entire riding career. He suffered a concussion six times. He broke his backbone, ribs, both arms and legs, and his clavicle bone was tailed with material. Two accidents were the worst. In 1971, the horse tripped and fell under him during the race. Then he suffered a concussion, fracture of three cervical vertebrae, five ribs and left hand. In September 1981, he rode on Targoszyna during a downpour. The stallion slipped and fell in the middle of the bend, pinning him down with all his weight. This resulted in a concussion and fracture of appendages of the four lumbar vertebrae. After the accident, the medical committee forbade him to ride in races. He had no other choice other than to become a trainer. He began to run a stable in 1984.
Trainer ups and stresses
Although his university was only over thirty-year riding career, it soon became apparent that he had a great talent for training horses. He became the trainer champion already in the first season. The stable in Jaroszówka, which he ran (he got the best horses from the stud farm of the same name), won the most races. The next season was a little poorer in this respect, but by 1993 he won the trainer championship another seven times (most winnings – 82 – in 1990). He was also selected the Trainer of the Year six times by racing commentators in the postseason elections under the auspices of “Life of Warsaw”. There was only one thing he missed to be happy. Victory in the Derby!
He probably felt the curse of Dziwaczka most painfully when his pet “Suzinka” (mare of Susy) won the Derby in 1991, but she was disqualified for crossing after the protest. The Derby victory fell Kliwia, which was second at the finish. In 1993, it seemed that the blue ribbon should go to phenomenal Upsala, but Dziwaczka reminded about herself again. Sensational victory was gained by Durand, which was considered an outsider (he didn’t exist any longer), and Upsala was the second. Then she won the Oaks and Great Warsaw Race, and was chosen the Horse of the Year. This title was earlier obtained by Omen (1987), which was second in the Derby (after Solozzo) after winning the Ruler Stakes, then first in the St. Leger and the Great Warsaw Race, and by Dietmar (won in 1988 such awards as PRM St. Leger and Great Warsaw Race). Successful Omena, Dietmar and Susy were recognized in the United States. Sałagaj visited Washington with them three times at the invitation of the local organizers of races. Stallions took part in the Great Washington Race (Omen in 1987, Dietmar year later), but they took more distant positions, while Susy did not ultimately run in Chicago, because she was found with symptoms of acute poisoning the day before the race. She was hardly rescued by veterinarians.
Sałagaj ended his training career for the first time in the season of 1994, when the stable became privatised. He returned in autumn 1996, when Paweł Zakrzycki, the great horse and racing lover, hired him after the cooperation with Małgorzata Capriari. In 1998-2002 he worked in Lutek, Mazuria, in the training centre of Leszek Kowal. He returned there again for a short while in 2007. However, his health broke down again. In 2008, he underwent six operations. He had his leg double amputated above the knee. In subsequent years, he moved only in a wheelchair. However, he attended most important races. His sons, Paweł and Artur, brought him. He tried to persuade them into racing when they were teenagers, however, after their mother Barbara, they grew up too high to be able to be riders. Artur, one year older than his brother, took part in 50 races and won 12 times. He also tried to be a trainer but he only ran the stable for two seasons. Paweł participated in 12 races, two of which he won.
Jan Zabieglik The most important victory of Stanisław Sałagaj: a) as a jockey: four times St. Leger (1965 – Da Gano, 1977 – Calvados, 1979 – Akcept, 1980 – Dżudo), twice the Prime Minister Award (1977 – Duplikat, 1980 – Czubaryk) and the Ruler Stakes (1975 – Orton and 1976 – Iranda). b) as a trainer: three times the Great Warsaw Race (1987 – Omen, 1988 – Dietmar, 1993 – Upsala) and St. Leger (1987 – Omen, 1988 – Dietmar, 1991 – Suzy), twice the Ruler Stakes (1987 – Omen, 1993 – Upsala) and once the Prime Minister Award (1988 – Dietmar).