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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.Fist we must have been on the same racecourses in the North at sometime because Tregarron and the Benign Bishop sending out fifty winners a season brings back many happy memories. Were you around at the time of another quirky character of their’s called Even Keel? If I remember, he was a bit of a headstrong tearaway but a good class horse in the two mile division.
I seem to remember Jonjo kicking his feet out of the irons and riding Little Bay bareback on the run-in, especially at Sandown for some reason.
New piece on this subject on the Guardian site:
Poequlin, although not so much today.
Anyone remember his win at Cheltenham last year when tailed off? Unbelievable ride from Ruby…
New piece on this subject on the Guardian site:
"That doesn’t apply in the case of my No1 headcase. Quick enough to beat many a decent racehorse, he nevertheless went through an entire career without winning. It made the news when his tally of 74 defeats was eventually surpassed by Quixall Crossett, but Quixall Crossett would have won if he could – he was just slow, and where’s the dignity in that?"
A second mention inside of a month for my favourite ever horse, following Steve Dennis’ piece on lost causes in the
Post
recently. There are far worse things in life than to be remembered as the sport’s slowpoke of choice, I suppose!
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.
Poequlin, although not so much today.
Anyone remember his win at Cheltenham last year when tailed off? Unbelievable ride from Ruby…
To be fair to Poquelin, he made an almighty mistake at the water in last year’s race which knocked the stuffing out of him, and Ruby nursed him over a couple of fences to give him time to recover before stoking him up again to win.
I remember a Chester Cup from the 80s which Steve Cauthen won on Mountain Kingdom and the Michael Stoute-trained runner-up (Lapaz?) spent more time and energy trying to bite Cauthen’s boot than it did mounting a challenge. I think it turned up in a net puzzle next time out.
I seem to remember Jonjo kicking his feet out of the irons and riding Little Bay bareback on the run-in, especially at Sandown for some reason.
Think Jonjo made a meal of riding him, he was a very good horse, the genius of Francome showed how he should be ridden at Aintree as he did with Sea Pigeon in the Champion Hurdle.
No real surprise here, but one of my favorites would be Tam Lin. The majority of the time he’s tossing his head around, blowing turns, and flashing the tail as he runs to the line.
Derring Rose, I remember a race at Cheltenham, might even have been the 3-mile hurdle, trying to pull himself up at halfway, then looming up to join them at the last, and racing up the hill faster than any horse I’ve ever seen, put 30 lengths into them from the last hurdle. I think Fred Winter trained him. I wonder what happened to him?
For me, Upgrade had a real quirk. Was really talented but was a total monkey. Ended up taking a few heavy falls in his time cos his mind was elsewhere. Hope he’s happily retired somewhere now, mulling over Nietzsche.
And you gotta just love the thinly veiled malevolence of Arcadian Heights and Moonax. I remember when he won the St Leger, all he wanted to do was bite whoever was near him. Love it!
Derring Rose… I wonder what happened to him?
He stood at stud for years; didn’t sire any superstars though. Don’t Tell the Wife and Derring Bridge were two of his offspring.
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"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."
Be a little unfair to classify these two in the sqiggle category. With a proper jockey they both proved themselves as class acts.
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