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Jumps – Nothing
Flat – Zarkava, Sea The Stars, Frankel
1) Sea Bird – The greatest middle-distance horse ever. I would back him to beat any horse in history over a mile and half. He was so good it was frightening. The equine superstar of superstars, imo.
2) Nijinsky. Flashy but brilliant. But for contracting ringworm and then running in the St. leger in order to fulfil his owner’s dream of winning the Triple Crown, would most probably have won The Arc and and then retired undefeated.
3) Brigadier Gerard. The best miler of all, whose consistency and toughness over three racing seasons at the highest level, marked him out as the arguably the greatest British trained race horse ever.
Jumps
1) Arkle !
Need I say more.2) Night Nurse. Fantastic dual Champion hurdler and brave as a lion.
3) Badsworth Boy. Triple Champion Chase winner, though probably not the best 2mile chaser ever, but nevertheless, a big favourite of mine.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
Jumps – Nothing
We are a cheery one Mr Wilson!
It has to be noted, I am only 22 chaps!
1. Denman
2. Moscow Flyer
3. Kauto Star1. Rip Van Winkle – Favourite ever!
2. Duke of Marmalade
3. GalileoFlat
Fame and Glory
Lochsong
Eimer (a Swiss horse probably most of you haven’t heard of)Jumps
Big Zeb
Hurricane Fly
DenmanVery tough to pick just three but here it goes
Jumps
WELL CHIEF – In 2005, when he was just a 6yo, this horse won the Victor Chandler Handicap Chase off top weight. His handicap mark that day was 176, 2lb higher than the mark that Denman ran off to win last years Hennessy. Yet, after Denman’s victory it seemed everyone was saying that we hadn’t seen a weight carrying performance like that for decades. When in fact Well Chief had put up a performance as good as it, if not better, just 4 years before. How quickly people forget. Due to injury he was never as good after that incredible 2004/2005 season when he mixed it with Azertyuiop and the great Moscow Flyer. However, he still managed to finish an amazing second in a Champion Chase after a 2 year lay off and his win in last season’s Connaught Chase was an absolute joy to watch.
REMITTANCE MAN – A hugely talanted racehorse who for me was the best jumper of a fence that I’ve seen since I started watching racing. Although to a lesser extent than Well Chief, injuries did also prevent this fellow achieving a lot more in his career.
GLORIA VICTIS – Just so incredibly exciting to watch. I loved the way he attacked the fences and just blew the opposition away from the front. His fatal fall in the 2000 Gold Cup was desperately sad. He had the potential to be a superstar.
Flat
DAYJUR – One of the fastest horses that has ever set foot on a racetrack. Certainly the best from the last 20 odd years and I would think he’s up there with best all time sprinters.
NASHWAN – The 1989 Derby was the first race I ever saw and so I instantly connected to this horse. He was a real champion and I don’t think we’ll see a horse win the 2,000 Guineas, Derby, Eclipse & King George in the same season again for a long time.
BOSRA SHAM – A lovely looking filly who was right out of the top draw. I was a fan after her first comfortable win as a 2 year old. She was an outstanding 3yo and 4yo as well despite suffering with foot problems.
Jumps:
Mon Mome
War Of Attrition
Ellerslie George (rip)Flat:
Charlie Smirke
Workforce
ChevetonProof that a) I haven’t been watching racing for many years. And b) For me it’s the jumps that tug at the heartstrings & the flat that fattens the wallet.
I could’ve had more than three jumpers but no-one (certainly no-one famous) pops into my mind as a flat favourite.
NH
Imperial Call – Backed him when he won his maiden hurdle down at Limerick and followed him from then on. Had my largest bet ever (at that time) when he won the Gold Cup. I’ll never forget the feeling seeing him kick away from Rough Quest.
Danoli – The people’s horse: Tom Foley’s accent, Cheltenham going wild, old ladies who’d never been racing before turning up at Leopardstown to see him win the Hennessy, taking a crap in the Late Late Show studio… legendary.
Limestone Lad – 65 runs, 35 wins. He’d turn out nearly every fortnight during the winter and he rarely failed to run his race. One of the toughest and bravest horses I’ve ever seen. The day he galloped the mighty Istabraq into submission at Fairyhouse was magic.
Flat
Ridgewood Pearl – Ireland’s Goldikova in the mid 90s. The mare that put John Oxx and Johnny Murtagh on the map.
