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What quirks in specific horses do you like and make them different from other horses styles? ? ?
Racing Demon is a massive favourite of mine and his head carriage isn’t the most conventional, but is a quirk of his.
What are yours that you see in horses? ? ?
who was that horse of Mary Reveley’s that always used to get tailed off and carried his head about 2 inches off the ground, but sometimes came through and won – was it Robbo or another one? I like horses like that….Oh So risky was a favourite; always felt that he woke up in the morning thinking to himself shall I win today…or not [not good for betting purposes however].
That would be Robbo, amongst my favourites are that Godolphin 3yo who keeps dumping his rider or refusing to start and also Him Of Praise – he used to get stupidly outpaced before staying on
Could be Seven Towers you’re thinking of mind Moehat – he had a very low head carriage but not sure he was all that quirky
That would be Robbo, amongst my favourites are that Godolphin 3yo who keeps dumping his rider or refusing to start and also Him Of Praise – he used to get stupidly outpaced before staying on
Could be Seven Towers you’re thinking of mind Moehat – he had a very low head carriage but not sure he was all that quirky
That’ll be Colourful Score of Godolphin’s. To make it even more amusing/disturbing, depending of your view of Godolphin is that fact that he is a $3.5m brother to Sophisticat. Ouch!
Similar to Mo, I like horses who think to themselves, "I’m going to take the mick out of this jock, tail myself off, not try an inch until the last half a mile, and then run on like a steam train"
My favourite was Carly’s Quest, who used to get hopelessly detached before running on strongly in the last half a mile, and more often than not, grab a place (in some hot races also).
Mike
Challenger Du Luc springs to mind. A really talanted horse but he had to be held up until the very last moment because he stopped once he hit the front.
One horse I knew well was Tregarron who was one of Ken Oliver’s stars when he was sending out 50 winners a season. He was full of devilment and would wait for the opportunity, drop a shoulder on you and deck you as quick as a flash. Another little game he used to play was to find the right tree, back up under it and try to push you off his back. But once on the racecourse he was a gentleman.
On the racecourse, Little Bay springs to mind and Sea Pigeon. If their jockeys didn’t time their runs to perfection, chances were they would basically stop when in front.
Very Promising carried his head so low at times you would think his knees would take his ears off when cantering down to the start. He was still an awesome talent.
But like your man says Challenger De Luc would be the quirkiest of them all. He could have been anything had he been genuine.I seem to remember that Burrough Hill Lad would all but gnaw his own knees off with his low head carriage some days.
As for other traits, during last year I got quite used to seeing Bill Haze being propelled by his violently flashing tail in a succession of hunter chases, even in victory.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Levaramoss, over hurdles, was a cracker – loads of ability but you never knew if he’d deign to jump off at the the start.
Seem to remember a horse of a similar ilk on the flat, by the name of Knockroe. A classy grey who, I think, came back from stud duties or retirement to run in the Amateur riders ‘Derby’ at Epsom.
Little Bay,he would have been beaten at 1.01 a few times in the IR market.
If you go to back a certainty always buy a return ticket.
Jimmy Fitz used to train a lovely big brown chaser in the late 80’s who carried his head practically on the turf and lifted it about 5 strides from a fence. Age is creeping up on me and I’ve forgotten his name. He used to run in Tony Budge’s colours.
Woke up this morning and remembered Holy Orders [must be because it’s Sunday!] – remember when he was in Australia for the Melbourne Cup and wouldn’t go onto the track; it was an ongoing story for days in the papers – on the second day; and on the third day etc etc.
Levaramoss, over hurdles, was a cracker – loads of ability but you never knew if he’d deign to jump off at the the start.
I remember Levaramoss very well. In or about 1977 I was at University and a few of us were watching the racing one afternoon from, I think, Cheltenham where the horse was running. He’d already planted himself at the start a couple of times previously and Peter O’Sullevan informed us prior to the race that his trainer – possibly Toby Balding – had decided that if Levaramoss misbehaved again today then that was it and he was going to be gelded without further ado. It attracted the usual ribald comments from those of us watching but we all proceeded to laugh our heads off as the horse set off like a scalded cat into a twenty length lead and made all the running at a rate of knots to win easily.
The one I remember from recent years is dear Claude Greengrass, when he was good he was very very good & when he was bad even Tony McCoy couldn’t galvanise him into action. I saw him run for J P at Bangor in 2005 & not for the first time he just didn’t want to know AP gave up & pulled up. He was then sent back to Ireland, had one run for N Madden never to be heard of since.
I have this vision of a field at JP’s place there is Istabraq, First Gold Barracouda & Claude Greengrass (I’m sure he winked!)Well, George Washington was one of my favourite quirky horses. He didn’t have one defining quirk, though I did like his volatile relationship with the paddock (refusing to leave after he won a race in Ireland; refusing to enter after he won the 2000 Guineas) and, as a 4yo, his refusal to quicken when ridden (head in the air) – and then he would suddenly quicken and only fail by a head. I like individuality, a refusal to obey, in a horse.
I saw Rakti up close in his final race at York when he went insane on the way to the start (glazed-over eyes, wide-mouthed dribbling, shaking his head wildly), and, when I got back home and watched the tape of the meeting, I found it funny to hear Willie Carson say "its a shame The Queen has to watch this" in an apologetic voice. I loved the idea of Rakti shocking The Queen’s delicate sensibilities with his outrageous behaviour.
Re: Racing Demon, a great call. I like the way he keeps his head so low as if he’s trying to eat the passing grass while running.
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