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Yes it is really sad to see best mate dead but there seems to be more reaction and publicity of his death than Tom Haillidays. This is the difference of a horse who had his day where tom was a 2o yera old with his life in front of him. Both very sad occasions but toms was some much more important yet i never seen it on the news.
I didn’t see the race but saw it this evening on the news. Unbelievable! What a sad thing to happen to such a wonderful horse. You can’t imagine what it must be like for Hen and connections going home to his empty box tonight.
<br>In sporting terms it’s the worst day of my life, I’ve had a couple of deaths in the family during the last five years and I thought I must be strong emotionally as I never shed any tears then, therefore it shows how much the horse meant to me as I’m not ashamed to say I shed some today.
I was working today so I set the video and avoided the result all afternoon but when viewing I thought something was different as soon as the race started, he just didn’t seemed to travel in that effortless fashion that we knew so well but nevertheless I was impressed at halfway with how he was laying up with the speedy 2 milers.
When he was suddenly swamped by horses I thought "Oh no he’s burst again, they’ll have to retire him now". As soon as Luke Harvey on ATR said that the screens were up I just knew what was coming next.
Being only 19, I’ve only seen archive footage of the likes of Arkle and Desert Orchid so this was the definitive horse for me and after starting to follow him after his Cheltenham Nov Chase win almost exactly 5 years ago, I could not believe the crest of a wave I was on with him taking days off work etc. to watch him race:)
I’ll certainly never forget that 2nd Gold Cup win, I’ve never had a bigger buzz than that from horse racing and the letters & correspondence I have shared with Jim & Henrietta over the last few years has made this a very special era for me.
I really regret not seeing him in the flesh, I bought a ticket for the Gold Cup this year and he burst a blood vessel the day before my ticket arrived and then I just e-mailed Haydock yesterday about Betfair Chase tickets so I guess it just wasn’t meant to be for me:(
After reading this forum tonight, I remember why I first joined it in the first place, some really kind and poignant posts compared to what I’ve heards been posted elsewhere.
Really shocked to hear this fantastic horse has died. Heard the Hen interview on 5Live. Just so sad.
Never lost a Gold Cup
Paul that’s a lovely post. It just shows that however much we all talk about money and betting on here, we care about the horses too. This sport can give you a buzz of excitement that no other sport can in my opinion.
Gutted – Heard Jenny Pitman on radio and she suggested that the horse might be buried at Cheltenham. A fitting resting place for a great horse!
Quote: from hoofski on 10:31 pm on Nov. 1, 2005[br]Gutted – Heard Jenny Pitman on radio and she suggested that the horse might be buried at Cheltenham. A fitting resting place for a great horse!
Well Jim Lewis said he’d be buried at Exeter on the racing post website.
When I arrived at the course today, it was buzzing. Everyone was looking forward to seeing the best race of the season so far, and to see their hero Best Mate. <br>He looked fantastic before the race and it felt brilliant to see him again.<br> A wonderful horse, so many people are going to miss Best Mate
Sport for me is always about those moments that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. After Carberry had boxed Best Mate in after the third last in his final Gold Cup it looked oh so bleak, but Best Mate was not to be denied and that side on view when he took up the running jumping the second last is one of those moments.
Normal horses don’t win 3 Gold Cups. Normal horses don’t win the King George and Gold Cup in the same season. Normal horses don’t get the adulation and praise that champions deserve. And that’s what Best Mate was, a Champion.
That’s one of the reasons I prefer jump racing over flat. There’s more emotion involved and you can follow a horse year after year. They’re owned by ordinary (albeit rich!) people who love their horses like members of the family, and they don’t retire them to stud the minute they have a big win.
He was a fine chaser who will be greatly missed, it’s a sad day for racing.
(Edited by Arazi at 8:09 am on Nov. 2, 2005)
Seems like just about every regular UK poster has added a tribute to this thread…
Nice to see
On the way to work this morning I was listening to radio 1 and they covered Best Mate’s demise in the sports news. The breakfast DJ as most of you will know is Chris Moyles, a loudmouth who enjoys stirring up a bit of controversy and he made some snippy comments about how ‘it’s just a horse’ and nobody really cares and it shouldnt be on the news. To be fair, he is clearly not a horse racing fan and Best Mate had not featured on his radar before today. Glad to report he badly misjudged the mood of the nation as within a few minutes he said he had 13,000 text messages telling him what an idiot he was and he shut up about it.
That says a lot about the impact Best Mate had, he was one of the few horses who was known by the general public beyond the hard core racing fans and even though its 18 months since the peak of his fame (the 3rd gold cup) his popularity endured.
I would rename the Arkle :o Just for a laugh….
But seriously, some candidates out there and it woudl be nice if it was a festival race?
Hello again,
At the risk of walking into a whole minefield of "who’s the greatest" comparisons, is there not a good case for Cheltenham to revisit its entire "named race" programme and potentially swap or replace names more in accordance with individual horses’ achievements?
Arkle would surely be regarded as the most fitting horse to carry the name of the current Gold Cup, should any horse carry it at all.
Golden Miller’s achievements arguably warrant him being commemorated in a more significant race than the one he currently has his name against at the April meeting, though finding 3m+ chases (only appropriate, I think, for Gold Cup winners) for both him and Best Mate at the Festival would presumably mean the likes of Kim Muir’s name being removed or repatriated.
Multiple Festival hurdles winners are less uncommon, so I don’t see too many of those, if any at all, being prefixed to Festival race names, although maybe some folk out there would like to see Istabraq or Baracouda commemorated somehow.
My prefered option would still be to have Best Mate’s name against the Pillar Chase, as it is a big enough 3m+ chase in Cheltenham’s calendar, yet not too big to imply he was a greater horse in the great pantheon of equine stars than he actually was.
(steps into minefield after all :) )
Jeremy<br>(graysonscolumn)<br>
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
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