Vintage Crop – For stuffing the Aussies in their backyard. Pity we didn’t see more of him over hurdles though. He came 6th in the Champion Hurdle in ’93 on only his third start over hurdles. Made a complete mess of the second last when holding every chance IIRC.
Mustameet – Curragh specialist who ran up a string of races there a few years back. Just short of Group 1 class but hugely likeable.
Ok im still relatively new to the sport so my favourites are quite recent or still in trainning:
Jumps,
Peddlers cross- potentail to be one of the greatest of all time
Kauto Star- Unbelievably animal
Imperial Commander- My tip to land the gold cup again this year and really like the horse
Flat,
Sea the stars – No explanation required
Yeats- The greatest ascot gold cup horse of all time
Frankel – Also has the potentail to be atrue great and was an unreal 2 year old this year!!
- Total Posts 17716
3 enough? I got so many I change my mind every 5 minutes
I must have 4 jumpers
Kauto Star: greatest of all time bar one the rest is rock n roll.What A Myth: I loved him to bits. By memory he won 5 or 6 chases one season and fell in his only other start. White blaze and crossbelts stood out amile and I couldn’t wait to get to that TV when he was running.
Persian War: What can I say. So Naive and so caught up in him I ewven backed him carrying top weight when totally unfit and he romped home. Didn’t have a clue at the time he was the champ and in my mind nothing could beat him.
Binocular: What can I say. The minute I saw him he just jumped out at me as a Champion Hurdle winner. The day he won the Champion Hurdle gave me immense pleasure. Just being right was enough and gave me one of the biggest buzzes ever.. I won a small fortune that day but it took a week for that to sink in. All I wanted to do was get on the forum and say I told you so.
The flat.
Nijinsky and Lester. Just watching them together was fantastic just Poetry in motion! Never seen anything like it since.
Geoffrey’s Sister. Name probaly doesn’t mean much to anyone but got a tip from a certain Jockey who told me I’ll hit the front 2 out and they won’t see the way I went. Two out he hit the front and you can guess the rest. She was fantastic to watch and one who sticks in my memory.
Right Tack winner of the 1969 2000 Guineas and the first horse to do the English Irish double.. Like Binny first time I saw him I said he’d win the 2000 guineas against the odds. Trained by John Sutcliffe and ridden by Geoff lewis many said he wouldn’t get the trip as a 3yo. I was totally convinced he would get it standing on his head because of the way he travelled. Everytime I had a winning day I backed him for the race and on the day due to lester being on the fav Ribofilio I was still getting 7 and 8/1..I had this picture in my mind of how geoff lewis was going to ride him and it turned out to be exactly the way I had imagined it….Great Buzzz when that happens
I’ll admit i’m a relatively shallow man, and the below are mainly for financial reasons –
Jumps –
Viking Flagship, Non So, Spirit Leader.
Too many on the flat to narrow to three –
Young Mick, The Tatling, Peruvian Chief.
Arkle – the greatest
Dawn Run – achieved a great deal, but could have been more except fro greed
Whiskey Eyes – Cheltenham, 1986, I’d just lost a big bet on Bobsline in the 2-mile Champion Chase (apparently I was the only Irishman in Cheltenham who didn’t know that Bobsline had sore feet. My last hope was the placepot, and Whiskey Eyes, trained by Josh Gifford, came form nowhere in the 3-mile handicap hurdle to take 3rd place. I ended up with 2 winning tickets and a handsome 4 figure some, a lot of money in those days.Sea The Stars; pure class, beautiful to look at
Peeping Fawn; incredible improver, looked unbeatable, wish she’d been kept in training at 4. I haven’t heard of any progeny yet.
The Tatling; saw him last week on the all-weather, game as everFlat
Sea The Stars
– Pure genius, always had me on the edge of my seat and i never get bored of watching back his races.
