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Just been announced on ATR, thanks for the memories Spot, what a record at Cheltenham, he made it his home, after his recent win I was hoping he would contend the race in March one last time, as he can obviously still cut the mustard with the best of them, even at 14 years old, and if he’d have won it would no doubt have been one of the highlights of the week and the crowd would have gone wild.
Enjoy your retirement Spot, you fully deserve it old boy.
One of my absolute favourites bows out with reputation and dignity intact, and hopefully (to be confirmed) sound of wind and limb.
A good decision, for all that selfish sods like me would have liked to see him carry on a while longer.
Those banks and hedges at Punchestown and Cheltenham are going to seem a mite strange without him.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
A good decision, for all that selfish sods like me would have liked to see him carry on a while longer.
Definitely, it’s a tough, long race, and he is getting on so we have to be happy he can now relax and enjoy his time, and like you say hopefully now has his health and won’t be exerted come March.
I often wonder how horses feel when they retire, and how long it takes them to forget that they ‘should’ be racing and realize that this is now all they will do for the rest of their life, and do the ones that love to race miss it..
Fantastic news.
I commented after his last race that the owners should now do the decent thing and show a great old servant the respect he deserves and retire him with dignity. Thankfully they have done so.
Well done them, and well done Spotthedifference.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
remember dear old Dorans Pride coming out of retirement because he hated it so much. Don’t really know what happens to the horses at Martinstown, do they just potter about with their mates or do they go out hunting etc? Anyways, we can all go and visit him there I would imagine. Someone once told me that ‘horses don’t really have a memory, but they never forget’ – and I found it to be true with the old family pony. Hope he has a long and happy retirement…..just watch out for Freneys Well next time…..
As with human beings, I think how racehorses regard retirement varies greatly from one example to the next, due to temperament and / or experiences of racing.
I remember reading that Red Marauder has loved every minute of retirement since his last race in March 2003, maybe or maybe not out of relief of not being asked to take on those bloody great lumps of green stuff again. Conversely, another of my favourites of yore, Saskia’s Hero, was still running in – and winning – summer handicap chases at 14 in the early 2000s, after three attempts by connections to retire him had resulted in the gelding carting everyone round the yard at home.
It seems only fair to mention, as I’m not sure it has been elsewhere to date, that The French Furze has also been retired this week and is assured an equally happy retirement. In light of other losses already this season, this is something about which to be truly happy.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
have just realised that, as I always go to Champion Hurdle day at Cheltenham I would be very surprised if Spot wasn’t parading that day which means I can see him without any worries about his welfare….
Leaves the way clear for Freneys Well to win every cross country chase between now and 2013.
Good news, all we need now is to retire the race itself and happy days!
That was only a matter of time, wasn’t it!
The one thing that concerns me about Spot in retirement is that he has been so used to plying his trade around such unusual courses for so long now, that he runs the risk of getting really bored too quickly.
To that end, I’m in the process of securing the purchase for him of the Krypton Factor Assault Course.
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.
Will miss the old bugger,went out a winner for me but then he always was a winner with everyone……..don’t get many like him in bag of coal.
Happy Retirement Spot
GREAT NEWS!! Happy retirement ol’ boy.
Hope to see him in some capacity at the Festival.
fantastic news hope he has a long and happy retirement, sure we’ll see him parading at chelenham Good news, all we need now is to retire the race itself and happy days!
I couldn’t agree more, Jim. Admirable horse though Spot Thedifference is, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that these cross-country races are total abominations which have no place at a racecourse like Cheltenham.
thats brilliaint i hope he lives the rest of days very happy as im sure he`s made planty of people
we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that these cross-country races are total abominations which have no place at a racecourse like Cheltenham.
…but at the same time lose sight of the fact that it was still in the lifetime of many posters here that the Festival included selling hurdles? Cheltenham’s past – and not even ancient past, at that – has included some far more frightful abominations on its high profile cards than a banks race attracting horses rated into the 140s and 150s.
I know that the cross-country races aren’t everybody’s favourite contests and probably never will be, but they’re well established now and make for a terrific visual spectacle, especially when espied from close up – it was a real thrill standing in the infield for Spot’s race last month with all the action thundering past us several times over.
Roll on the day when the all-hunters’ chase card includes one of these as well, I reckon.
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.
I’ve had a good look at my earlier post, GC, and try as I might I can’t see that I put up any argument for having a selling hurdle at the Festival.
The news that several top jockeys refuse to ride over the cross-country track for fear of taking the wrong course and getting a ban says it all, for me. It’s a joke race. The last time I was at the course a substantial number of punters ignored the cross-country racing completely.
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