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Chapter Seven LESLEY ANN b m Menelek ex Royal Rally
Lesley Ann arrived in the stable during the summer of 1980, having already won a bumper, a hurdle and a point to point in Ireland. GIven that background and the fact that she was already six years old, DE wasted no time getting her running over fences and she never ran in anything other than chases in the UK.
The start was not an auspicious one, as 2m 4f round the never ending turns of Fontwell on good ground, proved much too sharp for her, and she could only make late progress to grab second close home. The local stewards weren’t impressed and enquired into the running and riding, a move guaranteed to annoy DE, who had a very low opinion of the racing authorities after previous encounters. I’ve been unable to find any record of this enquiry, but my memory is that fines were imposed.
Later that month, Lesley Ann was stepped up to 3m at Warwick on softer ground and produced a satisfactory second to the subsequent Feltham Novice Chase winner, Two Swallows. Then in the first week of December, she won over 2m 5f at Newton Abbot, left clear by the fall of the Michael Dickinson trained Political Pop at the second last. She took on Two Swallows again at Kempton over Xmas, but was outpaced until staying on strongly to take third, never in with any chance of winning.
I got my first chance to see her race at Cheltenham in January 1981, where DE boldly sent his novice out to take on experienced chasers, headed by Little Owl, who had won the Peter Marsh chase a week earlier. Unfortunately, in common with everybody else, I saw very little as fog restricted viewing to the last two fences. Lesley Ann (16/1) seemed to improve significantly on previous form, finishing second, six lengths behind Little Owl (8/11), who gave her 6lbs. She had the useful pair Tarbank and Henry Kissinger a further eight lengths back at level weights.
That form made her look a good thing from an unchanged handicap mark at Ascot eleven days later, where she carried just 10st against seven older rivals. She fell at the second fence, and if she hadn’t, she might have spoiled the start of a fairy tale as the race was won by Aldaniti (11-7), returning after a 14 month injury layoff. That was her last run prior to Cheltenham.
Her appearance in the Sun Alliance Chase was an obvious target, but it looked optimistic to be taking on Two Swallows again, let alone the two apparent class acts that dominated the betting. Easter Eel (Winter/Francome, 2/1) had won five of his starts over fences and was in front in the other when falling at the last. His wins were mostly over shorter trips, but they included the 3m Reynoldstown Chase at Ascot. Wayward Lad (Dickinson/Carmody, 5/2) was a much hyped individual, who’d won three times including over 3m 1f at Ayr, but had also shown some jumping problems and like Lesley Ann, had failed to complete on his latest start.
Lesley Ann (25/1) had two things in her favour – heavy ground that would ensure a serious test of stamina and a previous run at Cheltenham that looked like her best performance to date. One negative compared to the modern equivalent of the race, is that she had no mare’s weight allowance – that didn’t come in until a few years later. She produced an utterly dominant performance, clearly going best three out by which time Wayward Lad had dropped out and Easter Eel was being pushed along. She headed Corbiere on the final bend and ran away to win by eight lengths, with Special Cargo staying on to take third, and Easter Eel fourth, seventeen lengths behind the winner. Those four were twenty five lengths clear of the rest.Perhaps she would have been a shorter price if punters had known that later the same afternoon, Political Pop would win the MIldmay Of Flete, the next day Little Owl would win the Gold Cup and I don’t need to remind you what Aldaniti did next.
In true Elsworth style, there was no rest for Lesley Ann, who was sent to Sandown thirteen days later, where she easily won a 2m 4f novice chase at 8/13. Special Cargo won the 3m handicap chase on the same card.
That ended her novice season, but when she returned to action, she never managed to match the future achievements of the two horses that chased her home at Cheltenham. Things were much tougher for a mare then, with no races restricted to her sex and the official handicapper took her Cheltenham win as gospel, setting her some tough tasks against more experienced Gold Cup class chasers.
Her first big target was the Hennessy Gold Cup, where she was set to carry 11st 5lbs, only 5lbs less than top weight Diamond Edge – the pair had been rated 24lbs apart by Timeform in Chasers and Hurdlers 1980/81. She produced probably her best form of that second season, running on and looking dangerous when she unseated Colin Brown at the final fence. Back to the same course and distance for the Mandarin Chase at the New Year meeting, she finished third behind Night Nurse and Captain John, beaten four lengths getting 10lbs from the winner.
