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As a young lad Totopoly was easily my favourite board game (I coma from a very board game orientated family !). I’d always wanted to make the ultimate version of it, so I set about it, and have almost finished, but I’ve hit a snag. The “board” is actually a 4′ x 7′ green tablecloth, painstakingly marked up to represent Aintree as it was in 1974, I’ve made all the horses, and all the rules, cards etc. The 1974 National is my favourite race of all time, so I wanted to recreate it, but got a bit carried away, so in addition to all 42 that ran, plus the two non-runners that day (Beau Parc and Persian Lark), I’ve also included all the other 33 horses that entered but didn’t run, and the 4 other horses who have run in a National and had entered before ’74 AND after ’74 (Crisp, The Dikler, Proud Tarquin and General Symons), to add some extra quality.
So, to my problem. I’ve finished 74 of the 81 horses, all nicely painted up, but I can’t for the life of me find the colours of the owners of the remaining 7. And they are mostly Irish owned. If anyone can help I would be very grateful. The 7 rogue horses, with their owners and trainers as at the ’74 National, are :
Lucky Edgar – owner Mr J Callow, trainer J Muggeridge
Top Up – owner/trainer Mr CWT Morshead
Doonbeg – owner/trainer Mr Eamon Delaney
Persian Lark – owner Mr JF Clifton trainer Michael Scudamore
Scout Bush – owner Mrs CP Bellairs, trainer unknown
Ziguenor – owner/trainer Dr D Chesney
Frou Frou – owner Mrs JP Herdman, trainer Dan MooreI’m hoping someone out there has the relevant information ! Many thanks in advancea
My favourite horses - Red Rum, Spanish Steps, Proud Tarquin, Esban, Go-Pontinental, Barona, Charles Dickens, The Dikler, Astbury, Black Secret, Vulgan Town, Huperade, Well To Do, Crisp, Quintus, Argent, Colebridge, Pearl Of Montreal, Nereo, Sonny Somers, Tubs VI, Tartan Ace, Red Candle, L'Escargot, Bula, Beau Bob, Rouge Autumn, Rough Silk, Frodo, Deblin's Green, Prince Tino, Eyecatcher, The Pilgarlic, Captain Christy, Mr Midland, Interview II, Credit Call, My Virginian, Flush Of Diamonds, Scout, Money Ma
Please do share photo’s when you get the chance. I’m a keen board gamer myself (my wife has put an embargo on me purchasing any more) and while I never did play Totopoly I have spent some fun evenings playing the Grand National board game from 2001 (with a few house rules) and I have fond memories of playing ‘The Really Nasty Horse Racing Game’ with my dad as a child.
There are some decent horse racing board games out there (Long Shot and Ready Set Bet spring to mind), but nothing that truly captures the essence of jump racing.
Sorry I can’t help with your colour search as those names are several years before my time. There is a Grand National Facebook group that might be able to help you.
I’ll have to try and figure out how to share photos. If you want to know who rode Ballyroan in the 3.00 at Perth on April 18th 1972 no problem, if want to know how to solve anything to do with IT no chance !
My favourite horses - Red Rum, Spanish Steps, Proud Tarquin, Esban, Go-Pontinental, Barona, Charles Dickens, The Dikler, Astbury, Black Secret, Vulgan Town, Huperade, Well To Do, Crisp, Quintus, Argent, Colebridge, Pearl Of Montreal, Nereo, Sonny Somers, Tubs VI, Tartan Ace, Red Candle, L'Escargot, Bula, Beau Bob, Rouge Autumn, Rough Silk, Frodo, Deblin's Green, Prince Tino, Eyecatcher, The Pilgarlic, Captain Christy, Mr Midland, Interview II, Credit Call, My Virginian, Flush Of Diamonds, Scout, Money Ma
That takes me back; every Xmas we would get a Waddington’s board game; Go!, Buccaneer etc, and Totopoly. I can still name most of the 12 horses; Dorigen (one of the blacks), Marmaduke Jinks, leonidas, Overcoat (reds), Play on, Knight errant (2 of the yellows, and Elton (one of the blues)
Just googled it;
‘The horses in the board game Totopoly are named after the winners of the Lincolnshire Handicap horse race between 1926 and 1937. The names are:
King of Clubs: 1926 winner
Priory Park: 1927 winner
Dark Warrior: 1928 winner
Elton: 1929 winner
Leonidas: 1930 winner
Knight Error: 1931 winner
Jerome Fandor: 1932 winner
Dorigen: 1933 winner
Play On: 1934 winner
Flamenco: 1935 winner
Over Coat: 1936 winner
Marmaduke Jinks: 1937 winner’Herdman isn’t a common name in Ireland and I wonder if the Frou Frou in your list belonged to the Herdman family of Sion Mills, Mrs JP Herdman perhaps being the wife of John Patrick:
https://www.thepeerage.com/p70180.htm#i701792
The family were certainly into horses at any rate- they used to host the local Pony Club camp there every summer in the late 80s and early 90s.
