Most aesthetically pleasing jumpers of all time

[Bachelors Hall]

And no, I’m not on about that one Grandma made you wear around this time twenty odd years ago.

I’m on about horses who turned racing into a literal art form. Not necessarily the fastest or most accomplished of horses, rather the ones whose jumping transcended the perfunctory and entered the realms of pure grace.

Three examples;-

Jair du Cochet (granted he missed one or two in each clip but when he was good, he was sublime)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haJf-sZ-3qA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn1AeAoR57s

Tingle Creek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB4v21O27tg

Sanctuaire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4QtHB53iRA

Style is an entirely subjective matter settled in the eye of the beholder. A point emphasised by the fact the aforementioned three all had very different ways about getting from a to b, yet they all looked majestic in doing so.

Obviously, nobody will nominate anything as artistic as JdC’s form, but given the vast wealth of cumulative experienced witnesses reading this post, I’m sure there are a fair few who could be in the running for silver based on style.

[Gladiateur]

Wayward Lad
The Mighty Mac
Barnbrook Again

[patriot1]

Monets Garden would have to be up there. Seeing him schooling over hurdles at Perth was wonderful.

And Coneygree’s display of fast fluent jumping whilst going a tremendous gallop in the Gold Cup was a thing of beauty.

[Dex]

Sprinter Sacre when he won the Tingle Creek in 2012. The only thing you can say was that he got in close to 1 fence, other than that, that round of jumping wan’t just aesthetically pleasing it was exciting!

[droffats]

Wayward Lad was the best I ever saw followed by a horse called A Sure Row and then I’am A Driver all of Michael Dickinson’s who was probably one of the greatest if not the greatest trainer of my life.

[apracing]

As a single performance in a top class race, you’ll never see anything beter than Best Mate winning his second Gold Cup in 2003. Not a semblance of a mistake, jumping absolutely straight and back into stride so quickly that the fences never interrupted his rhythm.

[yeats]

Not many better than Remittance Man over a fence. Bradbury Star & Desert Orchid were pretty good as well and Red Rum wasn’t that shabby.

Bear in mind they jumped proper fences in those days not the upturned dandy brushes we have now.

[The Young Fella]

Lovely thread, big fan of this.

Best Mate certainly springs to mind right away. I always felt that his jumping was the root of his success – perhaps even to the degree that that some horses he beat at Cheltenham would have beaten him in a three mile flat race. His sense of anticipation was sublime. He could approach a fence on any stride and take it without losing momentum.

Look at the final two fences of the 2004 Gold Cup for example. In desperate trouble after finding traffic on the home turn, he was launched at the second-last, took off third and landed first. Then Culloty steadied him into the last and broke the horse’s rhythm, but he found a precise, neat jump to keep Harbour Pilot at bay.

Others that always gave me pleasure were Flying Instructor, Monet’s Garden, Bronson F’sure and Fair Along (novice season).

[LD73]

Dessie being racings ultimate showjumper who regularly took his fences from the wings


Yeats – Good call on Remittance Man, he was fast and fluent but when needed he could be equally spectacular with an example of that being his jump at the last in the Arkle.

Crisp treating the real fearsome Aintree fences with contempt in 1973 National

Along with Tingle Creek, Mill House was arguably one of the quickest horses to get from one side of a fence to the other

[Steeplechasing]

Tough to add to those already nominated, but a round of jumping to match any of these was put in by Mr Frisk in the 1990 Whitbread. Can’t find any film of it, unfortunately

[Tonge]

Steeplechasing wrote:

Tough to add to those already nominated, but a round of jumping to match any of these was put in by Mr Frisk in the 1990 Whitbread. Can’t find any film of it, unfortunately

Here you go. Good call!

[Gingertipster]

As far as I can see Sprinter Sacre has beautiful conformation, an effortless floating stride and at his best jumped a fence with speed and accuracy few can compete with.

Dessert Orchid the best jumper of a fence in my memory, my favourite horse of all time. But didn’t move with the beauty of Sprinter Sacre.

Wayward Lad one of the first jumpers to really grab my attention, glorious leaps, not sure about conformation though, did he run up a bit light?

As conformation goes, Burrough Hill Lad?

Mr Frisk had a fine stride, really pointed his toe. Did me a favour @ 33/1 ante-post for the Grand National, thank God they didn’t water as much in those days. What a cracking jumper too.

Value Is Everything

[LD73]

Mr Frisk that year was electric in both the National & Whitbread – notice that they actually had the nerve to run those races on good to firm ground, both clerks of the course nowdays would probably be sacked and brought up on animal cruelty charges for providing ground with no soft in the description.

I haven’t been able to find a recording of it but Uncle Bing and J Francome winning the 1980 Topham at Aintree was supposed to be a thing of beauty – I did manage to find a Cheltenham race he won and he was a very imposing looking horse, it also shows how good Francome was at presenting a horse to a fence especially at the last two.

Burrough Hill Lad was a big powerful horse and Francome always seemed to get the best out of him when he won Welsh National, Hennessy and King George, just a shame he was claimed to ride the runner up Brown Chamberlain in the 1984 Gold Cup. Personally felt BHL would have won the next two Gold Cups had injury not ruled him out of both races.



(miss these old Wetherby fences)

[befair]

Pendil was an electric jumper, lithe + quick, a shame so little footage remains of him, apart from his Gold Gup defeats. Twin Oaks in the 80s was another I remember well, and more recently Kicking King; his leap at the 4th last in his first King George was possibly the most spectacular I’ve ever seen

[Gingertipster]

Thanks LD.

Another wonderful jumper was Dublin Flyer.

Value Is Everything

[Nathan Hughes]

Although Kauto Star could walk through a couple of fences when he was in full motion jumping a fence would be on a par with Sprinter for my money

Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026

[Old Applejack]

I remember being very taken by Forest Gunner’s round of jumping when he won the Sefton.

I did have the Uncle Bing Topham race once, it was on an old video about John Francome’s favourite races. Must be out there somewhere. It was a fine display.

[Author]

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