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I remember a comment in a Timeform annual about a horse called, I think, Singapore Road.
It went something like, "unless they start running the horse at more suitable distances beyond a mile, the best thing they could do with the fainthearted brute would be to shoot him".
Sounds like the good old days.
"The usual suspects".
"Holds a little back for himself."
"The old lag’s forgotten more about racing than the young apprentice, sitting on his back like a pea on a drum, and just takes off when he considers it the right tactical option."Well, I’ve conflated a few sayings and embroidered the last bit, but that was the sense of it.
Here is another classic from 1969 – an event which was probably unique I think on a racecourse.It happened at the Whaddon Point-to-Point at Great Horwood and the unfortunate horse in question was Pontoon II (1960) br g (Cambyses – Flyaway by Fesway). Pontoon II came into the Whaddon Moderate race still a maiden but with steadily improving form, and he was extremely unlucky not to open his account in this race.Here is the summary from Geoffrey Sale :
“Desperately unlucky in Whaddon Moderate ([b:2mgel6bd]Joined leader 1 mile out, went on 3 out, 10ls clear at last, landed safely but collided with an ambulance tardily leaving the course[/b:2mgel6bd])”
I think he was ridden that day by John Leadbeater, who recalled the incident years later in something I read in the Sporting Life I think. However, there is a happy ending to this story.
Pontoon II was happily uninjured (and I’m not sure whether or not his jockey was hurtled through the ambulance doors ! ), but both lived to fight another day. He had one more race that season finishing 5th in the Bar Maiden before returning to action the following pointing season.12 months later, he once again lined up for the Whaddon Moderate, still a maiden after four further runs in Open and Ladies Open company, as well as a run at Sandown in a hunter-chase and now ridden by Terry Miall. This time, all went to plan and for a change, he had a bit of luck on his side as the likely winner Progress, a horse of Bill Shand-Kydd’s fell 4 out when in his slipstream. The comment by Geoffrey Sale this time was :
“Jumped well, led 6 out and left clear when likely winner Progress fell 4 out” as Pontoon II galloped on to his well deserved day of glory, beating Stories Zephyr and Gold Coast II a distance, without any further hindrances from ambulances !
Connections must have been delighted, especially in winning the exact same race in which disaster had struck so unexpectedly the previous year, so well done Pontoon II – I salute you !
Terrific story, Seventy Four, and a real triumph of perseverance! (Hmm, parallels with the Spider Boy thread, then).
I’ve just located my favourite race of the 2006 season, the Harborough Race Club Open Maiden (Div.1) at Dingley, June 4th. Two comments I like in particular are;
Gilded Palace 20-1 S Pile (xnb) nvr on terms… stayed on frm 2 out, hopeless task (may have some ability, unlike rdr)
Dromin (bl) 20-1 P Millington very scrawny; rdr drinking frm polystyrene cup & admiring orange repair work on colours of stablemate in padd; ur 4
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Terrific story, Seventy Four, and a real triumph of perseverance! (Hmm, parallels with the Spider Boy thread, then).
I’ve just located my favourite race of the 2006 season, the Harborough Race Club Open Maiden (Div.1) at Dingley, June 4th. Two comments I like in particular are;
Gilded Palace 20-1 S Pile (xnb) nvr on terms… stayed on frm 2 out, hopeless task (may have some ability, unlike rdr)
Dromin (bl) 20-1 P Millington very scrawny; rdr drinking frm polystyrene cup & admiring orange repair work on colours of stablemate in padd; ur 4
gc
Many thanks to both Happy Jack and grayson’scolumn for their kind comments.
Love the comments quoted above gc – Patrick Millington has been a source of amusement for many years, as far as I can remember, and it looks as if S. Pile might be joining those hallowed ranks too. I must go through some of my old hunter-chase and point-to-point books and see if I can find some more gems to share with fellow forum members.
Although it’s not as "laugh out loud" funny as most mentioned on this thread, I enjoyed Iain MacKenzie’s Raceform comment on Rhythm King’s victory in a Hunter Chase at Fakenham in 2006: "hld up: pressed ldrs fr 6th: cl 3rd bef 13th: let ldng pair go clr next: 8l 3rd 2 out: nt rdn but clsd to ld last: sn clr."
If you’d seen it, you’d know exactly what Mackenzie was trying to convey with the "not ridden" comment and he did it very well.
Great stuff lads. I agree that I think the original thread must have been culled JG!
I’m afraid my favourite has to be the M&S comment on a horse with the fairly innocent name of Biganard.
"Stuck in the rear on his first 3 starts, but delivered a promising late thrust at Kingston Blount, and could prove a fair tool"I think someone had been watching too many Carry On films that day…..
lol @ Sal.
Oooooh, Matron!!!
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
If you’d seen it, you’d know exactly what Mackenzie was trying to convey with the “not ridden” comment and he did it very well.
Basically true, yes, Gus, although I’m not aware of Iain having any particular long-held negative view of rider Godfrey Maundrell’s riding or tactical competencies in general – and as a man who has been riding in points since the early 1970s, there’s certainly been time enough for Hunter Chasers and Point-to-Pointers to cultivate one if they deem it appropriate!
Iain’s only real beef with Godfrey – and it’s not a huge one – has been that he doesn’t run his better horses in Open points or hunters’ chases more often than he does. Indeed, that Fakenham run was Rhythm King’s somewhat belated first try at the latter.
I was at Fakenham that day, and I would concede that Godfrey was maybe caught out a little by how soon after the final bend the line would come. He was a tad fortunate that those in front of him tied up as much as they did, and so was I, given that I had the nuts on him!
I interviewed Godfrey briefly after his double at Hackwood Park a week last Monday, and he’s a lovely bloke, very open about the current and future plans for his string… which, in the case of Rhythm King, may involve one last visit to Hackwood this Sunday to take in a Confined race, after which retirement probably beckons.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
This entry for 11-y-o gelding Sayou appeared in Mackenzie and Selby 1991. "Stays 1m 4f maximum and is completely useless, Finally got round a Point-to-Point course at the 20th attempt (but only after refusing), and the rider could not have gained more pleasure from a multiple orgasm."
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Just having a look through some results on Sporting Life and came across an interesting one which I can’t recall seeing before? Didn’t see the race but there was obviously an enquiry and the winner kept the race, Ajaan in the last at Newmarket…
mid-division, headway over 2f out, led over 1f out, ridden and hung badly right and headed just inside final furlong, swerved violently right and smashed into leader inside final furlong
, stayed on to close homeHaving seen the race a few times this evening, yeah, I’d say that was about an accurate description!
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
I think the comment does Ajaan no favours – a look at the head on suggests that the second blow was delivered as much (if not more) by Camps Bay than Ajaan…
It was a brutal end to the race all round, although nothing ever looked like coming down, and it was more inevitable slapstick than dangerous (at least from an onlookers perspective).
Pontoon II was happily uninjured (and I’m not sure whether or not his jockey was hurtled through the ambulance doors ! 
), but both lived to fight another day. He had one more race that season finishing 5th in the Bar Maiden before returning to action the following pointing season.
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