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Nicky Henderson had a short priced favourite which ran in the second race at Doncaster yesterday. He cost something like £150,000. Matt Chapman said he did not like the horse in the paddock because he is a “washy chestnut”. The horse duly ran like a drain but he deserves another chance.
It got me thinking. Is this widely spoken prejudice against chestnut horses justified? Is there any evidence they are less robust and trustworthy? Or is it an old wives tale?
Maybe it is just me but are there fewer chestnuts around nowadays?
A washy chestnut is a pale coloured one, but they all look like that when they are clipped out as the hair shaft is paler than the tip.
” Is there any evidence they are less robust and trustworthy? Or is it an old wives tale?”
No it’s a complete load of nonsense.Speaking for myself I don’t like a white ringed eye- like Jonbon or Love. I don’t believe the old wive’s tale that these horses are ungenuine- those two certainly won plenty- but I just think it looks ugly (Jonbon himself is a nice looking horse just a pity about the eye).
Quite right, it’s unfounded prejudice against chestnuts!
Personal favourites Denman, Persian Punch, Double Trigger all chestnuts
Am with you greenasgrass on the dislike of horses with a white ringed eye too, doesn’t look right to me, but doesn’t mean they aren’t to be trusted, just personal preference.
I do like the theory that extra big ears is a sign of an honest horse though!There used to be a prejudice against horses with white socks as well. I remember Juilan Wilson once saying on the BBC:
“One white sock, buy him
Two white socks, try him
Three white socks, give him to the wife
Four white socks, run for your life!”Imagine a chestnut with four white socks and a white ringed eye!
Agree that white around the eye (the sclera) isn’t pretty to look at. It’s often present on horses which have a lot of white on their face.
My preference is for a white star splodge on the forehead, known as a “star”.
Two of my all-time favourites, the brilliant Oh So Sharp and the redoubtable Waterloo Boy, were chestnuts. I don’t think either of those could be questioned for robustness or trustworthiness.
Come to think of it, two more of Henry Cecil’s top fillies were chestnuts: Bosra Sham and Diminuendo.
Four white socks are what probably scuppered Frankel’s career
The more I know the less I understand.
Secretariat and Flyingbolt did OK for themselves, the latter had 3 white socks.
Justify did alright too.I remember Cecil’s ill fated stayer Kneller in the Charles St George Ardross colours – a flashy chestnust, big white blaze and three white socks.
As a 3 yr old, he won the Ebor breaking the track record under Paul Eddery on just his 3rd career start, he was never entered for the St Leger so they decided to run him in the Doncaster Cup in which he beat Sadeem (who won the Ascot Gold Cup the following year) and he followed that up by winning Jockey Club Cup by 8L – sadly just mere weeks later he was gone after failing to recover from a Colic operation.
A case of what might have been and I remember at the time thinking that he would have been a proper Cup horse the following year. It is very rare to see horses jump up in trip the way he did, ran once as a 2 yr old over 1m, first run as a 3yr old was over 1m4F, 3rd run 1m6F and his 4th run was 2m2F.
Have never seen that sort of prejudice in the USA. Man O’War and Secretariat were chestnut, that’s all the rebuttal you need. The enormous success of chestnut stallions like Curlin, Gun Runner and now Justify has ensured plenty of chestnut Thoroughbreds here, just like the success of Tapit and his sons has created an abundance of gray horses that isn’t seen in the UK.
“Chrome” on a horse doesn’t seem to hurt their reputation here either, except maybe with the grooms tasked with keeping them spotless
Lets not forget The Minstrel – that tough little bugger ran in both the English & Irish 2000 Guineas (placed in both) and the English & Irish Derbies (won both).
He was on the receiving end of the the full Piggott treatment at Epsom to get home but then still came back for more (which Piggott duly gave him) to win the King George as well.
See also – Welsh underdogs Norton’s Coin and Dream Alliance (who had 4 white socks).
To be honest Miss Woodford, till now, I have never come across it in the UK either. As we have shown, there’s more than enough evidence to prove that chestnuts are every bit as good as any other colour. We could carry on for months naming champions with copper coats. Almost as if Chapman was talking rubbish. Who’d have thought…
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