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Too many horses that have given me pleasure, but one name I don’t think has been mentioned is Brigadier Gerard.
As a trainer David Elsworth – everything from a 5F 2-y-old race at Royal Ascot to the Grand National, and all done without any help from Arab owners or anyone with the sort of wealth that now supports Nicholls.
Other – Dick Warden, the man mainly responsible for introducing the Maktoums family to British racing, and where would it be now without their input over almost thirty years.
John Ciechanowski, quite simply the most remarkable man in racing that I’ve ever had the privilege to meet. Fled the Germans as a teenager in Poland, fought in tanks for most of the war, trained and handled horses all over the world and was still riding out past the age of 80. He also had a considerable influence on the Maktoum presence here.
Carrie Humble – brought retraining of racehorses into the public gaze.
Hurdlers:
Baracouda, Comedy Of Errors, Dawn Run, Istabraq, Lanzarote,
Le sauvignon
(Beat Baracouda fair and square in France) Limestone Lad, Monksfield, Night Nurse, Persian War,
Chasers:
Arkle, Burrough Hill Lad, Desert Orchid, Dunkirk,
Easter Hero
(Twice winner of the Gold Cup by over 20 lengths), Flyingbolt, Golden Miller, Kauto Star, Mill House, Moscow Flyer,
Flat:
Allez France
(possibly the best filly), Oh So Sharp,
Pretty Polly
(winner of 22 of 24 starts including the triple crown), Sceptre, Zarkava,
Ardross, Brigadier Gerard, Dubai Millenium, Dancing Brave, Dayjur, Eclipse, El Gran Senor,Le Moss
(Just as good a stayer as Ardross), Mill Reef, Nyjinsky, Reference Point,
Ribot
(Italian Great, winner of all 16 starts including the Arc, only Sea Bird is rated above him in Timeform), Sea Bird II, Secrateriat, Shergar,
The Tetrarch
(One of the best 2 year olds ever seen, won all 7 starts),
Tudor Minstrel
(winner of the 2000 Guineas by 8 lengths), Vaguely Noble,
Jockeys:
Fred Archer
(Winner of 21classics and 13 times Champion Jockey before his suicide at the age of 29), Steve Cauthen,
Steve Donoghue
(Champion Jockey 10 timmes, winning the Derby 6 times), Kieron Fallon, AP McCoy, Lester Piggott, Sir Gordon Richards, Peter Scudamore, Fred Winter.
Trainers:
Henry Cecil,
Michael Dickenson
(Can’t believe nobody nominated him, first 5 home in the Gold Cup etc.), Tom Dreaper, David Elsworth, Andre Fabre, Martin Pipe, Sir Noel Murless, Aiden O’Brien, Dr Vincent O’Brien,
Fulke Walwyn
(Trained 40 Cheltenham festival winners, still a record today, 4 Gold Cups, 2 Champion Hurdles, 5 King Georges), Fred Winter,
Others:
Phil Bull
(Founder of Timeform and instigator of staying races for 2 year olds, Racing Post Trophy), Sheikh Mohammed,
Dorathey Paget
(Infamous owner of Golden Miller, amongst others and one of the first women to make her mark within racing) Sir Peter O’Sullivan,
I hope we can have more nominations than awardsin each category. If not, let me know because the list is in alphabetical order.
Have highlighted those I do not believe anyone has mentioned.
Value Is EverythingThis is a question asked out of ignorance. What was so special about Vaguely Noble? ( Apart from being the first winner of the Timeform whatever – Observer Gold Cup???.)
Hurdlers:
Baracouda, Dawn Run, Istabraq, Lanzarote, Limestone Lad, Monksfield, Night Nurse, Persian War,
Chasers:
Arkle, Burrough Hill Lad, Desert Orchid, Dunkirk,
Easter Hero
, Flyingbolt, Golden Miller, Kauto Star, Mill House, Moscow Flyer,
Flat:
Allez France
, Oh So Sharp,
Pretty Polly
, Zarkava,
Ardross, Brigadier Gerard, Dubai Millenium, Dancing Brave, Dayjur, Eclipse, El Gran Senor,Le Moss
, Mill Reef, Nyjinsky, Reference Point,
Ribot
, Sceptre, Sea Bird II, Secrateriat, Shergar,
The Tetrarch
,
Tudor Minstrel
, Vaguely Noble,
Jockeys:
Fred Archer
, Steve Cauthen,
Steve Donoghue
, Kieron Fallon, AP McCoy, Lester Piggott, Sir Gordon Richards, Peter Scudamore, Fred Winter.
