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The tendency to view the past through rose-tinted spectacles increases as that past grows ever more distant so it’s as well to mention that I believe the happy coincident arrival of three top class chasers in Moscow Flyer, Azertyuiop and Well Chief has been as memorable as anything ‘way back when’ and those young today will be reminiscing fondly about them when old.
Agreed. The great chasing triumvirate is easily the most exciting division I’ve seen in my short time, and I’m sure we’ll be talking about the 2004 Tingle Creek with great fondness for many years to come. I can also see the next couple of years creating a similarly legendary class in the staying chasers.
Dawn Run’s CH and GC successes – 84 – 86
Glad this gets a mention. IMO the greatest achievement in NH history, regardless of mare’s allowances, and the later the greatest race I’ve ever seen.
desert orchid, waterloo boy, danoli, remittance man, viking flagship (more guts than frank cannon)
as for present day- as flash points out, who could ask for more than kauto star, though next season he may play second fiddle to neptune collonges the most underated 6 yo in training.Is it possible that our personal choices of racing golden ages correspond with periods that were special for us as individuals anyway? I regard the late 70s hurdlers and the Dickinson chasers as the tops, but that may be because that was when I was able to spend most time following racing and keeping up with the form.
Since then work has got increasingly in the way and form study has gone out the window. How I wish it was the opposite.
Some more from the 84- 86 alumni.
Triptych !!!
Miesque…are the two I’d single out from your exalted list
Dusted off the relevant ‘Racehorses’ annuals to refresh and relish the memory of two admirably tough, top class fillies notable for being kept in training until mares
Triptych: Nine Group1 wins including two Coronation Cups and two Champion Stakes
Miesque: Ten Group1 wins including two Breeders’ Cups
Heady stuff
1984 to 1986 was also good. El Gran Senor, Dawn Run, Slip Anchor, Pebbles, Dancing Brave, Bering, Commanche Run.
Can’t believe you left out Oh So Sharp!
Same here. She was a really great filly but doesn’t seem to get the credit she deserves.
Looking at cormack15’s list, I remember a 3 runner race with Pebbles and Commanche Run as joint short-priced favourites and looked sure to have the race at their mercy as they fought out a prolonged battle. Suddenly, outsider Bob Back pounced on both of them in the last furlong for a 33-1 shock. Hilarious!
Ravel – you could have something there. 84-86 is certainly a time when I had little else to do other than read every sentence in the Sporting Life and, latterly, the Racing Post.
Here’s a quiz questionfrom that era. Which horse appeared on the cover of the first ever edition of the Racing Post?
going off at a bit of a tangent here, but does anyone remember the year when the American Triple crown was dominated by the ding dong battles between Sunday Silence and Easy Goer…I’m not a great fan of American racing but their duels were awesome….try to watch them on UTube if you can…
Reading these lists would certainly make you interested in viewing these races again, or for the first time.
Does anyone have any old races on dvd, whether to be from the 84 – 86 era, or anything in the intervening years?
Pity there are no season highlights dvd’s for the flat.
Andrew
The three years that that spring to mind for me personally are 89′, 90′ & 91′. I got into watching racing in 1989 and for me I was lucky enough to see some outstanding horses in those first three years.
In 1989 I had Nashwan, Old Vic, Zilzal, Polish Precedent, Golden Opinion, Warning & Danehill to watch. Zilzal and Polish Precedent were both unbeaten when they met in the Queen Elizabeth II stakes. Zilzal put up a sparkling performance that day, as good as any miler I have seen since. I was a little sad that Old Vic and Nashwan never faced each other though.
1990 had Dayjur, which for me would have been more that enough! One of the greatest if not the greatest sprinter in history. Their certainly hasn’t been a sprinter since who could have beaten him IMO. Salsabil, Royal Academy, In The Groove, Snurge & In The Wings were others from the year.
1991 had the great middle distance rivalry of Generous and Sauve Dancer which had me hooked all summer! They were both great horses. Sheikh Albadou won the Breeders Cup sprint that year which was great and of course Arazi put in probably the best performance that I have ever seen from a flat horse!
Add to that Desert Orchid who was still doing the buisness over fences at the time. Plus horses like Kribensis, Morley Street, Remittance Man, Barnbrook Again, Celtic Shot & Waterloo Boy were around as well. I think I got into racing at a good time.
Of course I remember these years fondly and even though there were some great horses running at the time I can see that they probably wern’t golden years for racing.
I suppose the real golden years would be the mid 60’s for chasing, the 70’s for hurdling and the early 70’s for the flat.
1990 had Dayjur, which for me would have been more that enough! One of the greatest if not the greatest sprinter in history. Their certainly hasn’t been a sprinter since who could have beaten him IMO.
Agreed. Tremendous sprinter.
Willie Carson described Dayjur as "the fastest horse I have ever ridden."
If only he not jumped that shadow in the Breeders Cup Sprint (ala Devon Loch) , thereby letting Safely Kept gain an undeserved victory. My heart went out to Willie Carson and Dayjur that evening.Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
Looking back, the 1970’s seems a golden age for both flat and jumps. Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard, The Minstrel, Allez France, Troy, Dahlia, Affirmed, Seattle Slew, etc, etc, on the flat and Red Rum, L’Escargot, Captain Christy, Sea Pigeon, Comedy Of Errors, Lanzarote, Bula, etc, etc over the jumps.
Was racing just simply more appealling in those days? Has it got worse or better, as a sport?
It is not just a question of whether the horses of one era or another are better, given a personal choice I would choose racing between 1880 and the outbreak of the First World War as racing’s golden age. You also have to consider the people involved in racing and betting. Are stable staff happier, are betting shop staff treated better
etc? What you should be asking is if racing was better when it was a sport and not an industry.
Clearly, this question is only for those over 55yo
I wouldn’t say that. Eclipse’s post is for those over 155!
Mike
Like football, there was not the same amount of televison coverage of horse racing back in the 70s – and like football, that is why there was ( and still is ) a certain amount of mystique surrounding the "stars" of horse racing.
Those of us around at the beginning of the 70s thought that we’d wait a helluva long time before we again saw the likes of Nijinsky, Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard – and all in the space of two years.
However, modern day horses like Sea The Stars, Frankel and possibly Camelot, should his potential be realised, could well be held in similar high regard and affection in 40 years time.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
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