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This is my list of the top 10 Irish jumpers of all time ranked in order of merit.
1.Arkle
His feats on the track forced the handicappers to revise the sytem displaying superiority of metaphysical proportions.Won 26 out of 30 steeplechases,including 3 Gold Cups.In the 1965 race he won by a margin of 30 lengths which was the best performance ever in the history of chasing.Vanquished the great chaser Mill House on many a occasion,who in most generations would have been head and shoulder above everyone else.
2.Flying Bolt
The ultimate powerhouse of steeplechasing energy .However not blessed with as sound temperament as Arkle and often precocious and never willingly permit someone into the stable box.Arguably no chaser conquered rivals with as much disdain after Arkle as Flyingbolt.
Officially ranked only behind Arkle and sadly never ran in a Gold Cup.Potentially close to the immortal Arkle .Won 17 of his 20 races,including 11 chases in a row.Won the Irish Grand National bearing the burden of a huge handicap of 12st 7lb and still won by 2 lengths.He conquered He conquered Height o’Fashion and previous years winner Spash conceding 42lb and 40 lb respectively..Also won 1966 2 mile Champion chase in a waltz.
A clash with the giant Arkle was missed which would have been sport’s most epic tussle for supremacy.
3.Dawn Run
Posesed the tenacity of Queen Victoria.The only horse ever to win a Cheltenham Gold cup and a champion Hurdle,which the great Night Nurse failed to do.Powered up the hill to win 1984 Champion Hurdle inspite of veering at the last to win from outsider Cima.In the 1986 Cheltenham Gold Cup overpowered the classy Wayward Lad revealing courage of an army battalion rising from the depths of despair to triumph in spectacular style.It was racing character at its supreme height.Jonjo Neil rated it the best jumper he ever rode.
4.Monksfield
The Supreme epitome of courage Battled on like a Soldier to win 2 successive champion hurdles,to thwart the challenge of Sea Pigeon in a neck to neck tussle.Also scored a historic dead heat with Night Nurse in the Templegate hurdle at Aintree revealing combative spirit at a height of divinty.Sadly surrendered champion Hurdle crown to Sea Pigeon in 1980.,when the ground and shorter course acted against him.
5.Istabraq
Won a record equalling 3champion Hurdles as thus gained immortality.His 12 length winning margin in 1998 was the biggest since 1932.Revealed superiority over contemporary hurdlers unparalleled.Foot and mout epidemic probably robbed him of reaching the pinnacle of glory of 4 Champion hurdle titles.Sadly was pulled up in 2002 champion hurdle,due to unforseen circumstances.
6.Captain Christy
His 30 length win in the King George ranks amongst the performances in chasing comparable to the best of Arkle.The great Bula was toppled here.Most emphatically won the 1974 Gold Cup by 5 lengths from veteran Cheltenham Star,the Dikler.Taht win was hailed amongts the greatest ressurection sin the history of the sport.
7.Cottage Rake
Won a hatrick of Cheltenham Gold Cups in succession which very few have ever done in Steeplechasing.Lit the first spark in the Illustrious career of late Vincent O’Brien.Displayed top acceleration to win his 1st Gold cup in 1949, going away from Happy Home.Jockey Brabazon revealed that the horse had such speed that he could afford to ease him over the last few fences and still whistle past Happy Home in the run -in ,inspite of faltering at the last fence.It was a virtual repeat of the story the following year with Cottage Rake displaying sensational acceleration to overpower Cool Customer.However in 1949 like a galleon in full sail he won untouched .by a margin of ten lengths.Few chasers conserved as much energy till the final run in ,to unleash a final burst like Cottgae Rake in the Gold Cup.
8.L’Escargot
Won 2 back to back Gold cups in 1970 and 1971,in addition to a Grand National.Versatility at it’s supreme height to win Gold Cups and a national ,a very rare feat in modern times-Equivalent of winning a Triple Crown.Above all defeated the best Grand national chaser of all time ,Red Rum, by an effortless margin of 7 lengths in 1975.
9.Moscow Flyer
Equivalent of a Dr.Jeckyl and Mr Hyde and similar to a flawed genius.On his day could sit with the Gods of Olympus taking thorougbred prowess to its zenith.On others day he could reveal mediocrity at its helm.His win in the 2002 Queen Mother Champion chase is amongst the most memorable in steeplechasing history,when he won inspite of a minor mishap at the fourth fence.Conquered stars like Florida Pearl ,Edredon Bleu and Uberalles.
Also scored memorable win sin the Melling ,Tingle Creek and Tied Cottage Chases ,which he won twice.
