- This topic has 241 replies, 114 voices, and was last updated 17 years, 7 months ago by
.
- Posts
Re: Broadsword.
In 1981, I placed an ante post bet on Sea Pigeon, Broadsword and Little Owl winning their respective races at the Cheltenham festival. At the time, I thought Little Owl had the hardest task of all, coming up against stable mate, Night Nurse and Dickinson’s Silver Buck, who would go on to win the Gold Cup the following year. As it turned out, Broadsword finished second to Pipe’s Baron Blakeney. A quite public, albeit legal mugging if ever I saw one. My bookmaker offered me commiserations the next morning, though needless to say, no cash.
But I digress…
Arkle,
Bula,
Pendil,
Sea Pigeon,
Night Nurse,
Silver Buck,
Badsworth Boy,
Burrough Hill Lad,
Istabraq … Best Mate, and more recently, Kauto Starare among my NH equine heroes.
I’m drawn to the class acts, as you can see.
Such a cop out.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
"Rathgar Beau was not the first to beat Moscow Flyer over fences."
He was in races where Moscow completed!
Colin
Yes, acknowledge the ‘completed’ sentiment, but jumping is as much a part of the game as being the quickest horse.
You’re not trying to tell me that the likes of Venn Ottery and Eskleybrook can lay claims to having beaten Moscow Flyer at his peak, are you?
wasn’t there a bit of controversy about Rathgar Beaus beating of Moscow Flyer? I was there that day, and the result of the photo finish took forever; I thought I heard afterwards that they wern’t sure that it was the correct result…pity it wasn’t a dead heat…..
There was no mirror opposite the camera (or whatever is used to get the picture from both sides of the track). If you look at the photo finish where Moscow’s noseband is, it does look like Moscow Flyer would need to have had a very short face/head to have been beaten. He only has himself to blame though as he was well clear before making a shambles of the last.
Here’s a link to the photo-finish but I don’t know how to make it any bigger – probably use Microsoft Paint or something
Friggo,
Absolutely, yes. They finished ahead of MF, hence they beat him. Jumping is just as much a part of NH as being the fastest horse.You may not like to think that MF could be beaten by ‘lessor horses’, but as he failed with his jumping on particular days, this is the case.
Broadsword
the only thing I know about this one was he lost as red-hot favourite in the 1981 Triumph Hurdle to a 66/1 shot trained by a then unheard-of handler named M C Pipe. What did he go on to achieve?
He went on to sire some big slow yaks.
So what?
I don’t have access to Broadsword’s racing record and couldn’t give two of Little Owl’s hoots (or even one) about his stud record.
This thread is about our favourites, not the best horses.
Broadsword was the best juvenile of his generation (he slaughtered Baron Blakeney in the rematch at Aintree) and a very good if not top hurdler the next season or two before being bred to Yak Cows.
Seeing the card at Aintree on Sunday has reminded me of another one of my favourite horses: Ashley Brook. I like his exciting frontrunning style, and his colour (I’ve never seen a horse that colour before).
I always loved the front running Ei Ei. A hugely brave horse with a massive white blaze who ran an astonishing 92 times (just checked). He won 16, was 2nd 11 times and 3rd 11 times.
He even led a champion chase at one point, and i cried my eyes out when a distant clear at the final flight he took a fatal fall in his last race. sniff sniff.Think I’ll plump for Viking Flagship for his sheer toughness and the number of memorable battles he had with the other top horses around at the time e.g. Deep Sensation, Martha’s Son, Sound Man etc.
Also really liked the admirable grey Suny Bay, and have reserved a small corner for Puntal who gave me my biggest win to date when lifting the Betfred Gold Cup (was it still the Whitbread then)?
April Seventh
Early Spring
Bruslee
Derring Rose
Kilvulgan
Birds Nest
Tree Tangle
Summerville
Beacon Light
Cuckolder
Hill Of SlaneAnyone spot the link……….
- Total Posts 438
Anyone spot the link……….
They’re all Turnell horses, aren’t they? Many of them were before my time, but I certainly remember Bird’s Nest, Beacon Light and Hill of Slane. The first-named was one of my favourites: an old rascal but a top-class horse on his day. In my opinion, he remains the best two-mile hurdler never to have won the Champion.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.