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The Totesport Best Mate Cheltenham Gold Cup
Best Mate is the greatest jumps horse of all time arguably (Moscow Flyer and Arkle are the other main contenders), and he deserves to have the greatest race of the Jumps season which he won 3 times in a row, named after him
i can’t believe that he is dead. It’s just unbelievable. I raced from my college to a bookies in my home town to watch the race, and then 5 minutes later, he was gone forever. I was so touched by the racing post’s coverage on the matter. They dealt it with respect, are, love, sympathy, sensitivity – no pictures of best mate collapsing, or lying dead.<br>And the telegraph and daily mirror just showed absolutely no respect with the former printing a picture of the great horse lying dead on the FRONT page, and the mirror had a picture of the poor guy collapsing. I was so disgraced by this that i wrote letters to all 3 papers, commending the rp, but berrating the telegraph and mirror.<br>It’s always sad to see a horse dying, but best mate should have gone at henrietta knight’s stable, during his sleep, while he was having the rest that he absolutely deserved.<br>My thoughts are with EVERYBODY in racing, as tuesday 2.50pm was a tragic moment in the sport. And im not ashamed to say that i cried when i heard about the news. Good night Best Mate….
Why do I think you will think Hardy Eustace is the best hurdler ever if he wins the Champion Hurdle this year, jackane?
For what it’s worth on the Best Mate race choice, I’m not sure any race at the Festival would currently be suitable.  Surely the Gold Cup is not an option?  We’d end up with the Istabraq Champion Hurdle, with See You Then fans complaining.  Surely a Novice race that points to future glory would make more sense, although I would prefer for it to be away from the Festival myself as the Best Mate Arkle would make me most upset and the Royal & Sun Alliance Best Mate Chase is just too long (and not a particularly great pointer in recent seasons).
One thing to bear in mind, 15 years or so ago there was a pretty darn good grey called Desert Orchid.  I imagine there would have been some clamour for a top class race to be named after him too in his retirement.  Not sure a Class B (Class C last year) handicap chase run on a Sunday in October was what would have been expected.<br>
(Edited by Alderbrook at 4:33 pm on Nov. 3, 2005)
Quote: from jackane24 on 1:28 pm on Nov. 3, 2005[br]The Totesport Best Mate Cheltenham Gold Cup
Best Mate is the greatest jumps horse of all time arguably (Moscow Flyer and Arkle are the other main contenders), and he deserves to have the greatest race of the Jumps season which he won 3 times in a row, named after him<br>
Imo Best Mate wouldnt be in my top 3 chasers of all time. I reckon Arkles stable mate Flying Bolt woulda beat Best Mate.
I hope your not talking about my comments because i am entitled to my opinion and i think he won 3 very poor gold cups and what real top class horses did he beat that weren’t past it. He was truly put in his place by Jair Du Cochet and Beef or Salmon and you can say Beef or Salomon was beat by him at Cheltenham but he hates the course.
Member Rory may or may not be referring to you, Sir, but I for one find your premature and repeated analysis of Best Mate’s worth in the pantheon quite annoying.
If you read obituaries of anyone, famous or otherwise, then it is common decency to withhold full appraisal – however disputable – until such time as people’s emotions have faded and a respectable amount of time has passed. And for many people Best Mate was almost human.
Your comment about Flying Bolt is particularly offensive to me and I can guarantee that if you had said a comment like that to my face in the immediate aftermath, then I would have turned my back on you, however accurate you believe your opinion to be.
But. It’s an anonymous message board and you are free to post what you will.
Quote: from Maxilon 5 on 7:31 pm on Nov. 3, 2005[br]Member Rory may or may not be referring to you, Sir, but I for one find your premature and repeated analysis of Best Mate’s worth in the pantheon quite annoying.
If you read obituaries of anyone, famous or otherwise, then it is common decency to withhold full appraisal – however disputable – until such time as people’s emotions have faded and a respectable amount of time has passed.  And for many people Best Mate was almost human.
Your comment about Flying Bolt is particularly offensive to me and I can guarantee that if you had said a comment like that to my face in the immediate aftermath, then I would have turned my back on you, however accurate you believe your opinion to be. ÂÂÂ
But. It’s an anonymous message board and you are free to post what you will.
Don’t see how Flying Bolt could be offensive i have the opinion he coulda beat him and there is alot of Best mate knockers but since he died they seem to have forgot that.
