My Swallow’s reincarnation

[Marginal Value]

My Swallow is back again after fifty years. The new one appears today in the Betway Maiden Stakes at Sandown at 1:25.

I thought the old one might just manage to keep his name unique forever. Unbeaten as a two-year-old in 1970, he won his first two races in the UK and then won five in France (it’s the prize money, you know). Uniquely, he was the only horse to win all four of France’s top races at that age, the Robert Papin, Morny, Salamandre, and Grand Criterium. In the Robert Papin he narrowly beat Mill Reef who had just won the Coventry at Royal Ascot by eight lengths, and later won the Gimcrack by ten. At the end of the year he was at the top of the British Free Handicap (ahead of both Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard) and the French equivalent. He was top of Timeform’s ratings too, with a mark of 134. As a three-year-old his best run was in the 2000 Guineas when he finished third, just three quarters of a length behind Mill Reef. In the well known book, A Century Of Champions he was ranked the fourth best two-year-old.

I think he deserved not to have his name recycled, re-purposed or stolen.

[Crepello1957]

My thoughts entirely…..

[Gladiateur]

I see we have a Buckskin running in the bumper at Exeter today. I wonder by how far the great stayer of the Seventies would have beaten this lot?

[Author]

Posts