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Hey all
I’m sure I’m not alone in that, when thinking about racing or going through a Saturday card, thinking about past runnings of a big race etc, I remember horses I haven’t thought about in years who have long since been retired but who brought a smile to my face during their racing careers.
So I figured, especially with one or two "anyone know this horse?" threads going around, that we could have a thread where people could post about their old favourites and hopefully find out what happened to them. If nothing else I’m sure it will make for interesting reading.
So I thought I’d kick off by asking a few questions. First off, can anyone please help me out by remembering the exact name of a horse who was around about four years ago on the flat and I believe to a lesser extent over hurdles, I’m fairly sure the abbreviation ‘St’ was in his name, he was a dark bay and at least at one stage had truly terrible silks (sorry if his owner is reading this :biggrin:) involving purple, a yellow cross of lorraine, and green.
As well as that I was fond of two horses, Etterby Park and Sensory, a few seasons back. Sensory won in truly bottomless ground the day Commander Collins won the Racing Post trophy, before being sold to race in Saudi Arabia (or somewhere out that way). Etterby Park was trained by Mark Johnston and despite being a half brother to Orpen (I believe) he was a tough handicapper with plenty of stamina and a great attitude. Anyone know anything about their later careers/ retirements?
And also, and this is the one I really want to know about, does anyone know where Greenhill Tare Away is now? I first got hooked on racing in 1998 and watched the video of that National God knows how many times, and for a while when he was up front he looked like he was having a great time and I couldn’t help but smile to watch him. A lovely horse, I hope he’s having a great retirement.
So if anyone knows anything about the above or would like to know anything about other horses, maybe we can help each other out? I’m sure we’d get some really interesting posts. Cheers :buddy:
A good idea, Zoz… I hope this gets read, as there are plenty of horses I would like to find out about.  I asked only the other day about Roberty Lea, and Sal told me that sadly he died in 1999, so that came to a sorry end.
Others I would like to know about are:
Twist and Turn (Flat horse, trained by Henry Cecil, his 2yo season would have been 1991)
Sir Jest (trained by Arthur Stephenson, his last race was in 1990, prolific winner in ordinary handicap chases)
Joint Sovereignty (Mackeson Gold Cup winner 1989)
New Halen (surprise winner of the Mildmay at Cheltenham, 1990)
Kildimo (Sue Smith’s horse, broke down in his last race in 1993 which I did not see, I’d like to know what happened to him as he was a gorgeous horse)
Chatam (Hennessy winner, 1991, trained by Martin Pipe)
David’s Duky (won the Eider Chase, 1992)
Howe Street (lovely looking grey, last seen when pulling up lame in the Comet Chase at Ascot in 1995, I missed this race so don’t know what happened to him)
Fredcoteri (won Lanzarote Hurdle in 1988)
I think that will do, though I know there are many others, good and bad.
Oh, by the way, sorry I don’t know about any in your list, Zoz… I do remember Greenhil Tare Away fondly, though!
(Edited by robertylea at 8:36 pm on Feb. 19, 2005)
Unfortunately I’m not much help to you either, the horses you mentioned were all around before I got into the sport sadly, but surely someone on here must know something.
For all the wealth of knowledge the RP has, it’s rubbish when you use the clippings archive feature to try to track down info on a horse who, like Greenhil, was running not long ago and only get 12 hits back, most of which concern compeltely different horses!:(
Now I’m back on this thread I’ve had another thought – like Sensory, Sanmartino was a Khalid Abdullah horse who was sold abroad only this one was a seriously talented hurdler before that. I recall reading that once he was sold he wouldn’t be able to return due to quarantine laws so I realise the chances of finding out much about either of those two are slim but heck, if anyone heard anything, I’d love to hear it. Cheers!:)
(Edited by Zoz at 8:47 pm on Feb. 19, 2005)
Elaine,
Twist and Turn was sold to race from Bruno Schutz’s stable in Germany after his 3yo season. Not sure what happened to him out there – Andreas would have taken over his late father’s string shortly afterwards.
Thanks for the info on Twist and Turn… it’s difficult to keep track of horses once they have gone abroad.
Oh, one more that I wonder about is the winner of the 1998 Galway Plate, Amlah, who was almost put down when striking into himself badly in the race the next year.  He was rumoured to have made a full recovery and was meant to go back into training with Philip Hobbs in late 2000, but never reappeared on the course.  Wonder what happened?
It does seem like there is a gap in the RP coverage here, it would be nice to have some way of knowing where a horse went off to at the end of their career…
(Edited by robertylea at 9:57 pm on Feb. 19, 2005)
Think Chatham is still at Pipe’s yard.
Not sure about Howe Street though i do remember him and another horse (name escapes me) being about 12 lengths clear when both falling on the second circuit in the "False" Grand National of 1993 (still have it on video).
Martin
That it was GD, thanks. Was only 7 at the time of the race and not seen it in a while.
I heard on the racing coverage at the weekend that one of my all time favs..PLAYSCHOOL is alive and well. He is 29 years young and lives on a farm in Somerset. He was a brilliant horse who gave Paul Nicholls many top prizes.
Whatever happened to Classified? Hardly my favourite trainer and I fear the worst but he was a good horse.
Hi everybody
Cheers for this thread Zoz – always a potentially useful one if nothing else.
There is a countless amount of horses with countless degrees of ability that have dropped off the radar and it would be re-assuring to know that we’ve devoted much of our recreational time on a sport that at least keeps records of its former combatants.
Racing Post really should bring back the scratchings "feature" simply in the name of closure.
BTW, if anybody can tell me how Dark Fountain is doing, I’d be most grateful.
I liked Twist and Turn too, Elaine, even though he lost me money in the Strensall Stakes.  He’s had some success as a sire in India, but haven’t heard anything for a few years now.
Bad news about Greenhil Tare Away though Zoz, he died in 2001, after a couple of seasons pointing.
Oh that’s a terrible shame, thanks for the update though Sal, amazing I couldn’t find a mention of it when looking the horse up recently, Kotki is right, we need closure by all accounts! RIP Greenhil
Bad news about Greenhill Tare Away.<br>Another Greenhill who stood out for me in the National was Greenhill Raffles, who ran in 1996, can never take my eyes off him when watching the race off video, he just stands out.<br>If anyone has any news on him that would be great.
Martin
Robertylea,
I bekieve New Halen is now dead. He was a local to me when I was over there, but I wasn’t on at 66/1 when he won at the Festival………unfortunately.
<br>
Hiya,
Unless anyone knows differently, I believe those old favourites Clever Folly, Centre Attraction and Music Be Magic still live on within the grounds of Brancepeth Manor Farm at the ages of 25, 26 and 26 respectively – certainly they were all still standing last I heard just over a year ago.
Norman Mason is a complete softie about looking after his favourite horses properly long after their careers have ended – Richard Guest has unsurprisingly followed suit by giving Red Marauder a home for life at the farm, and both Nosam and Xaipete will also get one once they finally pack in racing (probably later this year).
Jeremy<br>(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.
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