Destined for stardom … but, sadly, cut short.

[hairruffle]

I must say that like several others on here Gloria Victis instantly springs to mind. I still remeber the awful day when he lost his life
Another one that springs to mind is Monsignor who was trained by Mark Pitman. He won brilliantly at Cheltenham (although I can’t remember which race)!!!and also beat Best Mate in their only meeting but sadly his career was ended by an injury.

[LUKE]

Someone mentioned Harry Hastings-I am fairly certain that after he won the Supreme Novices he wasn’t seen on a racecourse for about 8 years until winning a hunter chase at Ayr the week before the 1993 festival.

[Fist of Fury 2k8]

So many good horse who had there careers shortned by either accident or Death.

But there was no sadder loss to the public than Arkle himself…….just looking at the following years results he could have raced till he was at least 12 and won 6 Gold cups. Luckily unlike some of the others below he had some time to prove how good he was

Sadly those below were robbed of "what could have been"

Gloria Victis an amazing horse who had Champion written all over him
Killiney "The best horse I ever trained" Fred Winter… speaks for itself
Nick Dundee "Gold Cup Horse just waiting to happen"
Colden Cygnet " Unbeleiveable, awesome, brilliant" not enough word in the dictionary to describe how good he would have been

Saddest moment in my memory was one minute cheering on Alverton with the National at his mercey and the next minute Jonjo lying on the ground in tears and holding Alverton…. a horse he loved. As he said at the time losing the national meant nothing losing Alverton was a tragedy

[Fist of Fury 2k8]

Someone mentioned Harry Hastings-I am fairly certain that after he won the Supreme Novices he wasn’t seen on a racecourse for about 8 years until winning a hunter chase at Ayr the week before the 1993 festival.

Funny how some things you totally forget until someone mentions a name. I stopped on the M6 at a pub in Gretna for a bite to eat and who walked in but John Wilson. Having met him a couple of times before we had dinner together………He was well chuffed I can tell you and had his WC Trophy sitting right next to him on the table…..no chance that was getting left in the car and the nearest I ever got to one Damn!!!………….I knew one of the original owners but after a dispute he sold his share for quite a bit of money……unfortunately for him before he won at Cheltenham……….often wondered what happened to John never mind Harry Hastings……..suppose he’s back running the family business in Motherwell now…..anyone know? Taggarts and Wilsons it was called sold cars…..Funnily I can only remember Harry Hastings vaguely… didn’t he have big white socks and jump hurdles like a gazelle…ridden by Chris Grant?…..maybe he made all at Chelteham? old memory is going

[thejackal]

More recent ones include:

Cardinal Hill – Noel Meade novice who fell at the 2nd last in the supreme novice hurdle
Fasliyev
Iktitaf
Harcon – Great big chaser for Jim Dreaper who I don’t believe raced again after being beaten by Dubacilla in the Sun Alliance. That race was a billed as a head to head between him and Barton.
Horatio Nelson – Controversial ending for some but sad that we never got to see how good he might have been
Missed That – A horse that I thought could possibly develop into a Gold Cup horse, particularily after his final win of the season at punchestown. Sadly never was killed early last season

If we are going to mention Teofilio then Holy Roman Emperor probably deserves a mention aswell – probably wouldn’t have improved as much from 2 to 3 as Teofilio had more room for development but was still a very good horse

Agree that Jair Du Cochet was a very talented and exciting individual

[Bulwark]

My top one, just because I loved the horse so much, would have to be TEOFILO without a doubt, I was really looking forward to seeing him in the derby and had backed him for the derby at 25-1 prior to his run in the futurity stakes. I then backed authorized against teofilo over the winter as teofilo was just too short by that stage and authorized was still good value at 10s and 12s and stood to win a lot more off authorized as my original bet on teoflo was obviously more speculative at the time I put it on. Was gutted when teofilo was injured as think that could have been one of the great derbys and instead authorized just outclassed his field that day and became the champion 3yo.

The most I have ever felt gutted for a horse, however, was for HORATIO NELSON in the derby 06, I had never once backed the horse (but had him in a few ttf lines) and was on visindar and dylan thomas e/w in that years derby. Coolmore backed Horation Nelson like he was going to win that derby, dylan thomas, despite winning the derrinstown quite impressively, appeared to only be an after thought at 25-1, fallon rode him like he expected he was going to win, and then part way down the straight he had what was possibly the most horrific end on a track Ive ever seen. I made a loss in that race overall, despite dylan thomas getting placed, and Sir Percy was a horse who i never took to, so I’ve always wondered what would have happened had horatio made it another furlong or two.

[Author]

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