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A topical tale of a horse who had his biggest day 27 years ago this week.
In the spring of 1988 when Sir Philip Oppenheimer sent his homebred mare, Glowing With Pride, to be mated to Lomond, I doubt if the Cheltenham Festival, let alone trips to Taunton and Uttoxeter were what he was planning for the offspring. But those were just some of the future dates for the colt foal that arrived in February 1989 and was later given the name Inchcailloch – which is a small island on Loch Lomond.
Inchcailloch was sent to Roger Charlton and showed ample promise in two late season runs as a 2-y-old, ridden in the first of those by L Piggott, the first of five champion jockeys to team up with him – Pat Eddery, Richard Hughes, Richard Dunwoody and A P McCoy being the others. He confirmed that promise by winning a 10F maiden at Haydock on his return and a 12F handicap at Newbury from a handicap mark of 85 in June. But that season ended on a low note, with a last of six at York after a three month layoff. He then changed hands although I haven’t been able to trace any details of the sale. He was now in the stable of Jeff King and the ownership of Mr F J Carter – I’ve a suspicion that might have been Frank Carter, who wrote for the Sporting Life, but no evidence to back up my guess.
Fair to say that Inchcailloch looked a duff buy in his first year with King, although it might just have been a shrewd adjustment of his handicap marks. He had three runs in juvenile hurdles in Jan/Mar, well beaten in all three after racing prominently and making mistakes. Worse was to follow, as 14 runs on the flat in 1993 and 1994, broken by a layoff of almost a year and a gelding operation, produced no wins and saw his rating decline from 78 to 52!
The last of those races was on Nov 7th, 1994 and ten days later he finally came good, easily winning a 21 runner novice handicap hurdle at Wincanton off a lowly mark of 84. Ridden more patiently, he jumped better and led before the last – then followed up under a penalty a week later at Taunton. Upped in class, he won a better novice handicap at Sandown on Dec 3rd, his seventh race in the space of eight weeks, a sign of the toughness that characterised his subsequent career.
Three more runs over hurdles followed in the New Year, producing a second at Ascot and lastly, a 4th/23 in the County Hurdle, running from 7lbs out of the handicap. He led at the last there, but couldn’t sustain the effort. Behind him in 7th that day was his year younger half brother, Pridwell, by Sadlers Wells – he’d followed a similar path, starting with Roger Charlton before moving to Martin Pipe, but without being anything like as good on the flat.
Back on the flat, Inchcailloch was able to exploit his low handicap mark when stepped up in trip, winning a pair of 2M 1F handicaps at Bath and after a midsummer break, running 4th in the Cesarewitch off a mark of 63, carrying 7st 8lbs! King now switched him to fences, immediately winning s 2M novice chase at Kempton, but generally well beaten in better class races while picking up useful place money. The last of those was a 4th/16 in the Arkle, which he followed a fortnight later with a win at Sandown over 2M 4F.
A summer break followed as another attempt on the Cesarewitch was planned, with the now familiar pattern of frequent runs. A second at Bath on Sep 30th led to a win at Warwick on Oct 8th (ridden by Rab Havlin) and success at Newmarket, utilising the 7lb claim of a young Royston Ffrench to offset him being 8lbs out of the handicap. Having picked up £49k for his Newmarket win and raced more than six miles in the space of three weeks, a rest might have seemed in order. But not with Inchcailloch.
Taking advantage of small fields in a dry autumn, he won 3M handicap chases at Sandown and Ascot on Nov 9th and Nov 23rd, then one over 3M 5F back at Sandown on Dec 12th. A wide margin defeat at Ascot on Dec 21st brought his NH campaign to an end for the season. But there was still one more win to add to his honours board, as he returned to the flat with a warm-up at Doncaster and then scored in the 1997 Queens Prize at Kempton. That was a rather more prestigious prize in the 1990s than it is now as a rather feeble race on the AW, relegated to last place on the card. Whether by accident or design, the riding pattern that had worked for the Cesarewitch was repeated, with Rab Havlin on duty at Doncaster for the prep, and Royston Ffrench for the win.
