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Captain Christy, Birds Nest.
Dessie was definitely not my favourite – having backed Yahoo in the Gold Cup!
yes, pink and purple; he was only sold 48 hours before the race…wasn’t Bonanza Boy an amazing little horse at that time as well – he was so tiny.
Party Politics was owned and bred by David Stoddart and sold to David Thompson (owner of Cheveley Park Stud) to race in the colours of his wife Patricia (Pink, Purple Crossbelts, Hooped Sleeves, Purple Cap if memory serves.) David Stoddart’s colours are something akin to Maroon with Light Blue Spots and Cap for those who remember PP before his Aintree triumph.
David Stoddart’s colours are something akin to Maroon with Light Blue Spots and Cap for those who remember PP before his Aintree triumph.
…colours already carried to victory this season by the 2m chaser Spinaround, another owner-bred animal this time trained by Paul Webber.
Stoddart also holds a permit to train, though you have to go back to June 2005 for the last of just three wins under Rules in the last five years.
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.
Moleboard – I’ve been trying to remember his name for ages; didn’t Jim Old just love him to bits and it was so sad when he lost him…
What a favourite of mine. I remember Tom Grantham falling off him at the last flight in the Agfa at Sandown. When he came fourth in Flakey’s Champion I walked over to Jim Old to say "well done" and he had tears streaming down his face. I used to think that Jim was great at keeping horses going well into middle age (remember Cima?) and I was gutted when he went down on the gallops. Incidentally he was originally trained by Owen O’Neill near Cheltenham – or was it Hugh O’Neill? I always mixed that pair up. I digress, but are they still alive? I’m rambling now
My big big fave jumps horse was Calapaez, a great big grey trained by brooke Sanders and usually ridden by Simon Sherwood. Ultimately a fair chaser but a terrific hurdler with an exciting cat-like technique.
I’m a big fan of the lesser lights (you’d never have guessed that with my monicker would you?)
You’ve probably never heard of most of these apart from my hero QC,
Watchit Lad, Greenacres Boy, White in Front, Son of Snurge, Riverbank Rose, Court Circular, Johnsted & all of Ted Caines of course.Moleboard – I’ve been trying to remember his name for ages; didn’t Jim Old just love him to bits and it was so sad when he lost him…
What a favourite of mine. I remember Tom Grantham falling off him at the last flight in the Agfa at Sandown. When he came fourth in Flakey’s Champion I walked over to Jim Old to say "well done" and he had tears streaming down his face. I used to think that Jim was great at keeping horses going well into middle age (remember Cima?) and I was gutted when he went down on the gallops. Incidentally he was originally trained by Owen O’Neill near Cheltenham – or was it Hugh O’Neill? I always mixed that pair up. I digress, but are they still alive? I’m rambling now
Owen O’Neill, I believe. He started a red hot favourite for the Sun Alliance Hurdle for O’Neill and was bought out of his yard just before the 1989 Champion Hurdle which I’ve always thought he would have won if he’d been waited with. As it was he tracked Kribensis, going better than that one as they took the last and looking the winner briefly, but the ground was desperate and they’d simply gone too fast and the poor bugger was legless up the hill. He was one of my all time favourites.
Talking of Champion Hurdlers, I’ve just remembered Ballydurrow who I believe was placed in a CH, a real good old stick trained by Roger Fisher. He was killed running at Southwell when they had the all weather hurdles there at quite an advanced age, I know Timeform were scathing about the fact that he was actually still running in low grade contests & not retired.
Talking of Champion Hurdlers, I’ve just remembered Ballydurrow who I believe was placed in a CH, a real good old stick trained by Roger Fisher. He was killed running at Southwell when they had the all weather hurdles there at quite an advanced age, I know Timeform were scathing about the fact that he was actually still running in low grade contests & not retired.
Amen to that ~ I watched the race and was absolutely livid. He fell over something that looked like an effing radiator, not a hurdle. It was his fifteenth race within a year and he was thirteen. I must say I felt ashamed.
Ballydurrow was killed in a 0-125 (i.e. not too bad, though obviously some way below Champion Hurdle class) handicap in March 1990, falling two out when poised to challenge.
This was the second of two tries over Fibresand hurdles. It seemed rather an odd move to me, as he had not run in any sort of hurdles contest for 26 starts (all Flat) and 21 months since being mullered in the 1988 Swinton Hurdle.
Unfortunately, I suspect connections were tempted to try the hurdling exercise after Ballydurrow proved effective to a point in two 1m3f Fibresand handicaps immediately beforehand, staying on to decent effect. Scoring easily on his first run over the plastic hurdles next time out probably sealed his fate – had he not taken to the discipline, they’d surely have called time on his career.
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.
well, last nights nh preview in Birmingham was a great night for Rondetto fans; the guests had to say who their favourite horse of all time was and Alastair Down said his was Rondetto – Chris Pitt presented him with a ‘Rondetto, this is your life’ scrapbook which was fantastic – and my memory of Rondetto cannot win a National because he pitches on landing was correct because there was a newspaper cutting of the old boy landing on his nose! Methinks there may be a Rondetto night coming up [we did Arkle last year]……mo[wallowing in nostalgia….again]….Mr. Fist would’ve loved it….
French Holly,Lady Cricket,Strong Promise,One Man,Ei Ei to name a few
So many favourites would probably take me hours to list them all
Probably Jodami, in that he was the first example of a horse I followed from his novice days right to the top.
Remember Jodami’s last race when he broke down but still won the race; was it in Ireland? Think I heard that Peter Beaumont had said that anyone was welcome to visit him if they were passing [don’t quote me on that ]. Is he the only Northern horse to win the Gold Cup in recent years? mo
Forgot to mention that wonderfully consistent mare Just Beth, retired now & found out at Bangor yesterday she’s in foal to Proclamation, great news.
Is she? Coo, as you say great news!
A real tough cookie, that one, and along with Material World at a slightly higher level she was as reliable and honest a mare as there’s been in staying hurdles recently.
I presume Joe Fierro thought she’d gone as far as she could without non-existent respite from the handicapper? He’d be right, I think. What a standard-bearer for a tiny yard, though.
Think his bumper runner has a bit of a way to go to emulate Beth! Early days, though.
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.
For largely sentimental reasons (although he would have been a machine over 3m, mark my words!!!!) my favourite racehorse ever was Decoupage. Buster was a sweetheart; a delight to do anything with and bugger me, did he ever scare you doing a bit of work with the size of the engine he had in him! Best feeling in the world, ever – swinging off one with a double handful, waiting to push the button
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