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I just wanted to congratulate the connections of Spider Boy, who landed the first win of his career at the age of 11 and at his 46th attempt ! Though he had been placed many times before, this must have been a tremendous relief to connections to finally land that elusive win.
Now if only High Cotton could do the same – and I am a firm believer even now that Amrullah, who failed to win in 74 starts, could have been successful had he been campaigned in more suitable races.
I must admit I was cheering him home (despite not having a bean on).
As for High Cotton I finally have given up on him having backed him on many occasions including his near miss in the Eider two years ago.
Maybe connections should campaign for the introduction of a 3m 4f maiden chase for 13 year olds and above!I must admit I was cheering him home (despite not having a bean on).
As for High Cotton I finally have given up on him having backed him on many occasions including his near miss in the Eider two years ago.
Maybe connections should campaign for the introduction of a 3m 4f maiden chase for 13 year olds and above!Grey Desire, you are clearly someone after my own heart !
I have often thought that the type of race which you mention for High Cotton should definitely be somewhere in the Racing Calendar especially for him ! The frustrating part of it all is that High Cotton clearly has easily enough ability to land a race – and I know that there are 3m 3f maiden chases up north (maybe at Sedgefield and Hexham I think). I’ve always wondered why his connections have never run him in one of those – though it may be that they feel he has a better chance in a handicap. He ran a wonderful race in the Eider two seasons ago and I was hoping that Philson Run would unseat at the last to give him that long overdue win, but I should have known it would not happen !
Sadly, I don’t think that High Cotton will win a race now as he seems to have been out of form on his last couple of starts at least and he is not getting any younger. Had he been mine, I’d have run him in a maiden point-to-point, but I think there are rules which would have prevented him running (having amassed so much prize-money under NH Rules, despite no wins, I think would disqualify him from even being able to be entered). It is such a shame that he has never had his winning day, though it did not seem to bother Richard Burrell when he talked about High Cotton a few weeks back in the Racing Post.
I’m also keeping my fingers crossed too for Norseman Cateline !
Sadly, I don’t think that High Cotton will win a race now as he seems to have been out of form on his last couple of starts at least and he is not getting any younger. Had he been mine, I’d have run him in a maiden point-to-point, but I think there are rules which would have prevented him running (having amassed so much prize-money under NH Rules, despite no wins, I think would disqualify him from even being able to be entered).
Not at all. Place prize money doesn’t count one jot when it comes to running in Points, hence the fact that the likes of Seebald, Lord Atterbury and Valley Henry are currently gracing the Pointing fields with varying degrees of success.
High Cotton wouldn’t be able to run in Points this year as he is housed in a professional yard, but there would be nothing to stop him doing so next year for a different trainer (or if the current trainer had him in his own ownership), and there are enough desperate Maidens up north that would give him an outside chance of an elusive first success – even at 14.
While we’re on the subject of ex-Rules horses running in Points, some people may be interested to know that Noel Chance’s former classy prospect Murphy’s Cardinal came out of the wilderness to win easily at Kimble on his Points debut at the weekend – his first appearance on a racecourse for the best part of 38 months.
Not to mention all the decent chasers PN has been running in hunter chases (with fairly modest results by his very high standards).
Thanks for that about Murphys Cardinal..
Saw him at Noel’s at the Open Day last Friday and he was looking well.
Beat two fair types in Irilut and Wings and Hope as well I see.They may as well go pointing with High Cotton next season if he is well,even though it would seen a bit late on in his career to go that route if they did.
As for High Cotton I finally have given up on him having backed him on many occasions including his near miss in the Eider two years ago.
Maybe connections should campaign for the introduction of a 3m 4f maiden chase for 13 year olds and above!Wetherby framed one for my special chum Quixall Crossett back in 2001, albeit open to all ages and 3f shorter than your proposed trip. Needless to say the old boy turned up and plodded round very contentedly for a remote last of six finishers (from nine starters). I wonder if the executive could be talked into repeating the exercise…
I also want to pass on my congrats to Spider Boy and all concerned with him. It’s been a long old time coming, and I hope this doesn’t reduce his cult following any!
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.
Seventy Four,
That’s Burridge – not Burrell.
The owners of Desert Orchid having no connection with the odious butler to the late Princess of Wales.
I’m proud to say I owned a chaser that was beaten by Amrullah in a four runner novice chase at Ascot. He was 3rd, we were 4th and neither of us was in camera shot as Remittance Man and Morley Street fought out the finish!
AP
High Cotton wouldn’t be able to run in Points this year as he is housed in a professional yard, but there would be nothing to stop him doing so next year for a different trainer (or if the current trainer had him in his own ownership),
Probably the latter – I think most of Richard Burridge’s point-to-pointers have been sent to John and Jane Cranage in recent times.
While we’re on the subject of ex-Rules horses running in Points, some people may be interested to know that Noel Chance’s former classy prospect Murphy’s Cardinal came out of the wilderness to win easily at Kimble on his Points debut at the weekend – his first appearance on a racecourse for the best part of 38 months.
In a similar vein, Perouse, formerly a 150-rated hurdler and still trained by Paul Nicholls (albeit in a separate pointing yard altogether, apparently), has just resurfaced in points after well over two years on the sidelines. He was an outpaced last of three finishers in a Ladies’ Open at the Ston Easton meeting I attended last Saturday, but he wasn’t beaten very far behind the 26-times winner Rimpton Boy and useful-at-the-grade Candarli, and this was still only a second run back after that monster absence.