Having then reached a mark of 85 on the flat after a second at Kempton in May, and 140 over fences, runs in races like the Ascot Stakes, the Queen Alexandra and a third attempt at the Cesarewitch were now too much for him on the flat. Similarly over fences in 1998, when he was out of his depth in the NH Handicap Chase at the Festival after a campaign in good class races at Ascot and Sandown had produced just one third place. Finally, a seven race campaign (four flat, three chases) fitted into three months in the autumn of 1999 as a 10-y-old led to a well earned retirement.
In a long career he was 7/43 on the flat, 3/9 over hurdles and 5/22 over fences. As tough as they come, he stood up to regular batches of races run in quick succession, switching from flat to NH with no apparent effect on his form. He must have been a joy to own and train – I know that as a punter that saw many of his races live, he was fun to watch and a friend to his backers. I didn’t take advantage when he won the Cesarewitch, but did latch on to those winning sequences over hurdles and fences.
It was watching an interview with Royston Ffrench on Sky Racing that prompted me to tell the story of Inchcailloch. If you’ve read my book The Inside Track, you’ll have come across the tale of me recommending Ffrench for a horse that was gambled in an apprentice race at Beverley, a race limited to riders that hadn’t ridden more than five winners. That was about seven weeks before he won the Ces on Inchcailloch.
That interview is here:
And his big win, courtesy of Espmadrid:
Horses running from out of the handicap in the County Hurdle and off 63 in the Cesarewitch. Those were the days!
I can only recall backing Inchcailloch once, when he won the 12 furlong handicap at Newbury. I think Pat Eddery rode him that day and made all the running.
Really enjoyed this post apracing, it is great to be reminded of Inchcailloch.
I had forgotten he managed to finish fourth in the Arkle earlier in the year of his Cesarewitch win. And he then managed to win over 3m 5f at Sandown later the same year! What a fantastic racehorse he was.
Really enjoyed the write up AP Racing , I was at Sandown for the same 3 mile 5 Chase Inchcailloch won the year after , he fell late on in that race though .
Looking at the old racebook Fujiyama Crest ran in the Winter Novices Hurdle that year .
Loved Sandown in the 80s and 90s , I hadn’t been for twenty years but was back in UK late last year and for months was looking forward to going back to Sandown , only meeting that was on while I was over and I managed to get to it but it was canned after 3 races , I was gutted . I will get back there one day .
So many horses stick in my mind from those times at Sandown , Memberson was one I liked in those staying chases there , Iam sure he was blind in one eye that horse .Memberson featured in one of the most remarkable races I’ve ever seen at Cheltenham on New Years Day 1988. He’s in the mud colours, black cross belts and cap:
Thanks for the link to Memberson. I remember that race but I don’t suppose I have seen it since.
I recall thinking of him after Champ’s win in the RSA in 2020 and Mount Ida’s win in the Kim Muir the following year.
There were no exchanges in those days of course but I think it is safe to say he would have hit 999.
A 4 mile chase at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day on the BBC. That is how long ago it was!
That’s a great find that race AP , I got to thinking of the punters madly scrambling through the bins and shelfs in bookies after screwing up slips 4 out if they had backed Memberson and given up . Bar Memberson that day the second quickest on course was the guy in wellys running in front of the 3 Rd last as field approached . Plundering stuck around a bit as was 4 th in 84 Whitbread and still going 4 years later .
There was old plodder Neville Crump trained ran in that race year after year , ran in all those 4 milers , name escapes me now and it’s bugging me . Used to back it a lot , it will come back to me .Kumbi was horse I was thinking of but wrong trainer was Ginger McCain , ran year after year plodding round the 4 mile plus races in early to mid 80s
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