Seabird II
– one of the greats, need say more
Harbinger – would have been one of best ever, but will always remember that run in the king george/queen elizabeh stakes
JUMP
Kauto Star
– my all time favourite horse … if i could only watch one horse again, he’d be the one ..i filled a dream by watching him run in the gold cup in march, although he fell he did me proud.. i cant wait to see this chasing genius run again.
wichita lineman
– i never saw this horse run live, just tv .. but something captured me about this horse, in particular when he won at the 2007 festival, when the commentator announced his name as one of the festival bankers it gave me goosebumps.] and made me proud to be a racing enthusiast when AP celebrated on top of the mount,, his sad death in 2009 was gutting, but he is a hero of mine
denman
– for the pure reason he won not only a gold cup so dramatically and convincingly… but for his hennessy performance in 2009 and 2010 – a brave 3rd witha stupid amount of weight to carry. still going good and a lovable horse
Flat got to have four of each sorry
Soviet song. I will always love her watching her grow from a non descript foal to a super star. Should have the name for her first son soon.
Loch Song first flat horse i ever paid much attention to when still a jumps obsessed teenager.
Yeats tough as nails hope he makes a decent NH Sire.
New Seeker (rip) the ERC’s first Royal Ascot winner loved to watch him run from the front. He had the heart of a lion.
Jumps
Dessert Orchid. The first horse I ever fell in love with & the reason for my love of racing. Boxing day still isn’t the same without him leading the parade.
Kauto Star no need for words
One Man I cried my heart out for days when we lost him at Aintree
Edron en Bleu & Azertiyoupe The Queen Mother Champion chase is my favourite race in the Entire calender & these two horses always make me smile.
Jumps
Moscow Flyer
Hardy Eustace
Monets GardenFlat
Miss Andretti
Giants Causeway
Notnowcato ££Very hard to do because there are so many and if I think harder I’d probably remember some more.
NH.
Desert Orchid – Best chaser I’ve ever seen, I wasn’t alive for Arkle. It’ll take some feat for another horse to match his 88/89 season when he won among others the Tingle Creek 2m, King George 3m, the Victor Chandler giving 22lb to specialist 2 miler Panto Prince and then the Cheltenham Gold Cup 3m 2f. Made my year when I got to pat him before he led the parade for the Midlands National in Kilbeggan many years after he’d retired.
Past Glories – Gave me a couple of big paydays when he placed in the Champion Hurdle at 150/1 and when winning the Swinton. One of those unusual NH horses to have a stud career when he retired, his best progeny being the Forget The Past.
Orpen Wide – Wasn’t sure whether to put him in the NH or flat category. Ok he’s no champion and can be a mule somedays, but when he wants to he can be alright and you get to see him nearly every second week. He’s just one of those horses that for some reason you take a liking to and follow them blindly even when good sense tells you to stay well clear.
FLAT
Triptych – The horse that started my love of racing when she beat the boys in the Irish 2000 Guineas. Globetrotting mare and multiple Gr1 winner who had a mind of her own. Sadly died before when carrying her first foal. There may be better horses around but I can’t imagine ever liking one as much as her.
A One – Low class H’Cap/Claimer for H Manners some years back. I followed him from his first run. He was never gonna be a worldbeater but, as with Orpen Wide, there was just something I liked about him. Went through a spell in the summer of 2004 when he won a few races from the front at Windsor but ended up as a ride for amateurs.
Diamond White – Again no world beater but earned a lot of black type in the late 90s and even won the Prix L’Opera for Mick Ryan. She went to America towards the end of her racing career but I noticed a son of hers, White Diamond, running in Ireland recently and it turns out she’s now a mare at Newsells Park Stud. Hopefully I’ll get to see more of her progeny running soon.
Dunno what happened there!
Peeping Fawn – I’ve seen stories that she was covered by Henrythenavigator last year but another that she has a 2010 Galileo foal!
Flat
Ardross
Superb stayer who had the pace to win at a mile and a half in good company too,had he got a clear run in 82 he would most def had an Arc on his CV and would have won me a fortune as i had him in a double with Century City in the CambridgeshireDancing Brave
Needs no introduction. Outstanding burst of speed to win his Arc. Had they known he would def get a mile and a half h would have won the Derby tooSharpo
Mudloving sprinter who was nigh on unbeatable on his fav going over 5 and 6 furlongs his win in the Abbaye from off the pace sticks in my memoryJumps
Wayward Lad
Its a crying shame Cheltenham has a stiff run in Wayward then could well have 2 or 3 Gold Cup wins on his CV….My fav horse on the jumps from the first time i saw him run.Spartan Missile
Top top quality chaser who in the right hands would have won many more top prizes but that is what jumping is all aboutMorley Street
Something about Morley captured my imagination a strong traveller in his races, his win at Aintree sticks in the memory with Brad up.
Need I say more.
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