The Dessie and Golden Miller chases have been downgraded over time, but they are there for the memory. Think the place as much as the prestige matters, so Cheltenham would be good. My vote would go for the Pillar Chase in January.
Will the Best Mate statue go in the Best Mate enclosure?
I always thought a Best Mate v Moscow Flyer match at the Punchestown festival would of been something special.
Digressing, some races you just wish you could of given him more talented competition, the 2nd GC win will always spring to mind, (he could of beaten anything that day or he was flattered due to poor opposition we will never know), But I’m of the opinion he would of challenged the best ever on that one day.
Easy, Maxilon.
Best Mate’s passing is tragic, nobody can deny that, but not everyone is compelled to wallow in his demise for all eternity and hold back in voicing their opinions.
This thread has been created to discuss the merits of naming a race after Best Mate. All IRSHEYEZ has done is state that he thought Flyingbolt was a better horse, perhaps trying to emphasise the point that there are plenty of top class chasers who haven’t had races named after them.
There is a race named after Flyingbolt its run every year on a sunday in the middle of february at Navan. I was outta order sayin he wasn’t great enough to have a race named after him but i do think it shouldn’t be the gold cup and i think no horse should ever been named in the gold cup title. Maybe the novice chase he won over 2 mile at chelters than fundamentalist or the sicily chase at sandown because i was so impressed them 2 days over a trip plenty short enough.
I don’t think a race with the importance of the Cheltenham Gold Cup should be named after him. Yes he won it three times but he wasn’t the only horse to do so, and what happens if another horse comes along and wins it three or four times? Great though he was, it’s not fair to put him at the top above other Cup winners by naming the race after him. Maybe rename a lesser race like the Haldon GC after him and put up a statue at Cheltenham in his memory.
Quote: from Alderbrook on 2:06 pm on Nov. 3, 2005[br]One thing to bear in mind, 15 years or so ago there was a pretty darn good grey called Desert Orchid.  I imagine there would have been some clamour for a top class race to be named after him too in his retirement.  Not sure a Class B (Class C last year) handicap chase run on a Sunday in October was what would have been expected.
<br>His Gold Cup win in 1989 notwithstanding, Dessie always gave me the impression of being happiest going right-handed, so the choice of Wincanton as venue of the chase named after him for so many years didn’t seem especially inappropriate to me.
I would, however, have thought him worthy of "getting" a better race than the one he did. Given his obvious liking for Kempton, I’d be quite relaxed about the Feltham Chase being renamed after him.
At a much, much lower level, and having seen him pelt round there so many times in the last few years, I’d one day like to see a handicap chase at Cartmel named after Flahive’s First, races at Sedgefield immortalising Fatehalkhair and Teme Valley, and a Some Jinks Chase at Southwell.
Jeremy<br>(graysonscolumn)<br>
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
He was certainly great enough to have a race named after him for goodness sake get a grip (I kept that clean) :biggrin: , he won THREE Gold Cups and was never out of the first two placings in his life, it doesn’t really matter what he beat as they were all trying to win it and he came through on each occasion, that’s all he needed to do, I’m begining to think some people didn’t like this horse for some reason, I can’t understand it :angry: ÂÂÂ
<br>I’m with Maxilon 5 on this one, maybe if he’d have won the Derby, the Arc, St Leger, Grand National and the lottery he’d have been recognised more.
<br>Max, speaking of climbing mount Everest, he’d have jumped it never mind climb it.
Yeah but some people are sayin he was the greatest chaser ever which i think is laughable. He never ran in a handicap off his big mark where Arkle did and defied it. If Best Mate woulda won off 175 i would of defined him as great but i think he beat alot of moderate competition. Moscow Flyer Hasn’t run in handicaps off his big mark but he doesnt have too to prove he is best chaser of his era. The way i see it is that Well Chief ran off 176 in the victor chandler around cheltenham and won and Moscow beat Well Chief in the champion chase. Also Henrietta wrapped him in cotton wool and i think that is why some people disliked him because how can you support your champion chaser if he only runs 3 times a year. Moscow and Best Mate both started in 99 Moscow has run 41 times Best Mate ran 21 and Moscow 25 over fences. You cant really use the excuse that if you overun them you’ll take it outta them because beyond belief Moscow seems to improve with age.
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