- This topic has 25 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 4 months, 4 weeks ago by
.
- Posts
Sad to hear of the passing of another giant of the sport, my sincere condolences to his family and friends.
The three Hills horses who most linger in my memory are the tough as nails Further Flight, the lovable eccentric Moonax, and a rare Jumps star for the stable, Nomadic Way. The video below is his win in the Stayers’ Hurdle in 1992.
RIP Barry Hills
Moonax had a go over jumps , iam not sure he was lovable , sign on his stable dont appoach , handlers wearing padded arm pads and body protecter to stop horse eating them , trying to bit another horse during race .
Moonax gets a lot of mentions in the excellent ‘ From Dawn Till Dusk’. Joyce Wallsgrove, who looked after him, felt he was misunderstood. He’d had one of his legs badly damaged on a flight ( something that wasn’t his fault but caused by another horse called Rainbow Heights).When he raced in France she told Dettori to never hit him on the right hand side, the side where he’d hurt himself. But he forgot, hit the horse, who then tried to run out; he knew Longchamp very well and knew the way back to the stables. Dettori admitted that he’d forgotten the instructions.For some reason, although it’s a long time since I read the book, it’s Moonax that I remember the most ( must re read it;cracking book). I loved Further Flight.When I came back to racing he was one of the first flat horses that I latched onto.My tv wasn’t working one day and Further Flight was running. Desperate to see the race I went and knocked on the door of an old guy that used to walk round the village with a greyhound and a ferret on a lead; I reckoned that he’d be a racing man and he was. So I got to watch it on the sofa with the greyhound. From memory he didn’t have a very long retirement. Lovely horse.
HCMW, Moonax was lovable from afar! He was one of those equine characters who make the game more interesting. Although he wasn’t unique to be a winner of a British Classic who ran over hurdles, I believe he remains the most recent. Certainly nobody could accuse Barry Hills of failing to campaign his horses adventurously.
It was interesting to hear more of Moonax’s story Moehat; I will get hold of a copy of that book you mentioned.
Below is Moonax’s finest hour in the St Leger. I remember feeling a bit sorry for Broadway Flyer on the day after he put in a very game front-running performance only to be passed late on. Interesting to see that the grand stayer Double Trigger was back in third.
From memory, not having read the book for many years, I think it said the stable were struggling a bit at the time and Moonax lifted their spirits ( when he wasn’t biting them, that is). He reminded me of a horse that was at the riding school where my daughter went. You wouldn’t dare to go near her in her stable but once she was tacked up she would give her all for you. The book made me realise how much wins etc affect everyone in the stable. Probably why I get so upset when a horse from a smaller stable is lost ( as it often seems to be the stable star). All the proceeds from the book went back into racing I believe, which is why I bought it. It reminds me a bit of Chris’s Pitts Go Down to the Beaten; the unsung heroes usually being the interesting ones.
There was a photograph in the RP the other day showing Kribensis alongside Nomadic Way in the 1990 CH. Sheikh Mohammed against Robert Sangster in the 2 mile G1 over hurdles. Two Flat Racing dynasties battling it out over the Jumps. That was mote than 35 years ago……
Just when I decide that I must, as part of my Swedish death clean, do something about the boxes of old racing videos I now realise that I might have to start watching them ( it could take some time…).
Perhaps someone might be kind enough to post Distant Relative’s win in the 1990 Sussex Stakes
(I’m useless!)
A great ride on a great horse on a glorious racecourseWill whet the appetite for this year’s festival!
O’Sullivan got his sex wrong in the other youtube video – 1989 Celebration Mile
(I’m useless!)
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.