Later that month, she again showed her liking for Cheltenham and soft ground, the only one still galloping at the finish of a three runner Tote Double Chase. Wayward Lad, the 6/5 favourite, was out on his feet from the third last and staggered home forty five lengths behind her, last of the three. She failed to make the frame in her subsequent runs, although she might have done better in a Gold Cup run on her ideal ground but for being brought to a standstill five out when Earthstopper fell in front of her.
Lesley Ann was kept in training for another season, but she was showing signs of wear and tear and her overall form was well below her best, not helped by a drier winter. This time she was pulled up in the Hennessy and when she did get her ground and win the Mildmay Cazalet at Sandown in January, she was later disqualified for an illegal substance in her system. I’ve not been able to find any official record of the details, but I suspect this was to do with steroids, then a subject of much debate in racing, not least about how long they stayed in the system and could result in disqualification. After finishing a distant third behind her stable companion Combs Ditch and Bregawn in the Jim Ford Challenge Cup at Wincanton in February, she was retired to become a broodmare.
Chapter 8 COMBS DITCH ch g Celtic Cone ex Red Star
Combs Ditch was bred and owned by Mr and Mrs Tory, who later sent other horses to DE, including Mighty Fly, discussed in an earlier chapter. He arrived in the 1979/80 season, still a colt and ran twice in February/March of 1980 without troubling the judge, then was gelded prior to the 1980/81 season. In appearance, he was a stocky, close coupled horse, more bull terrier than greyhound, but he had a very fluent action that I thought at the time was a major contributor to his success.
In his second season, he took a while to get off the mark, finally winning at Cheltenham on his fifth run and seventh overall. He followed up with further wins at Warwick and Windsor in January/February, by which time he’d been fitted with blinkers. Overall that season, he had the three wins (all at 2m) from eleven runs and he’d already shown signs of the temperament and inconsistency that would ultimately prevent him from winning the biggest prizes. Timeform at the end of that season rated him at 112, but they also awarded him their dreaded ‘squiggle’. I can only remember seeing him run once that year, at Newbury, when he looked sure to win between the last two flights, but declined to exert himself and finished third.
In the autumn of 1981, Combs Ditch was switched to chasing and won a 2m 1f novice at Exeter on his second start, then the 2m 4f novice handicap at Cheltenham on the Saturday card at the end of January – the same afternoon that Lesley Ann won the Tote Double Chase. As ever, DE was willing to take on the best when he thought he had a good horse and half an hour after Lesley Ann won the Sun Alliance Chase, Combs Ditch was facing the best 2m chasers in the Champion Chase. None of the others got near the winner, Rathgorman, but in finishing fifth, Combs Ditch was only 5L behind the favourite Drumgora, and 10L ahead of the 7/2 shot News King.
He followed that with a close second to Fifty Dollars More in the novice handicap run just after the Grand National at Aintree, but then disappointed as favourite on his final run of the season, seeming unsuited by having a conditional jockey on board. He earned a 129 chase rating, but still kept the squiggle. He was still only a 6-y-old, and he’d acquired plenty of experience for a young horse, and shown he was up to winning at the premier tracks, so there was good reason to expect more improvement next season.
However, the run up to New Year proved very disappointing, as his form was patchy and his jumping was hit and miss in five defeats, although he’d gone close despite making mistakes in a handicap at Kempton over Xmas. That hint of a revival was confirmed at Cheltenham’s New Year meeting, where he finished 1 1/2L second to Observe, who’d already won good handicaps at Newbury and Cheltenham that season and was giving him 8lbs. The pair finished 25L ahead of the rest in a race run on heavy ground. Eleven days later, Combs Ditch lined up at Ascot for the 2m 4f Lambert and Butler Premier Chase Final, a top class level weight race for first and second season chasers. He won by producing good jumps at the last two fences and showing the best speed from the last, finishing 3L ahead of the 7/4 fav Gaye Chance. It was a major breakthrough and it paid almost £18k to the winner – for comparison, the Arkle that year paid just over £18k.
Just two weeks later and stepped up in trip for the first time, he repeated the feat of his stable companion by winning the Tote Double Chase at Cheltenham, beating Brown Chamberlain and Ashley House by 6L, again showing the best finishing kick at the end of a slowly run race. The Gold Cup was now declared as his target, and he completed his preparation by beating Bregawn 1/2L in the Jim Ford Challenge Cup at Wincanton.
