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Remember Douze Douze?
The big French horse that was runner up to best mate in the Peterborough while giving his jockey niughtmares.
He finally got his was and unshipped Gicquel at Ascot and then ran off into the distance while jumping the fences for fun.
I though that, if they could superglue a jockey to him, he’d have won some big prizes.
He never ran in the UK again, but won a couple of small races at Auteuil.
He hasn’t run since 2004, does anyone know what happened with him?
If he’s still around, he’s only 10yo.
A very funny post, Raffingora – which has evidently led to others.
Actually, it’s funny peculiar that Raffingora was himself a horse which really caught my imagination. A fabulously raffish kind of name. Like "Like the Wind"….!
I remember him being with Ryan Price, breaking the track record somewhere, maybe Ascot, and being sold to Australia for stud "duties".
Only the other day, I was looking at some Aussie horses and wondering if any had been sired by him, but of course, a lot of time has passed, and his own progeny will surely be long gone. But I remember reading a long time ago that a certain Aussie horse had been sired by Raffingora.
Are you getting mixed up with Raffindale (by Raffingora)?  He was sent to Australia and won a couple of Gr.1s out there before retiring to stud.
Raffingora stood over here, with some success, before being packed off to Japan.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who develops a fondness for certain obscure beasts – two of my favourites, for no real reason were Cadeaux Cher and Friar Tuck.
That’s a very funny story too, Jim TS. It reminds me of a curious incident that occured in the late seventies.
I was with the mother of an Aussie pal, who I’d accompanied to a place called Smith’s Lawn, where she’d heard there was some kind of show-jumping, I think, going on. I don’t remember seeing any polo, though I believe it’s a polo venue.
We must have been standing something like a hundred yards from a knot of people and horses, when all of a sudden this horse appeared to take fright, took off and galloped madly towards us, seeming to fix me in its poor, beady wee gaze.  Being about as familar with large domesticated beasts, such as horses, as George Bush, it scared the wits out of me, and the horse evidently picked upon it, veered and was caught by some kind soul.
http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews … rell_.html
(Edited by Grimes at 12:28 pm on April 11, 2006)
In the seventies i went to my home track at Nottingham to see the great Comedy of Errors run and one of the other runners was a horse called Brantridge Farmer who I took a real liking to. I seem to recall that he managed to get Comedy off the bit that day and I always followed him after that.<br>He wasn’t a very good jumper and he broke blood vessels fairly often but he won lots of races as well.<br>This thread has made me quite nostalgic and it’s great to see that I’m not the only one who can get quite attached to the horses. I,ve been thumbing through my Timeforms and it has given me a couple of hours of fun.<br>We own a little pony that my son rides. He’s given good service to my other two kids and there is no way anyone in the family would ever let him be sold. It would cost me a fortune to own racehorses because there is no way I would be able to sell them on even if they were useless!<br> <br>
cahervillahow…found loads off the bridle but perhaps was not such a lucky sort. Finished second at cheltenham afterbeing left at the start behind seagram….beaten by a nostril in the Irish National,…..second in a void national…..and disqualified quite unfairly (imo) in the Whitbred when Docklands express got the race. Apparently he was also withdrawn from the Gold cup as an error by the Stable secretary. I saw him making his chase debut in Clonmel.
SHL
While on the topic, I went through my fading mental database and remembered a couple of other old dodgepots which warm the cockles, if not the showbox under the bed.
My old favourite Chakalak, a quirky old stayer from Simon Dows yard who once made up a furlong at Southwell to land a lumpy bet at 6/1. Tended to drop himself out and come with a wet sail; I always thought he was taking the p**s
out of us all. No wonder his owner took up Greyhound Racing.And talking of dropping out, what about grand old Mr Christie! I backed this horse religiously for some strange reason and collected in spades once at Haydock under Mark Bradburne…I swear that he made up two hurdles to win the race, which was not untypical. Bless him! Not for the squeamish.;)
Ah yes, Good old Harwell lad. Robert Alner said he had the most ability of any horse he had but impossible to train. Surely if this were a nomination for biggest equine b*****d
in racing, this hero would surely be up for it. A horse with attitude and apparently a sense of humor. Carried the less then stylish Rupert Nuttall around to win the whitbred cause he didnt seem to dislike him as much as some others who sat on him.SHL
Speaking of quirky, does anyone share a fondness for the grey Dom Samouari. Runner-up in Earth Summit’s Welsh National he was a smart staying handicap chaser in his pomp, also placed in the Midlands National as well as winning what is now the Red Square Gold Cup. He chased home See More Business in the 1998 rehearsal Chase and was joint favourite for that year’s Welsh National but spat the dummy out that day and was never the same again. he made a bief but unsuccessful comeback for Mrs L Howes in 2000/1 and sadly ended his career with the dreaded double sqiggle from Timeform.