You’d suspect the pointing trip might be a problem for a 2m hurdler, but I think he gets a bit further nowadays, and heaven knows there are enough skidpan or 3m-in-name-only circuits in the South West which should afford him a winning opening before the season ends.
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.
Sadly, I don’t think that High Cotton will win a race now as he seems to have been out of form on his last couple of starts at least and he is not getting any younger. Had he been mine, I’d have run him in a maiden point-to-point, but I think there are rules which would have prevented him running (having amassed so much prize-money under NH Rules, despite no wins, I think would disqualify him from even being able to be entered).
Not at all. Place prize money doesn’t count one jot when it comes to running in Points, hence the fact that the likes of Seebald, Lord Atterbury and Valley Henry are currently gracing the Pointing fields with varying degrees of success.
High Cotton wouldn’t be able to run in Points this year as he is housed in a professional yard, but there would be nothing to stop him doing so next year for a different trainer (or if the current trainer had him in his own ownership), and there are enough desperate Maidens up north that would give him an outside chance of an elusive first success – even at 14.
While we’re on the subject of ex-Rules horses running in Points, some people may be interested to know that Noel Chance’s former classy prospect Murphy’s Cardinal came out of the wilderness to win easily at Kimble on his Points debut at the weekend – his first appearance on a racecourse for the best part of 38 months.
Thanks for that Happy Jack – it must be old age now (have been around since 1833 !
) and those senior moments are becoming ever more frequent ! I knew about the yard rule which would have prevented High Cotton from point-to-pointing this season – I must have misread the prize-money thing or imagined I read it somewhere.I really hope they take that route with him next season if he is well because I think he deserves his day of glory.
Seventy Four,
That’s Burridge – not Burrell.
The owners of Desert Orchid having no connection with the odious butler to the late Princess of Wales.
I’m proud to say I owned a chaser that was beaten by Amrullah in a four runner novice chase at Ascot. He was 3rd, we were 4th and neither of us was in camera shot as Remittance Man and Morley Street fought out the finish!
AP
You are absolutely correct apracing – my only excuse is that it was late when I typed it !!!
Incidentally, what was the name of your horse that finished 4th when Amrullah was 3rd ? Did he/she win a race at all ?
As for High Cotton I finally have given up on him having backed him on many occasions including his near miss in the Eider two years ago.
Maybe connections should campaign for the introduction of a 3m 4f maiden chase for 13 year olds and above!Wetherby framed one for my special chum Quixall Crossett back in 2001, albeit open to all ages and 3f shorter than your proposed trip. Needless to say the old boy turned up and plodded round very contentedly for a remote last of six finishers (from nine starters). I wonder if the executive could be talked into repeating the exercise…
I also want to pass on my congrats to Spider Boy and all concerned with him. It’s been a long old time coming, and I hope this doesn’t reduce his cult following any!
gc
I really did hope that your special chum Quixall Crossett would have his winning day but I guess it was not meant to be. He did once come a 2 lengths second in a steeplechase I seem to recall, but being placed was not a regular occurrence for him.
I wonder what the record number of starts for a "maiden" is in this country ? An Australian mare I think ran 120 times without winning and in the States, they had Zippy Chippy, who I think notched over 100 starts without success. Here, I don’t think Quixall Crossett has the record, as I remember that Peggy’s Pet had clocked 110 starts without success (including point-to-points) by about 1969, and I think Quixall stopped short of that total.
Seventy Four,
He was called Liams Pride and he did eventually win a dire five runner novice handicap at Leicester, but his main claim to fame was that he was a half brother to the Gold Cup winner Mr Mulligan.
AP
Many thanks for that AP.
I can only vaguely recall the name Liam’s Pride, but am glad to know that he did finally have his winning day, even though his record was not as illustrious as that of Mr Mulligan !
It is a shame that a similar race could not have been found for Amrullah.
It is a shame that a similar race could not have been found for Amrullah.
They could have framed as many races as they wanted for Amrullah and he would have found a way to dog it – unlike Quixall, High Cotton, Spider Boy et al, his losing streak was due to what was between his ears rather than wind and limb.
Yep, QC did give Toskano a fright in a Wetherby chase on Whit Monday 1999, but his 2l second was as good as it got in 103 starts under Rules and a single point-to-point.
The Australian animal in question is Oureone, and I think she probably had the beating of allcomers in running up a losing sequence until something in South America aced it recently, though I might not be 100% accurate on either detail.
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.
Seventy Four, when I was a little girl my Uncle had a dog called Peggy & he always backed Peggys Pet, obviously unsuccessfully! He always followed a trainer called Peter Poston who had long priced winners occasionally so I’m assuming dear Peggys Pet was trained by him.
It must be a family trait following underdogs as I was a proud member of the Quixall Crossett Fan Club!Yep, Peggy’s Pet was a Poston inmate.
Timely plug – after a hiatus of over a year, the Quixall Crossett tribute site appears to be back online;
http://www.quixall-crossett.co.uk
Here’s the thing, though – I haven’t the faintest idea who’s put it back up! It’s not the very, very, very newest version of it (there were updates from Geoff Sanderson until 2004, but this only goes up to August 2003) so I presume someone out there took a capture of it at some point.
The “Grayson’s Column” piece on there, incidentally, was the first thing I EVER wrote on any aspect of racing, and begat this username that I’m still peddling my ploppy prose under nearly seven years later!
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.
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