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Thanks, Tonge. A joy to relive that Whitbread. It was a beautiful spring day. I was in the stands, and apart from having backed Mr Frisk, I remember lowering my binoculars and saying to myself, ‘You’ll never live to see a better round of jumping.’ A phenomenal ride on a horse who was right bang on his game that spring on that ground.
I’m not sure about aesthetic, but in my younger days, late 60s/early 70s, Ken Oliver had a young horse called Even Keel. Barry Brogan rode him in his early career, and he would simply take off from the starting gate as though it were 5 furlongs over fences. When he got them right (not always by any means) you could hear the gasps from the crowd.
Francome was an excellent jockey, though I never quite got all this ‘best at presenting a horse at a fence’ – I’m not sure that’s something you can do in a steeplechase. I can see it being useful in a showjumping arena where a horse can be organised, his pace and lead leg easily changed and perhaps being pulled back onto his hocks, but does a jockey really have time and space for all that in a race? I think the presenting stuff just got mixed up with Francome’s skill at seeing a stride, which is pretty much all you want in a ‘chase. Also, I see him on Uncle Bing hitting the horse on takeoff – he does it twice and it was a pretty common sight back then, but I could never understand the thinking behind it. What is the point of hitting a horse who is already in the air? I’d have thought it would be more likely to upset his concentration than anything else. Perhaps a horseman can enlighten me?
I’ve never rated Sprinter Sacre as a particularly ‘aesthetically pleasing’ jumper. I think people get this impression from all the arty super-slomos of him jumping the last fence, or that one fence in the Shloer Chase he met spot-on.
I think he’s a bit of a fiddler – efficient and clever but happier to shorten-up and flick his front legs through rather than stand-off like some of the really electric jumpers mentioned. SS is as safe as they come, but he rarely gives you any ‘wow’ moments.
On the subject of Kauto Star, I think Nathan is right. He could make you gasp. There was a moment in his second Betfair Chase where he was matching strides with My Way De Solzen down the back straight on the second circuit. MWDS put in a perfectly acceptable jump, but Kauto leapt from outside the wings and stole nearly two lengths. Perhaps this is anthropomorphism, but MWDS immediately came off the bridle and dropped away, then lost his form completely in future races. It was as if Kauto Star completely soulcrushed that horse in that moment.
Sam Thomas was aboard Kauto Star that day TYF. I’ve got a signed photo with MWDS in the shot, I’ll have to dig it out.
At times Kauto would find his own stride by either or a combination of skipping, bouncing, almost floating foot perfect into the perfect take off and like you say he could take lengths at his fences.Blackbeard to conquer the World
Not a horseman but I have seen over the years (and still do to this day) that many a jockey has given their horse a crack at the exact moment they wish for the horse to come up – not sure if it is a help or a hinderance in the grand scheme of things but more often than not it seems to make the horses mind up and gets the desired response.
Although you could forgive horses for getting a bit confused when the jockey gives them a crack round the backside immediately after making a jumping error or just for being too slow over the fence – i.e. a smack = come on your not concentrating pay more attention to what you are doing. I have seen in some cases where a jockey instead of resorting to the whip has actually given a pat down the neck after a jumping error instead – it could depend on the horse your on and whether you think he will respond positively to one method over the other, then again some may say it is lazy on the jockey’s part for going for the whip straight away
I always liked Dunwoody’s way of just giving the horse a minimal slap down the shoulder without ever taking his whip hand off the reigns – he would do that quite often in conjunction with squeezing the reigns to get the horse back up into the bridle before ever picking his whip up fully – not sure if that type of thing is allowed now under the current rules but he always seemed to get horses of all types jumping for him.
I suspect it will only be that other devotee of the mundane – Graysonscolumn – who will recall him but I really must mention Sue Bradburne’s Chergan, a splendid, straight, economical steepler on the northern circuit
Of the highflyers mentioned it was Wayward Lad who left a lasting impression on me. A lovely lad but not wayward
Sam Thomas was aboard Kauto Star that day TYF. I’ve got a signed photo with MWDS in the shot, I’ll have to dig it out.
At times Kauto would find his own stride by either or a combination of skipping, bouncing, almost floating foot perfect into the perfect take off and like you say he could take lengths at his fences.Yes please! I’d love to see that.
Wayward Lad for me too (see profile pic left), always seemed to gain a couple of lengths at every fence.
Good thread. For me it’s simply moving as if the fences simply weren’t there rather than altheltic leaps and for that Best Mate was wonderful to behold
For me it was always Dessie’s swashbuckling heart on his sleeve front running style, with you wondering just how far he would stand off the next fence he faced
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