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1. Who won the Italian Grand National last year?
Gianluca Biddlecombe. On Deep Impact who, after being tipped by Zorro, won by three fences without coming off the bridle or touching a twig.
2. What is significant about an  Ak Al teke and in what countries do they compete against throughbreds?
Ak Al Teke is the only horse to ever beat Deep Impact in, the Mongolian Kings Stand stakes. And that’s only because the Japanese horse took the wrong course.
3. How many racecourses in Brittany?
Yay! 59 – got that one right. Plus Great Leighs.
4. Who is champion jumps jockey in Germany?
Otto Biddlecombe
5. Who is champion jumps jockey in France come to that and how many times has he won the title?
Pierre Biddlecombe. All of them.
6. Why do few British horses compete for Turkeys valuable flat races?
Because few of them stay forty miles on them sand dunes. Sheikh Mohammed tends to wins them every year, so there seems little point. Except in 2005 when Deep Impact won by six dunes without coming off the bridle. Tipped by Zorro.
7. At what other courses do they stage racing on ice other than St. Moritz?
Hah! Another shoe-in. Finland. Or Iceland and that.
<br>8. What is the name of the Uzbekistan trainer that had a runner in the British St.Leger a couple of years back and what did he do before taking up training? [/b]
Igor Biddlecombe. Champion jump jockey.
9. Which country has more racecourses, India or Holland? [/b]
It’s a tie; none. Trick question there GGD!:biggrin: The horse is holy in India; the Dutch eradicated all competitive sport in 2003, except football.
10. What is the name of the Hungarian horse that won the Epsom Derby?
Atilla. 1896. Michael Bell had one fancied for this year called Leningrad.
11. Which Japanese jumps race did Cenkos compete in?
There’s always one sticky one. Hmmmm…let’s take a wild guess. The Tokyo Champion Chase. And Deep Impact won by ten lengths without touching a twig or coming off the bridle. Which enabled Zorro to lead a life of luxury in Monte Carlo.
12. Which American jockey is of part Iroqouis Indian descent?
Sitting Bull Shoemaker
Cheers GGD! What a great mental workout on a Saturday morning. Off to back Andronikos for that big Scottish jump race.;) <br>
Quote: from Maxilon 5 on 10:56 am on Sep. 16, 2006[br]<br>3. How many racecourses in Brittany?
Yay! 59 – got that one right. Plus Great Leighs.<br> <br>
I didn’t know Gt Leighs was in France ;)
I rest my case.
They are not obscure questions. They are things that most people should know…but we don’t.
It would be fair to assume for example we should know the Italin Grand National(Grand premio merano winner…it is a £375 000 steeplechase. Dockands express ran in it as did Irish Stamp. It is one of the most important jumps races of the year. Vin der Recke’s Rosenbrief won it last year and Masini the Czech horse beat a good international field the year before.<br>http://www.courses-france.com/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=2806&forum=35
Jim Crowley rides him, and he is a stallion. His story is like a fairytale. He is well known ALL over the rest of Europe:<br>http://www.wrbna.cz/en/masini
THAT first link is a FRENCH racing forum…funny how they all know about it isn’t it?
We should all here know the race in Japan that Timmy Murphy ended up in prison for as he was drunk on the plane.
http://japanracing.jp/nakayama/information16.html<br> <br> In addition the Nakayama Grand Jump is the richest steeplechase in the world.
<br>Most schoolgirls could tell you that the signifciant thing about akhal teke horses is the fact they have a METALLIC gold coat. They compete in Russia and several other nation formerly part of the eastern block. I think that racehorses horses that are metallic gold should be known to any racing fan.<br>http://www.horseartcollection.com/images/akhal-teke1.jpg<br>yes it is real.
<br>I didn’t ask you what year it won…I asked you the name of the Hungarian horse who won the Derby. Ther have been some major Hungarina horses…Kisber for example won the Derby<br>http://www.equiworld.net/breeds/kisberfelver/index.htm
then there was Kiscem who is in the Guinness book of records for being unbeaten in 54 races:<br>http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Kincsem.html
Istanbul racecourse is very famous…but the horse have to undergo quarantine on return. But our top jockeys ride there:<br>http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/7-31-2006-103983.asp<br>http://www.waho.org/Conf2002.html
You don’t remember Darsalam two years ago then only beaten 4 1/2 lenths in our st.Leger? He was trained I the Czech republic BUT by an Uzbek trainer ; Arslangirej Savujev from Mongolian heritage who was one of the top FILM DIRECTORS before training. Mark Jonhnston couldn’t win with the horse as a two year old…now he has won group races throughout Europe including group one races:
http://www.thoroughbrednews.co.nz/austr … &stud_id=0<br>http://www.sportovni.net/ims/clanky/3827-dostihy2.jpg
Never heard of Christophe Pieux? THIRTEEN times champion jumps jockey in France?
http://cavadeos.com/illustrations/RUB_A … 9162-2.jpg
There are more steeplechase courses in Brittany than there are racecourses in the UK.
