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Today on Channel 4 from 11:05pm to 12:05am
Channel 4
Documentary. In 1964, the greatest steeplechaser of all time beat the champion of England in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Arkle’s victory over Mill House became known as the Race of the Century. This film celebrates the 50th anniversary of that extraordinary race, recalling a golden era when this beloved Irish horse changed the face of National Hunt racing forever. It also examines how the legend has grown over the past half century and compares the horse to many of the modern greats of the chasing game. With contributions from Sir Peter O’Sullevan, who commentated on Arkle’s three successive Gold Cup victories; trainers Nicky Henderson, Paul Nicholls and Ted Walsh; broadcaster Brough Scott; Jim Dreaper, son of Arkle’s trainer Tom; and Cath Walwyn, widow of Mill House’s trainer Fulke WalwynOne of my earliest memories is rushing home from school to watch Arkle v Mill house on TV. Arkle even had a nickname "Himself." Just think what he would have been like now, with all the conditions races.
It will be a travesty if they take an hour just discussing one race. A race that is readily available and already well known to those who follow the sport.
It was the handicap races that established Arkle as the greatest of all. Far better that they dig out every bit of footage that can be found of these races.
My one hope is that doubting Ginge tunes in and after watching, finally accepts that Arkle really does have have no equal – either before or since.
Arkle – a true one off !
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
It will be a travesty if they take an hour just discussing one race. A race that is readily available and already well known to those who follow the sport.
It was the handicap races that established Arkle as the greatest of all. Far better that they dig out every bit of footage that can be found of these races.
That would be absolutely wonderful to see
Already have a dvd on Arkle, and a few others like Nijinsky, Sir Ivor, Dancing Brave & Mill Reef
Excellent. I can understand why they wanted to run it before the Cheltenham highlights but shame it was on so late. Best social history documentary Channel 4 has shown for some time – the racing interest is a bonus!
I do hope I can buy that on dvd; I’ve never before seen so much amazing archive footage of Arkle and my beloved Mill House [as Sean wrote in my Arkle book ‘to Mo, who never stopped loving Mill House but eventually forgave Arkle’]. I watched it and then had to watch it again on 4+1. It’s so sad that Arkle had such a short retirement.
Very disappointed.
Far too much chat and not nearly enough footage. McLean added nothing.
What was the point of showing the ‘famous’ mistake three times? Surely this was about trying to convey the brilliance of Arkle.
The chat about ratings wasn’t necessary and just got in the way of trying to tell a story.
The horse deserved a lot better than this.
Did we watch the same programme? Can you tell me that you’ve seen most of the archive footage that was shown? I’ve been an Arkle fan for most of my life and the majority of that footage was new to me. And the interviews gave a great insight into the horse and his connections [although I could have done without Paul Nicholls getting in on the act].
I agree, Nicholls inclusion was a waste of time. It was obvious that he would never in a million years concede that Arkle was superior to Kauto Star. The best he could proffer was that Kauto was Arkle’s equal.
A chance lost to ask Nicholls if his beloved could have lumped all that weight and still beat his contemporaries time and time again – let alone give Denman 16Ibs and a 20 lengths beating, whilst breaking the course record by 17 seconds under 12st 7Ibs.I had mixed feelings over the programme. I thought the producers missed a beat. They more or less skipped over most of his pre-steeplechase days, his flat race win and the fact that he was never defeated over fences in his native Ireland. Other obvious omissions were the ’64 Hennessy, following his first meeting defeat to Mill House in the same race the previous year, and his bloodless victory against the ill- fated Dunkirk in the 1965 King George. They could have also shown the finish of the ’66 Gold Cup after the famous first circuit mistake, where he cantered 30 lengths clear.
The DVD – Arkle the Legend contains much of the footage shown – and more, and is in my opinion even more informative.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
A chance lost to ask Nicholls if his beloved could have lumped all that weight and still beat his contemporaries time and time again – let alone give Denman 16Ibs and a 20 lengths beating, whilst breaking the course record by 17 seconds under 12st 7Ibs.- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.