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Was reading a news article the other day when the word Dramatist appeared and it set off a thought process back to my initial interface with the sport I love.
Dramatist, Night Nurse, Sea Pigeon, Birds Nest, Flash Imp, Tingle Creek, Jimmy the Singer, Steve Nesbitt’s Ubedizzy who would defy a 10lb penalty every Sat on TV, the imperious Roman Warrior, Wollow, Rose Bowl, Bruni (A true superstar), Peter Poston running Homefield round Lanark and Hamilton and what got me hooked…. a bog standard 3m handicap chaser trained by the Duke called What a Buck who gave me the fourth winner of a first ever winning Yankee.
Everyone will have their own favourites but to me these were the glory days.
Stu
Was reading a news article the other day when the word Dramatist appeared and it set off a thought process back to my initial interface with the sport I love.
Dramatist, Night Nurse, Sea Pigeon, Birds Nest, Flash Imp, Tingle Creek, Jimmy the Singer, Steve Nesbitt’s Ubedizzy who would defy a 10lb penalty every Sat on TV, the imperious Roman Warrior, Wollow, Rose Bowl, Bruni (A true superstar), Peter Poston running Homefield round Lanark and Hamilton and what got me hooked…. a bog standard 3m handicap chaser trained by the Duke called What a Buck who gave me the fourth winner of a first ever winning Yankee.
Everyone will have their own favourites but to me these were the glory days.
Stu
I remember backing What A Buck when he won at Haydock with Mr Reliable Jeff King aboard, think he was 11/8, don’t know whether that was the same day as you.
Dramatist was a similar horse to Beacon Light, genuine, consistent and class enough to be placed in a Champion Hurdle but not good enough to win one.Remember Bob Turnells fabulous chaser Buona Notte around the same time as Arkle,Flyingbolt,Flying wild etc,great days.
I dont remember any of the above named horses. Been through the form of many of them though.
Don’t remember much of the 70’s, but my first Faves from that era were Tied Cottage, and Flame Gun.
Everyone will have their own favourites but to me these were the glory days.
It just means you’re old.
a bog standard 3m handicap chaser trained by the Duke called What a Buck
I’m not sure I’d agree with the term "bog standard".
From memory, What A Buck was a pretty high-class handicapper. He may have won something like the SGB at Ascot. He ran in the Vestey colours, I think.
The other names quoted are all from the second half of the seventies and I was just getting into racing myself at that time. Other horses from the era which spring to mind are J O Tobin, Berkeley Square, Yamadori, Rhodomontade, Forest King and, a particular favourite of mine, Easby Abbey.
Great days,I think it must be an age thing,I loved the racing then,was it because there was a smaller pool of horses to follow?
If you go to back a certainty always buy a return ticket.
I was quite young then but I thought Easby Abbey was tremendous. Remember having little doubt he would win the Massey Ferguson and he didn`t let me down.
What A Buck was an older brother of The Pilgarlic. Fairly sure they both ran in the 1977 Grand National.
non-red red, gold maltese cross and sleeves.
Colours of Mr D W Samuel, carried by the Derek Kent trained pair of Navigatin and Grand Canyon, the latter winning a Colonial Cup with Lanzarote back in third!
Cropped up again in the early 90’s with among others the Michael Robinson trained Valrodian. Ran in Young Pokey’s Arkle and won the Dennys Gold Medal that Second Schedual was brought down in – though it was only Listed then.
Oh happy days – I remember virtually every horse in this thread. My first visit to the racecourse was on 17th August 1974 but I was a mad keen TV watcher at that time.
Easby Abbey was one of the first horses that got me hooked as well. Grand Canyon was also another terrific looking horse and I was thrilled to see him at Stratford in what must have been one of his first racecourse appearances over here.
Spartan Missile was probably my favourite horse of the next generation.
Some great memories among those names. Ubedizzy was one I recall. Didn’t he race in a muzzle, being prone to biting lumps oput of the opposition?
One of my favourites was old Lochranza, a standing dish at Ayr where I think he has a race named after huim (or used to at least).
Lochnagar was another I have fond memeories of, on the same water theme.
All of the National runners names from 1973 to around 1977 hold special resonance for me as I used to have countless re-runs on the living room carpet with dice.
I don’t think it’s just a case of being old Sberry. Racing, like lots of things, was simpler and more naive in those days. As it has lost that simplicity it has lost some of its charm. I think the point made about the sheer number of runners nowadays is significant too.
However, I’m sure that in thirty years time people will be on here waxing lyrical about the amazing years when Sea The Stars, Zarkava and Goldikova all came along within a year or two of each other.
Now you’re talking!
Diamond Edge. Artifice. King Or Country. Silent Valley. All 70’s vintage but hung around at a decent level into the next era. The last named very nearly bridged the gap to the 90’s!
I never got into racing till about the mid 80’s when by then I’d got familiar and knew which horses to follow and when and also admire those that had turned over my selection!
My first recollection was of the Seventies though and in one week I remember accompanying a school pal up to the bookies at lunch time. I didnt go in cos I looked younger than 15 but the other lad looked older and got his bets on
I asked which horses he was going to back and he answered Night Nurse , Sea Pigeon and Wayward Lad. They meant nothing to me at the time but now realised that week must have been a mid seventies Cheltenham for those horses all to have been out on a mid week day.
My 1970s racing highlight was the astonishing GOLDEN CYGNET winning The Supreme Novices, Arkle apart has there ever been a more impessive Festival winner? Younger members really should look this out on you tube.
Unfortunately the lowest point I ever reached in racing was when the same horse suffered that fatal fall at Ayr while cantering over the best gereration of hurdlers we’ve ever seen
RIP It still brings a tear to my eye thinking of himIf Arkle’s achievments were ever to be equalled this lovely horse would surely have been the one to do so.
I asked which horses he was going to back and he answered Night Nurse , Sea Pigeon and Wayward Lad. They meant nothing to me at the time but now realised that week must have been a mid seventies Cheltenham for those horses all to have been out on a mid week day.
Thats a hell of a treble. My memory isnt as good as it was though but i bet all three didnt win
One horse that sticks in my memory though from the late 70’s was a National Hunt horse called Clywd always seemed to go off 3’s on!!!!
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