As for the trainer- according to this his son Arthur was an amateur rider in the early 70s so perhaps remembers the owners and colours, you could ask him:
https://www.hri.ie/statistics/trainer/data/?tid=16899I’ve now managed to knock two of the list off – I spotted Mrs CP Bellairs in an old race card on eBay and found a photo of Dr Chesney aboard one of his other horses. You are correct about Frou Frou, it was John Patrick’s Wife, I have his colours already just not hers. None of the seven owners spears in any of the Sporting Chronicle Horses in Training books I have, the older ones have extensive owners and their colours lists in them. Persian Lark had been owned by a Mrs Eastwood, I have her colours, and ditto Lucky Edgar’s previous owner T Brindle. Switching owners was more common then. My all time second favourite horse is Ho-Pontinental, who ran in 3 Nationals for 3 different owners ! (Red Rum is number one !)
My favourite horses - Red Rum, Spanish Steps, Proud Tarquin, Esban, Go-Pontinental, Barona, Charles Dickens, The Dikler, Astbury, Black Secret, Vulgan Town, Huperade, Well To Do, Crisp, Quintus, Argent, Colebridge, Pearl Of Montreal, Nereo, Sonny Somers, Tubs VI, Tartan Ace, Red Candle, L'Escargot, Bula, Beau Bob, Rouge Autumn, Rough Silk, Frodo, Deblin's Green, Prince Tino, Eyecatcher, The Pilgarlic, Captain Christy, Mr Midland, Interview II, Credit Call, My Virginian, Flush Of Diamonds, Scout, Money Ma
I sent you a message before I read the update but anyway possibly worth trying , maybe he will remember if his granny and granddad had separate colours and if the horse was good enough to be entered in the National its name was probably still mentioned round the family dinner table years later.
Good luck with the rest. The owner/trainer ones might be tricky as they might be more farming people with a side order of P2P / racing than big racing people but who knows. Lots of hunting crossover too so old hunting types might know.
Just a quick update and some further explanation. Frou Frou can be knocked of the list as well, thanks to green as grass.
This is part of a much larger project of mine. I’ve been writing a book for the last 7 years, bit by bit, on the 1974 National, compiling information and speaking to people connected in some way to the race. At some stage soon I’m going to have to get it ready for publication, after technical issues such as photos etc, and still looking for info on a number if horses not listed above. A labour of love. One day I’ll track down the last 3 books I’m looking for – the 75/76 Chaseform Annual, the 1974 Horses in Training book and the last Timeform chasing edition little black book for the 1971-2 season.
My favourite horses - Red Rum, Spanish Steps, Proud Tarquin, Esban, Go-Pontinental, Barona, Charles Dickens, The Dikler, Astbury, Black Secret, Vulgan Town, Huperade, Well To Do, Crisp, Quintus, Argent, Colebridge, Pearl Of Montreal, Nereo, Sonny Somers, Tubs VI, Tartan Ace, Red Candle, L'Escargot, Bula, Beau Bob, Rouge Autumn, Rough Silk, Frodo, Deblin's Green, Prince Tino, Eyecatcher, The Pilgarlic, Captain Christy, Mr Midland, Interview II, Credit Call, My Virginian, Flush Of Diamonds, Scout, Money Ma
Good luck
Please send photos, would love to see itCharles Darwin to conquer the World
Morshead isn’t an Irish name either, it’s Cornish, so I would think Top Up’s owner/trainer is almost certainly Major Christopher William Trelawny Morshead:
https://www.thepeerage.com/p27293.htm#i272924
father of jockey and then CoC at various Scottish courses, Sam Morshead who sadly died a few years ago.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Morshead
https://www.smallcitybigpersonality.co.uk/Sam-Morshead
CWT possibly reverting to “Mr” rather than retaining “Major” after his military service either due to modesty or caution- probably not wise to flash your British Army credentials around too much in early 70s Ireland.
