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Who was the best 60s National horse?
My pick is Freddie, despite not winning one! To help the discussion along, I’ve listed below the top weights in each year after the handicapper had got his hands on the entries:
1960 Kerstin 12-4, Taxidermist and Mr What 11-11, Polar Flight 11-10, Oxo 11-9, Wyndburgh and Dandy Scot 11-7, Top Twenty 11-4, Knightsbrook and Mac Joy 11-2
1961 Reljef, Grifel, Epigraff II and King 12-0, Mandarin 11-13, Merryman II 11-12, Mr What 11-9, Oxo 11-8, Solfen and Retour De Flamme 11-6, Wyndburgh 11-5, Dandy Scot, Taxidermist and O’Malley Point 11-4, Owen’s Sedge 11-1, Kilmore 11-0
1962 Pas Seul 12-0, Merryman II 11-8, Frenchman’s Cove 11-5, The Rip 11-4, Solfen 11-2, Rock’s Cross 11-0
1963 Frenchman’s Cove 12-0, Cocky Consort 11-9, Solfen 11-8, Zonda 11-7, Owen’s Sedge 11-6, O’Malley Point 11-1, Nicolaus Silver and Kilmore 11-0
1964 Pas Seul 12-0, Caduval 11-8, Hoodwinked 11-4, Flying Wild 11-3, The Rip 11-2, Pappageno’s Cottage 11-0
1965 Mill House 12-3, Buona Notte 11-6, Pappageno’s Cottage 11-1
1966 Fujino-O, Ballon Rouge and Mill House 12-0, Freddie and Rondetto 11-7, What A Myth 11-4, Stony Crossing 11-3, Flying Wild 11-0
1967 Mill House 12-0, Thorn Gate 11-13, Dormant and What A Myth 11-12, Freddie 11-11, Rondetto 11-5, Master Marcus 11-3, Woodlawn, Different Class and Solbina 11-0
1968 Mill House 12-0, What A Myth 11-13, Different Class 11-4, Kilburn and Woodlawn 11-0
1969 The Laird 12-0, Woodland Venture 11-10, Sixty Nine and What A Myth 11-7, Arcturus and Dicky May 11-4, Different Class and Fearless Fred 11-3
And, how would Mill House have faired if he’d run?My favourite horses - Red Rum, Spanish Steps, Proud Tarquin, Esban, Go-Pontinental, Barona, Charles Dickens, The Dikler, Astbury, Black Secret, Vulgan Town, Huperade, Well To Do, Crisp, Quintus, Argent, Colebridge, Pearl Of Montreal, Nereo, Sonny Somers, Tubs VI, Tartan Ace, Red Candle, L'Escargot, Bula, Beau Bob, Rouge Autumn, Rough Silk, Frodo, Deblin's Green, Prince Tino, Eyecatcher, The Pilgarlic, Captain Christy, Mr Midland, Interview II, Credit Call, My Virginian, Flush Of Diamonds, Scout, Money Ma
Merryman was about 6 pounds/lengths the best National horse in a poor decade overall for steeplechasing, ahead of Freddie and Anglo. This assumes Freddie ran very similarly in 1966 to how he had in 1965, his mistake at the 10th in 1966 being counterbalanced by Anglo’s ease of victory. In 1965 Freddie came out roughly 4 better than Jay Trump who, all out, recorded 9.30.60 on Good whilst carrying just 7lb more than had Merryman in 1960, also on Good, when winning by 15L in a time of 9.26.25, and the fences were modified in 1961. I’d rate Merryman roughly 24 below the joint best performances in the race’s history by Golden Miller (1934) and Crisp (1973). Mill House may have begun to develop what was later found to be a chronic back problem just after the 1963 Hennessy so by the time he appeared among the entries he was probably only a few pounds superior to Freddie.
Thanks for that. Oddly I’ve got Freddie just ahead of Merryman, and then Different Class. I tend to look at other factors as well, not just the weight/lengths, as the National is an entirely unique race. I always had the suspicion that Mill House would have been similar to Miller and put in one good performance before deciding it wasn’t for him! I’d agree it wasn’t a classic decade for the National, although my favourite horse of all time ran in the 60s, can you guess him? You clearly know your stuff, and this isn’t an obvious choice for a favourite horse- he lined up in the National against both Foinavon and Red Rum!
My favourite horses - Red Rum, Spanish Steps, Proud Tarquin, Esban, Go-Pontinental, Barona, Charles Dickens, The Dikler, Astbury, Black Secret, Vulgan Town, Huperade, Well To Do, Crisp, Quintus, Argent, Colebridge, Pearl Of Montreal, Nereo, Sonny Somers, Tubs VI, Tartan Ace, Red Candle, L'Escargot, Bula, Beau Bob, Rouge Autumn, Rough Silk, Frodo, Deblin's Green, Prince Tino, Eyecatcher, The Pilgarlic, Captain Christy, Mr Midland, Interview II, Credit Call, My Virginian, Flush Of Diamonds, Scout, Money Ma
60’s is a little bit before I got interested in Racing, but do have video’s of old National, which includes Jay Trump (65), Foinavon (67) & Ayala (63).
Foinavon, to me looked to be trying to pull up, in my opinion the jockey earned his money that day. After the incident at the 23rd Fence which now bears his name but was caused by Popham Down.
Arkle the best National Hunt horse of that time, and some might say of all time never ran in the National, because the owner was too afraid of what could happen, or so I believe.
You've got to accentuate the positive.
Eliminate the negative.
Latch on to the affirmative.
Don't mess with mister in between.Every National of the 60s are shown in their entirety on YouTube RR. It was interesting to hear the different commentators, some of whom only lasted for one year.
I’m not well enough clued up on weights and times to venture a best horse of the decade. I just wish Freddie had won once for Scotland and that Carrickbeg had lasted home for John Lawrence.
One of the big differences between then and now is that you don’t have spectators all the way round the course now. I understand the security reasons but it would add to the atmosphere and occasion.
I would love to have seen Esban try, but again, she didn’t want to risk the horse.
My favourite horses - Red Rum, Spanish Steps, Proud Tarquin, Esban, Go-Pontinental, Barona, Charles Dickens, The Dikler, Astbury, Black Secret, Vulgan Town, Huperade, Well To Do, Crisp, Quintus, Argent, Colebridge, Pearl Of Montreal, Nereo, Sonny Somers, Tubs VI, Tartan Ace, Red Candle, L'Escargot, Bula, Beau Bob, Rouge Autumn, Rough Silk, Frodo, Deblin's Green, Prince Tino, Eyecatcher, The Pilgarlic, Captain Christy, Mr Midland, Interview II, Credit Call, My Virginian, Flush Of Diamonds, Scout, Money Ma
Fences were modified in 1961? I’d be interested to learn what those modifications were? They took out the barbed wire on top of the water jump? Dug up the landmines they placed if you went too wide round the Canal Turn?
I bet you had people moaning that they’d “turned it into a hurdle race” then, too! ;)
I was at Aintree about two weeks ago on Old Roan Chase day. I went into the old weighing room which is now a bar. I was pleased to see that there is a lot of National memorabilia on display, including the colours worn by John Buckingham when he won on Foinavon.
I was even more interested to see the colours carried by Tipperary Tim when he won in the 1920’s at 100/1. He was the only horse to complete the course unscathed, although another was remounted to finish second. My grandfather always mentioned it at National time because he claimed to have backed Tipperary Tim!
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