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"Would Mr Happy Jack and Mr Graysonscolumn please make themselves known to security"
LMAO
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
As already mentioned, Sonny Sommers. He is joint oldest (and latest – Lingfield, 28th Feb 1980) to win a race – at the grand old age of 18.
More often than not, those who are still campaigning at this sort of age are "family pets" of small yards – however, Sonny Sommers was still trained by Fred Winter at this final stage of his career. More recently, Better Times Ahead was still winning around Perth for Gordon and Nicky Richards at 15.
The oldest horse to take part in a race in Britain was was actually Creggmore Boy, who ended his career by running fourth in a handicap chase at Cartmel on June 9th, 1962. He was 22 years of age at the time.
* The last race he won was six years earlier.
One or two point-to-pointers have run him close – the oldest I’m aware of his Paradise Beach, who was still campaigning at 21 in the mid-1970s, but doubtless there’ll be others featuring in the back copies of Mackenzie and Selby / Harris / whosoever that I haven’t got yet.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
The oldest winner this point-to-point season was the seventeen year old Bold Navigator who won the Jedforest Members race at Friars Haugh in February.
Aye. Lovely pic of him in action under Gillon Crow in the Racing Post Weekender at the time, with the caption underneath, “Age shall not weary him”. And it hasn’t!
As far as under Rules is concerned, the oldest I can remember running under Rules in the last few years is Bob Brazington’s Jimbalou who made his last racecourse appearance a few months into his seventeenth year
Yeah. I remember there being a flurry of mails to the Post at the time, giving Brazington such a kicking for running a 17yo in a seller – thereby entirely missing the point that so doing is a patent safety (the examples of Kilkenny and Mighty Fine excepted) as nobody is likely to claim an animal that old however well they perform.
The oldest creature I remember running under Rules since I’ve followed the sport is RW Pinney’s handicap hurdler Ken Lake, who’d appear in desperate three- or four-runner hurdles on his preferred rock-hard going at Exeter and Newton Abbot around May and August only (this was in the bad old days of the late 80s, still before summer jumping), plodding round for bits of place money. This he did until the autumn of (I think) 1989, by which point he was 18.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Eastern Destiny certainly was an amazing animal. He was, in fact, seventeen when winning that Nottingham Hunter Chase on that fateful day back in 1995. Certainly the oldest horse to win under Rules in recent times along with the previously mentioned De Pluvinel
17 it is. I’m slipping! The Griffiths family were in bits that day – not just because of the horse’s demise, but because one of the brothers who rode him (they shared) had been killed in an accident in the preceding 12 months. The Post archive doesn’t go that far back, but the post-race comments from connections were along the lines that with the horse gone there was pretty much nothing more worth living for. Very sad.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
The very wonderful Adamant Approach (13 years young) has done rather well this year
and is declared to run in tomorrow’s feature race on the first day of the Killarney festival – go on boy!!Looks ready to win again by all accounts
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
How have we got this far without mentioning former Grand National fifth Fiddlers Pike, who was still popping around the Cheltenham cross-country course not much short of his 17th birthday before Rosemary Henderson emigrated to New Zealand.
Even more remiss, given my past, to omit Quixall Crossett, who was still doing his thing (veeeeeeeeery slowly) at 16.
Unless anyone can expressly tell me otherwise, Richard Guest still hasn’t officially retired his favourite horse Nosam, last seen running second in a Bangor handicap chase two years ago, aged 15. Occasional talk resurfaces of Guesty trying to win one more race with the horse, whereupon both he and it will retire instantly, but clearly with the passage of time that becomes ever more unlikely to happen. Nosam is, in any event, very usefully and happily employed at Brancepeth as Guesty’s hack, so why put that at any risk?
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Good shout with Nosam. He was one of my favourites. Used to remember seeing him entered in the National every year, despite the fact he never had a chance of either getting in the race or staying! Connections had to make do with him pondering around in the Topham/John Hughes instead.
Nosam may not have "officially" been retired (should Guesty have drafted a press release?) but he hasn’t been in training since December 2005.
Ta for that, HJ. I’m very sure he’s reaffirmed the intention to pilot the horse again competitively since then, though. Contrary man!
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
I was first taken to the races at the age of 4 at Cartmel and a horse called Creggmore Boy ran at the age of 22, – apparently he was a standing dish there. If anyone has access to form books around the end of the 50’s early 60’s they will be able to qualify this.
Yes, I remember Creggmore Boy too. I think he was placed in a selling chase when he was 21.
And almost as old, herewith one of my all-time favourite Hunter Chase and Point to Pointers Annual entries, taken from the 1990 edition;
FOUR BY TWO22 br g Fortina – Nicolaus Mop (Nicolaus) p. Big line-fired half-brother to Dat U Ted and Nicholas Money, Nickle Moppet, Burridge and Nickel Money.. NH 72/7 r31 w3. P-t-P 78/88 r65 p1. Wears blinkers. Failed to improve at 21. We suspect that the rider has been holding him back for something special, and please God let him run again at 22 as he has now made 97 appearances and it would be so exciting if he could actually win 100th time out. A.L.Shaw – Ross 497(M)
I love the dryness of the “failed to improve at 21” line. Priceless!
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
On a similar subject, Otter Way at 15 won the Horse & Hound Cup (Stratford) some seven years after he first won it; and more recently I think Earthmover won the Foxhunters as a 13yo six years after he previously won it.
Oh, and I took four wickets in an over as a 41yo. Slow right arm. Unplayable.
Mike
On a similar subject, Otter Way at 15 won the Horse & Hound Cup (Stratford) some seven years after he first won it
Indeedy. That’s the sort of training feat Oliver Carter should be remembered for, but all the brouhaha surrounding his campaigning and placement of the ultimately ill-fated Venn Ottery has pretty much ensured history will not remember him half as fondly now.
Oh, and I took four wickets in an over as a 41yo. Slow right arm. Unplayable.
I see a TRF bowling-at-a-stump competition here – your deadly dobbers versus Happy Jack’s doosra versus my right-arm-optimistic.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
And almost as old, herewith one of my all-time favourite Hunter Chase and Point to Pointers Annual entries, taken from the 1990 edition;
FOUR BY TWO22 br g Fortina – Nicolaus Mop (Nicolaus) p. Big line-fired half-brother to Dat U Ted and Nicholas Money, Nickle Moppet, Burridge and Nickel Money.. NH 72/7 r31 w3. P-t-P 78/88 r65 p1. Wears blinkers. Failed to improve at 21. We suspect that the rider has been holding him back for something special, and please God let him run again at 22 as he has now made 97 appearances and it would be so exciting if he could actually win 100th time out. A.L.Shaw – Ross 497(M)
I love the dryness of the “failed to improve at 21” line. Priceless!
gc
The comment from the previous year’s annual is also worthy of inclusion: “The most ancient horse in training, but is still too young to remember the owner-rider’s last winner, which was a dead-heat in the 3-runner Ladbury Members 25 years ago. Brown with a profusion of grey hairs (honestly). Wears blinkers. Pulled up for the 50th time in Points at Larkhill, and this magnificent achievement is surely worthy of inclusion in the Guinness Book of Records”
He managed to “run” seven times that season but didn’t get past the ninth fence, but was still clearly a handful as his comment in running for the Royal Artillery Open race shows “Slowly away, restrained and tailed off til ran out 6, galloped out of control past next three fences”.
He really was a remnant of a different era, being sired by the 1947 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Fortina.
and is declared to run in tomorrow’s feature race on the first day of the Killarney festival – go on boy!!
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