Sam Morshead had a brother,Hugh Christopher Stanhope Morshead, according to that first link but I can’t find him via google. Might be worth ringing around those Scottish courses to see if any old stalwarts remember Sam Morshead’s brother, or Bellewstown racecourse which is near the family home.
If you get stuck on the Irish ones just ask Ted Walsh, he was an amateur in his early 20s in 1974 and worked for RTE for 40 years from the 80s and seems to remember all the members of every racing family in Ireland going waaay back. Sam Morshead was only 15 in 1974, so too young to ride in the National, and I bet Ted had an eye on every Irish horse entered with a view to getting the leg up.
Just got one left to find now, Top Up !!!
My favourite horses - Red Rum, Spanish Steps, Proud Tarquin, Esban, Go-Pontinental, Barona, Charles Dickens, The Dikler, Astbury, Black Secret, Vulgan Town, Huperade, Well To Do, Crisp, Quintus, Argent, Colebridge, Pearl Of Montreal, Nereo, Sonny Somers, Tubs VI, Tartan Ace, Red Candle, L'Escargot, Bula, Beau Bob, Rouge Autumn, Rough Silk, Frodo, Deblin's Green, Prince Tino, Eyecatcher, The Pilgarlic, Captain Christy, Mr Midland, Interview II, Credit Call, My Virginian, Flush Of Diamonds, Scout, Money Ma
Got my sums wrong, Sam Morshead was old enough to ride Top Up, who is mentioned in that obituary.
Sam’s son Henry- probably heard stories about Top Up, might know his granddad’s colours:
https://www.racingpost.com/news/henry-morshead-working-in-racing-can-be-a-bit-like-living-in-a-goldfish-bowl-aDn5Y0Y8yLSs/
Kim Bailey or Paul Nicholls yards might have contact details.Maybe start with Kim Bailey- this article says he was at the Rimell’s yard with Sam Morshead back in the day, might have some recollection of Top Up’s story:
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/promising-morshead-continues-in-family-tradition-1782038
Who trained Doonbeg? Was it this Eamon Delany / the Yaha Fizz colours?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theirishfield.ie/amp/racing/inside-racing/heart-of-racing-eamon-delany-250824
and Delaney was a typo?Or was there a Delaney-with-an-e Eamon Delaney?
I’ve got photos of it now, how do i upload them ?
My favourite horses - Red Rum, Spanish Steps, Proud Tarquin, Esban, Go-Pontinental, Barona, Charles Dickens, The Dikler, Astbury, Black Secret, Vulgan Town, Huperade, Well To Do, Crisp, Quintus, Argent, Colebridge, Pearl Of Montreal, Nereo, Sonny Somers, Tubs VI, Tartan Ace, Red Candle, L'Escargot, Bula, Beau Bob, Rouge Autumn, Rough Silk, Frodo, Deblin's Green, Prince Tino, Eyecatcher, The Pilgarlic, Captain Christy, Mr Midland, Interview II, Credit Call, My Virginian, Flush Of Diamonds, Scout, Money Ma
My favourite horses - Red Rum, Spanish Steps, Proud Tarquin, Esban, Go-Pontinental, Barona, Charles Dickens, The Dikler, Astbury, Black Secret, Vulgan Town, Huperade, Well To Do, Crisp, Quintus, Argent, Colebridge, Pearl Of Montreal, Nereo, Sonny Somers, Tubs VI, Tartan Ace, Red Candle, L'Escargot, Bula, Beau Bob, Rouge Autumn, Rough Silk, Frodo, Deblin's Green, Prince Tino, Eyecatcher, The Pilgarlic, Captain Christy, Mr Midland, Interview II, Credit Call, My Virginian, Flush Of Diamonds, Scout, Money Ma
Some more photos, in addition to the one above. See if you can spot any of the horses jumping the first fence. Ignore numbers, just the racing colours !!!
My favourite horses - Red Rum, Spanish Steps, Proud Tarquin, Esban, Go-Pontinental, Barona, Charles Dickens, The Dikler, Astbury, Black Secret, Vulgan Town, Huperade, Well To Do, Crisp, Quintus, Argent, Colebridge, Pearl Of Montreal, Nereo, Sonny Somers, Tubs VI, Tartan Ace, Red Candle, L'Escargot, Bula, Beau Bob, Rouge Autumn, Rough Silk, Frodo, Deblin's Green, Prince Tino, Eyecatcher, The Pilgarlic, Captain Christy, Mr Midland, Interview II, Credit Call, My Virginian, Flush Of Diamonds, Scout, Money Ma
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