10.Tied Cottage
One of the best front-running chasers of all time.Morally a start-to -finish 8 length winner of the 1980 Cheltenham Gold cup.but was sadly disqualified on technical grounds inspite of revealing traces of theobromine in such small quantity ,that it could have had no effect on the horse’s running.Also won 1976 Sun Alliance Chase and 1979 Irish Grand National.Runner up in 1977 Gold cup and fell at the last in 1979 Gold cup when disputing lead with Alverton.
Read Nr 3 and weep. Nowadays would win a few mares hurdles and chases. Perhaps a Ryanair to push the boat out.
BUY THE SUN
L’Escargot’s peformance in the 1975 Grand National was pretty well as good as anything the great but overrated Arkle ever achieved. The general standard of steeplechasing in the 1960s was poor compared to that of the decades either side of it and the golden 1930s and Mill House began to develop what would be a chronic back problem after the 1963 Hennessy.
Yours is a list of Irish trained horses and other chasers who should certainly be in the list are: Come Away, Troytown, Prince Regent, Early Mist and possibly The Liberator.
V happy with that list; except maybe Hurricane Fly ahead of L’Escargot, Moscow Flyer and Tied Cottage.
The one missing is Florida Pearl. He ran in proper races, not that c**p called hurdles race. Won a Festival Bumper, a Sun Alliance Chase (which used to be a graveyard in the 90s), a King George, four Hennessy Gold Cups, a Punchestown Gold Cup and a few more.
He won Grade One races in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004. That’s not bad and he only had one fall in 33 rules races, considering that he always ran over fences (except for the 2 Bumper runs).Maybe I missed 3 times Champion Hurdle winner Hatton’s Grace .@Ex RubyLight thanks for suggestion on Florida Pearl who I never saw or studied. Will consider adding.Very notable contender.
@befair thanks for appreciation.What did Hurricane Fly win?@GoldenMiller34 Did Not Arkle revise the rules of handicapping like no horse ever?Even gave the great Mill House a battering.Why not greatest ever?
As I said above, the era in which he raced was generally a poor one and Mill House was not the same horse, due to injury, when Arkle thrashed him. Tom Dreaper, who trained both, only conceded that Arkle might have been the equal of Prince Regent after the former won his second Cheltenham Gold Cup. Don’t believe the Timeform ratings, the service was in its infancy when placing two horses (Flyingbolt) from the same stable at the same time about 20lbs above any other steeplechaser to have graced the turf in NH history! Logically, what are the chances of that.
It clouds things a little when achievements over fences and hurdles are mixed together. I think Monksfield is correctly placed above Istabraq and would imagine that Dawn Run’s position is weighed on the fact that she made it at the highest level in both spheres as over hurdles she was clearly inferior to both the aforementioned.
What I do find a little baffling is that in the list of best Irish flat horses, Golden Fleece was placed above the likes of the proven, stonewall solid proven champion Alleged on what the visual impressions indicated he might of been while Golden Cygnet, provided substance ( at Ayr) that he was in the mix in the golden period of hurdlers but never made the NH list.
I saw Golden Cygnet win the Fingal Hurdle at Fairyhouse; the ground was like a bog, and the horses were coming home exhausted, yet he sprinted home on the bridle. The loss still hurts
No Prince Regent + No Carvill’s Hill = epic fail.
And Dawn Run, while unquestionably the greatest mare in terms of achievement, was not the best in merit: Anaglog’s Daughter showed a higher level of actual form.
And finally, Flyingbolt was one word.
@Gladiateur I agree with Prince Regent and also perhaps forgot Hatton’s Grace.I did consider achievement in case of Dawn Run that is why it merited that place.
@Cancello Please Remember Vincent O’Brien calling Golden Fleece almost the equal of Nijinsky or Sir Ivor and Pat Eddery rating it even above Dancing Brave ,as the best he ever rode.Arguably even El Gran Senor had marginally more class than Alleged,with owner Robert Sangster rating it as his best horse ever.I agree on pure performance Alleged was ahead.
@befair Appreciate your contribution on Golden Cygnet.Never saw him.
I’d agree with your re-analysis of Dawn Run. Number 3 is definitely based on achievement, rather than merit. I should add I’m not trying to be controversial with that one.
I agree with the Golden Cygnet comment. I can’t see the horse mentioned anywhere without getting upset. Oh what could have been, not that he’d be worthy of the top ten here.
Found this on Youtube, remember it like it was yesterday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mp5QYaPUNc
Can’t agree with the comments on Dawn Run; only winner of the GC and CH (and the GC as a virtual novice), won the Irish, English and French CHs in the same year, and shortly after winning the GC ( was it in record time?), beat the 2-mile champion. And was only at the start of her fencing career
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