Trainers:
Henry Cecil,
Michael Dickenson
, Tom Dreaper, David Elsworth, Andre Fabre, Martin Pipe, Sir Noel Murless, Aiden O’Brien, Dr Vincent O’Brien,
Fulke Walwyn
, Fred Winter,
Others:
Phil Bull
, Sheikh Mohammed,
Dorathey Padgett
, Sir Peter O’Sullivan,
I hope we can have more nominations than awardsin each category. If not, let me know because the list is in alphabetical order.
Have highlighted those I do not believe anyone has mentioned.
Forgot about Easter Hero, by all accounts was a spectacular front runner and Dorothy Padget was some excentric character. I’ve got a good book about her called "Queen of the Turf" by Quentin Gilbey. Doubtless it is now out of print, but a good second hand dealer would know where to get a copy, a good read if you can get.
Okay, no one else has done it, so I suppose I have to nominate the other two principals in the Race Of The Century – Ard Patrick and Rock Sand.
This is a question asked out of ignorance. What was so special about Vaguely Noble? ( Apart from being the first winner of the Timeform whatever – Observer Gold Cup???.)
I think he won that race by 12 lengths which was considered sensational at the time, but his best performance was his 3 length defeat of Sir Ivor in the Arc the following year. Piggott always said Sir Ivor was the best horse he had ridden and for me it was a better performance than when Sea Bird beat ‘plodder’ Reliance II, in 1965.
I say plodder as he would be considered a bit slow by todays standards, I think, as would any winner of a 1m 7f Grand Prix de Paris.
This is a question asked out of ignorance. What was so special about Vaguely Noble? ( Apart from being the first winner of the Timeform whatever – Observer Gold Cup???.)
trained in France as a 3 year old Gerald,
Won the Arc in 1968 too and rated by Timeform at 140, the same as Dancing Brave, Shergar and Dubai Millenium.You beat me to it!
Ginge
Value Is EverythingGosh, all those years, and I never realised Vaguely Noble was an Arc winner,
I was 6 at the time. Did the BBC show it?
I think Piggot always evaded the question of which was the best horse he had ever ridden….with words like "it’s difficult to say" He did say that Nijinsky had the most natural ability.
McGrath wrote in the Telegraph last year..
Lester has always maintained that Sir Ivor was his best Derby winner. The exciting finishing thrust produced by Raymond Guest’s colt in the home straight is memorable, and the way he finished off his race dispelled doubts about him staying the mile-and-a-half trip.
Oh, I always thought that Piggott DID say that Sir Ivor was the best horse he rode.
I think I might have still been playing conkers, because the blackberry picking season would definitiely be over by the first week of October.
Gosh, all those years, and I never realised Vaguely Noble was an Arc winner,
I was 6 at the time. Did the BBC show it?
I’ll never forget it, I was 2.
Value Is EverythingHopefully we can have other categories another year like Sprinters or American Horses and Women in Racing.
Mark
Value Is Everything"Hopefully we can have other categories another year like Sprinters or American Horses and Women in Racing
."
Sprinters and American Horses should be nominated in flat categories (apart from the unlikely but not impossible event of an American chaser or hurdler being nominated in which case it will be voted on in the appropraiet category)
Women in Racing will fall under Trainers, Jockeys or others.
This is a question asked out of ignorance. What was so special about Vaguely Noble? ( Apart from being the first winner of the Timeform whatever – Observer Gold Cup???.)
I think he won that race by 12 lengths which was considered sensational at the time, but his best performance was his 3 length defeat of Sir Ivor in the Arc the following year. Piggott always said Sir Ivor was the best horse he had ridden and for me it was a better performance than when Sea Bird beat ‘plodder’ Reliance II, in 1965.
I say plodder as he would be considered a bit slow by todays standards, I think, as would any winner of a 1m 7f Grand Prix de Paris.
Reliance also won the French Derby, and was considered by Francois Mathet as the best horse he ever trained, and was given a Timeform rating of 137. Mathet was astonished that any horse could have beaten Reliance ( who was undefeated before the 65 Arc ) with such authority, let alone Sea Bird. Reliance was certainly no plodder. Also, consider the others who finished behind those two that day in Paris and you will ascertain that it was an above average Arc de Triomphe.
Vaguely Noble had been trained in England by Walter Wharton as a two year old. He won the Observer Gold Cup in 1967 ( now the Racing Post trophy ) by 8 lengths. He had won his previous race at Ascot by 12 lengths. He then went to France to be trained by Etienne Pollet ( who trained Sea Bird ) and won the Arc by 3 lengths from Sir Ivor. All these wins came on soft ground – a surface that Vaguely Noble relished. He was a soft ground specialist.
Piggott has changed his mind so often on whether Sir Ivor or Nijinsky was the best, but he did say when Nijinsky won the 1970 King George and Queen Elizabeth at Ascot, that no middle distance horse he had ridden before or since could have beaten him that day.
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