Favourite Flat horse of all-time in Zuhair, the Goodowood specialist who sadly broke a leg when leading Fahey’s 2-y-os last spring.
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<br> Grimes<br> I may be mistaken, but as I recall, Raffingora, a grey sprinter who ran up quite a sequence, was trained by that doyen of sprint trainers, Bill Marshall, who later went on to train in the Bahamas, or somewhere similar?
I too would be interested to hear what happened to Douze Douze, saw the King George the other day and thought if the jockey didn’t get a ban under the non triers rule then something is badly amiss.
Favourite horses, too many to mention – Gloria Victis, Istabraq, The Last Fling, Bobby Grant, Young Kenny, Kingsmark.
More recently Miss Fahrenheit who frequently runs at Chepstow and of course Molly and her stablemates – especially Indian Chase, Lagan Legend and Lady Pilot, mainly as they’ve been running a fair bit the past few months.
Oh and Lago D’Oro and all the Doc’s horses :)
Harwell Lad was a complete nut job but so much ability. I backed him when he won the Whitbread (16/1 if I remember correctly) and he was actually brave as a lion that day with 3 in line, tight for room coming to the 2nd last. I was terrified he was going to refuse at the last but he knuckled down and got the job done. Not bad for a dirty dog !!
My favourites over the years have been Dato Star jumps wise and Bosra Sham on the flat.
Dato was totally overshadowed by Istabraq but if the Champion Hurdle had been run at Haydock on soft ground with Dato in peak form he would have routed the great horse ! Sadly Dato Star at his best was a rare event, jinxed by injury and an inability to go on any kind of sound surface.
Another dodgy character I had great fondness for was Poppy Carew trained by Peter Harris. She had such a nice cute name but was the bitch from hell when she was in a strop (which was quite often). Had plenty of ability though well up to listed class and is now a broodmare. I believe she is the mother of Mad Carew !! Say no more.
Quote: from reet hard on 2:30 pm on April 11, 2006[br]<br> Grimes<br> I may be mistaken, but as I recall, Raffingora, a grey sprinter who ran up quite a sequence, was trained by that doyen of sprint trainers, Bill Marshall, who later went on to train in the Bahamas, or somewhere similar?<br>
<br>Barbados. I think he died a few months ago.
This doesn’t half get you thinking.<br>Talking of coming from behind, some of the older forumites might remember Knockroe, a grey gelding trained by Peter Nelson in the seventies.<br>He was often ridden by Lester Piggott and had a fantastic turn of foot when he wanted to use it!<br>He used to drop himself out and would make up enormous amounts of ground.<br>A dodgepot hurdler that John Francome used to ride called Derring Rose also sticks in my mind. He couldn’t half run when he wanted to.
Have to say Young Kenny was a favourite of mine, even though the only time I backed him was when he fell at the first when favourite for the Eider at Newcastle. He then proceeded to win about 5 on the trot! Lovely, rangy horse. I remember tuning in to his last race at Haydock (I think) half way through it. The commentator wasnt mentioning his name, and I had an awful ominous feeling about it. :(
Does anyone remember a horse called Kumasi? Only saw him once in a novice hurdle at Ascot, about 1990. Thought he was the most fantastic looking horse, only for him to go and get killed at the final flight. :(
Anyway, end of morbid post. :)
Quote: from Raffingora on 5:10 pm on April 11, 2006[br]This doesn’t half get you thinking.<br>Talking of coming from behind, some of the older forumites might remember Knockroe, a grey gelding trained by Peter Nelson in the seventies.<br>He was often ridden by Lester Piggott and had a fantastic turn of foot when he wanted to use it!<br>He  used to drop himself out and would make up enormous amounts of ground.<br>A dodgepot hurdler that John Francome used to ride called Derring Rose also sticks in my mind. He couldn’t half run when he wanted to.<br>
<br>How about another old character in sprints called Vorvados who Piggott got a great tune out of? Remember Derring Rose well ~ he used to pull himself up passing the stables if he could, and once did so, but still managed to get going again and win the Bula hurdle (?) under John Francome.
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