<br>I could go on…but you get the idea. These were NOT difficult questions. They were very BASIC to anyone with a rudimantary knowlege of the International racing scene. We SHOULD have got most of them easily.<br>I am sorry to destroy your illusions but the 3.55 at Catterick is not the centre of the racing world… on the contrary it is obscure.
It is WE who are the parochial nation. When the Irish start having winners here bred in Mongolia and Siberia in about ten years time you will understand just how parochial we are.
So please do not knock the Americans when we are even worse.
(Edited by GreenGreenDesert at 12:11 am on Sep. 18, 2006)
<br>(Edited by GreenGreenDesert at 12:18 am on Sep. 18, 2006)<br>
(Edited by GreenGreenDesert at 12:22 am on Sep. 18, 2006)
Good questions GGD I enjoyed them although I only got about 3 right without Googling. Just a few points:
2. Although not a schoolgirl (!) I do know about Akhal-Teke horses as somebody who already owns an appaloosa and a palamino. They are famous for their metallic coats (of which the gold version is amazing) but they do come in other metallic colours as well.
3. I only counted about 8 courses in Brittany – how did you make it so many?
6. British horses don’t have to do quarantine after racing at Veliefendi. It is considered part of the EU. Although we’ve not had many British runners there in recent years William Haggas did win the Topkapi Trophy with Brunel and William Jarvis ran Momtic there this year. We also have some English trained Arabians running there on the International Day.
8. Don’t forget that Mr Shavuyev also ran Darasalam in the Gold Cup at York and then had problems shipping him home to Czech Republic because of problems with his paperwork. I didn’t realise his background although he and the owners are an amazing group.
12. I didn’t know this but when I found the answer I was amazed how little publicity this had got over here!
I got four and half (didn’t quite get Pieux’s surname right – and wasn’t sure if you were looking for the current leading jockey, or past champion).  In addition, I answer q.1 with ‘there is no Italian Grand National’. GP de Merano isn’t quite the same thing.
Anyway.  My internet ‘Favourites’ tab includes France Galop (I don’t think the Brittany answer is right either.  Under Rules of Racing?), Direktorium, USJC, Arion, HKJC, ARO, indiarace.com (great jokes page), Bloodhorse, turfinternet, jair, iena, TJK, Czech racing, magnaracino, ATG.se, Hippoweb, nzracing, websites for South American & Polish sales companies and Irish point-to-point.com.
Please don’t tell me I’m insular – and that any person with a basic knowledge of international racing could get 10/10.
You have a good point – but like most things you are banging on about it beyond logic.
That’s annoying Adrian – I can’t find the answer to 12 by Googling!  As a guess I’d say Laffitt Pincay – but I’m not sure I can even spell it right to Google it!
:)
interesting questions GGD, however Christophe Pieux is not the current French champion, he was beaten last year by Jacques Ricou and is currently in second place this season, again behind Ricou. <br>Agree with Sal that the Gran premio di Merano, which takes place this Sunday incidentally, is indeed not an equivalent of the Grand National.
Sal,
Amazingly it is Gary Stevens (now ex-rider of course).
I knew he came from Idaho but didn’t realise he had Iroquois blood even though I’ve spent loads of time in his company talking about his family etc.
Thanks for putting me out of my misery Adrian.  No-one here who have met him knew that either!
Adrian,
I think I’m right in saying that Todd Kabel has a strong seam of Indian blood as well.
Yes sorry some of the questions were a little inaccurate. Pieux yes…A mistake sorry…but he has won it 13 times. Turkey….it had quarantine restrictions a few years ago. British horses running there tended to be sold. Arab horses went a bit because the races here aren’t worth a fraction as much. If they have been lifted then I am surprosed because they are …or were…not clear of some diseases.
I met Gary Stevens. He collects First nations Art and has two native tattoos. Charming chap .