This was of course the year that Michael Dickinson dominated the three mile chase division, and by the day of the Gold Cup, Combs Ditch was seen as the most likely contender to prevent the Dickinson clean sweep. His performance was a huge disappointment, dropping away tamely a long way from the finish and coming home a distant eighth, and last to complete. Post race the reason quickly became clear, as Combs Ditch collapsed in the unsaddling area and had to be given oxygen. It was the first public indication of the physical issues that might explain his apparent temperament problems on the racecourse. On his return home, he was also found to have a tendon injury and the treatment for that kept him off the track for the whole of the 1983/84 season.
He reappeared after a 21 month layoff in a handicap hurdle at Cheltenham in December, a race I was present to watch. I have friends who still laugh at the memory of my open mouthed astonishment as Combs Ditch cruised into the lead after the last and won easily, despite taking time out to attempt to bite his nearest challenger as he went past him. They laughed even louder at my reaction to hearing the announcement that his SP was 25/1. With the benefit of hindsight (we’re all expert punters with hindsight), he was chucked in with just 10st 9lbs to carry in an ordinary race. If that was a surprise, so was his next chosen target, although typical of DE that he went from a handicap hurdle to the King George on Boxing Day.
Only three went to post, the current Gold Cup winner Burrough Hill Lad, who had since won the Hennessy under 12st, Wayward Lad, winner of the race for the last two years, and Combs Ditch. It proved to be the closest he would ever come to winning one of the top races, going down by a short head to the 2/1 on Burrough Hill Lad, who didn’t help himself by jumping left in the closing stages. Nobody who saw that race had any doubts about Combs Ditch giving his all in the finish and with a better jump two out (he got in close), I still think he would have won.
That was very much the high point of his season, although there was no disgrace in finishing second to the subsequent Stayers Hurdle winner, Rose Ravine, in the 3m Fernbank Hurdle at Ascot. He was tried again in the Gold Cup, but could only finish seventh, and then fifth in the consolation race at Aintree.
A dry autumn delayed his return to action in 1985 – he wasn’t risked on quick ground after his tendon injury. Mirroring the pattern of the previous year, he started out at the Cheltenham December meeting, winning the feature 2m 4f chase under 11st 9lbs, making the opposition look very ordinary as Colin Brown was still pulling him back on the final bend. Hitting the front after the last, he won by seven lengths at 13/2. Then on to the King George, where he again finished second in a photo, this time beaten a neck by Wayward Lad. It wasn’t as good a race as the previous season and there was certainly a question mark over his finishing effort, as he’d appeared to pulling double three out.
He was kept busy, winning the Wincanton 2m 5f John Bull Chase at odds of 4/7 on January 9th, and the Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock nine days later. The other finishers that day read like part of a list of the best three mile handicappers of the 80’s – Door Latch, Earls Brig, Forgive N’ Forget, Observe and West Tip. The long run in at Haydock almost caught him out, as he put his head in the air once he hit the front and Brown had to administer two sharp reminders close home to keep him going. His season ended with another failed attempt at the Gold Cup on drying ground that wouldn’t have favoured him.
Now ten years old, he ran poorly on his seasonal debut in the King George (a cut foot incurred while out at grass had delayed his return), outshone by some young upstart stable companion called Desert Orchid. He had two runs after that before his final try at Cheltenham, finishing fourth in a bunch finish in a 3m conditions chase at Newbury, then winning a four runner 3m handicap chase at Kempton, the race that later became the Racing Post Chase. He was pulled up in the famous Gold Cup of 1987, run on a snow covered track after a brief blizzard hit the track just before the original scheduled start.
That was the final curtain call for Combs Ditch, who overcame his early poor reputation and his obvious physical problems (he was given oxygen after every race following his collapse at Cheltenham). He won thirteen races in what became a long career, twice went close in the King George, won five times at Cheltenham and must have given his owner/breeders great pleasure. He was never an especially fluent jumper, but that action kept him in races and his ability to arrive on the bridle at the last and quicken away was a potent weapon against the type of horse that was contesting chases in that decade. One oddity was that all his wins came between December and February, as one of the pieces of equine folklore that DE passed on to me was that horses with breathing problems often performed best on cold days.
Great read AP, stirred up a good few memories. I enjoyed inconsistent chasers with a high level of ability and Combs Ditch was a favourite. I think the old Massey Ferguson may have become the Still Fork Lift Truck chase the season he won it.
A very good read Alan – Combs Ditch was a favourite and who could not have a soft spot for West Tip a big brute of a horse, strong as an ox, who wrote off a lorry.
flatcapgamble…Mr What was way back when but he silenced all the questioners.
Thanks ap , another brilliant read. There is simply nowhere else on the internet to read anything as insightful as this !
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