Ballymore was a bay horse with no white markings bred in Ireland by the Ardenode Stud, which was owned and managed by Jim and Meg Mullion.
One of these was Paddy's Flair who produced the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Ukraine Girl[3] and was the female-line ancestor of the outstanding steeplechaser Bobs Worth.
In the spring of 1972 he was slow to reach fitness and did not have a trial race before making his racecourse debut in the Irish 2000 Guineas over one mile on soft ground at the Curragh on 13 May.
He was given little chance of winning and started a 33/1 outsider whilst his stablemate and close relative Flair Path (ridden by Lester Piggott) was strongly fancied.
High Top led before giving way to Martinmas at half distance with Ballymore, partnered by Christy Roche appearing to be struggling towards the rear.
The race was somewhat farcical as all four jockeys had been told to restrain ("hold up") their mounts, resulting in the contest being run at a slow canter before developing into a sprint in the last quarter mile.
[5] In 1972 the independent Timeform organisation gave Ballymore a rating of 123, eleven pounds behind their top-rated three-year-old colts Deep Diver and Sallust.