Don’t assume that if you can’t find something on google it doesn’t exist. It is mainly commercial. Cold Play will give you more results than Becephalus…but one is immortal and has lasted through thousands of years, and the other will be forgotten in ten. In fact I would say that Bucephalus is probably the most famous horse ever …but how many of us knows who he was? We live in a very now, transient world. Whatever happened to Bros anyway?
I couldn’t even find the field in Slip Anchor’s Derby which shows you its limitations. Other nations who are non english speaking place far less reliance on it. Also the results are somehow nation boud even if you search internationally on a common term . If you search Pardubice here for example you get Engish sites predominately. If you search Epsom in Czech you get predominately Czech sites first. I don’t know how that works but it does. I fear some kind of protectionism somewhere.
The quiz was just to make a point and it is what came off the top of my head. There are loads of small one day a year courses in Brittany like out p2p courses….but contested by professionals. Also I am referring to the whole of Brittany.
I do not know how many courses in India for example. I know…I think…there are NONE in Holland.
I wasn’t trying to make out I knew more than you lot. I am as guilty….but I do love finding out about this stuff and going there.
100 years ago our ancestors would have known the steeplechasing results from India.  we have BECOME parochial…and more racist in a way….as we have cut ourselves from Empire.
I ddn’y expect anyone to get 10/12….I myself only got 6 and I set them!!!! I actually gave people credit for getting any! But it was the point I was making…which is that we are as parochial of not more so…than the Amerocan.
I am damn impressed with some of you though! I knew the gary Stevens thing but I couldn’t find it by google either! And some of you have managed to find others!
Yes Suavarej is a very interesting character. You saw him in a suit.<br>The first time I saw him, I had a phone call from mirek Petran asking me to get to the racecourses as soon as poss from my hotel. he said there were Mongols at the racecourse with horses. I jumped in a cab (I was out there for another meeting and it was two days after racing) and went there. The two horses they had were magnificent. One one the triple crown later I think, and was second in the german derby. Suavarej was very friendly and we drank some strange liquer from a sack thing. He was in casual but traditional Mongolian garb.
Mirek is extremely knowlwdgeable but didn’t know who he was, and asked me if I thought they were crazy. They told him they were going to win all the big flat races in Czech and germany, and wanted to stable the horses there for a while and prepare them. <br>Peter Drahos however…now at Prague…knew that Suavarej had been before and won the Czech derby some 8 years previous.<br>But it was pretty mindblowing….that is when I…and even mirek…knew that our view of the racing world had to change. There was me with a little Anglo/Czech syndicate in a Polish horse out there(and  we had got surrounded by wolves in the fog on our trip back from Warsaw sales) and there was this guy bringing horses from Mongolia.
"Who knows" said Mirek " racing world is getting so close again (that was a sugnificant word for me in the conversation) maybe in 10 years a Polish horse will win at the Cheltenham festival!" One won the following year….who would’ve thought?but if you had told Mirek it would be Galilieo he’d have laughed at you.<br>His form over jumps was nothing special in czech; our horse finished in front of him once.
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Holland does have a racecourse – Duindigt, near The Hague. They mainly have trotting, but also some Arab and thoroughbred racing.  Their thoroughbred industry is very weak and has many German raiders.
I have actually been there, although bizarrely to look at some plants, on a non-racing day.  :)
I love looking at racing around the world and seeing the differences, and similarities.  Sounds like a cliche, but there really is a universal racing language.
Kombinacja was sadly put down last year after pulling up at Folkestone.<br>
There are at least 4 racecourses in Holland, as Sal says, Duindigt is one, I think there’s on at Groningen as well.
That is ever such sad news about kombinacja. She was fab….Looking at a photo of her now. I will remember her fondly for her brilliant achievements in Poland and Czech.<br>I was told Holland had some trotting; but not regular racing. Mind you, some Dutch people told me that…so I only had their word to go on.
i think the main reasons for not travelling to europe would be the undulating track and unsuitable going conditions,the going in the states is generally good and as you know all tracks are level and left handed which makes for very monotonous racing in my opinion.Most horses with turf pedigree and a history of preference for european-style going are sold abroad. Americans dont race horses over one mile two furlongs whenever one appears on a racecard it is generally referred to as a "marathon "race;) Gary Stevens struggled at first to handle the european courses, so what chance a horse will do it on one outing,the reverse which europes horses and jockeys do regularly is easier, many of the horses are coming in search of the better ground and plunder a not so competitive but high priced purse;) the jockeys are the ones that struggle when they travel here especially on the tight tracks with short straight where positioning and pace are the major factors.Roll on BC Day:cool:
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