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Flat – it has to be Frankel’s 2000 Guineas and that moment when everyone realised he was 10 lengths clear. As a 2yo he had already turned in a monster performance in the Royal Lodge, but this was a Classic. I have never seen anything like it either; probably never will again. A genuine ‘WTF-is-this?’ moment.
Jumps – it can only be Sprinter Sacre. Three moments: that jump in his first novice chase at Donny that announced, ‘here is a 2-mile chaser’; the 2013 QM – that moment going down the hill when he and the defending champ, Sizing Europe started to really motor, and then we saw ‘a steeplechaser from the Gods!’ come home alone to get that 190+ rating (the best performance by a jumps horse that I have seen); and, of course, the 2016 Champion Chase, from the third last, when the whole of NH racing completely lost it. Jumps horse of the decade, without a question – and, for me, the best two mile chaser I have ever seen.
We have been lucky to have been around to have witnessed two such horses in one decade. They don’t come around that often.
Yes Patriot, so many great moments to choose from!
You would have had to be made of stone to not have been cheering home Kauto in that Betfair.Hope the next decade provides equally thrilling racing and superstars.
Quevega winning a sixth Mares’ Hurdle
Ruby Walsh being crowned Festival Top Jockey a record 7 times (only in that decade)
Blackstairmountain winning the Nakayama Grand Jump at 20/1
Dabirsim winning the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere for a very small and unknown owner
Harbinger cantering away in the King George of 2010
Big Bucks completing his 18 race winning sequence which started in 2009
Danedream winning an Arc, a King George and two Grosser Preis von Baden within one year.Many Clouds’ ding dong dust up with Thistlecrack from 2 out in the Cotswold, getting headed and fighting back up the hill to get back up and win. Moved to the edge of the chair, then jumped out of the chair and by the time the line came I was flailing my arms around. I hadn’t backed anything in the race and wasn’t a special fan of either horse but that was 😮
Cue cards Kgv is certainly another. I was again there and I had loved the horse since the beginning. Also never forget the complete silence when he won his Cheltenham bumper.
Lord Windermere GC , felt like the only one in the world who backed him ….was screaming him over the line , on actual performance Frankel guineas was breath tacking , watched saying he can’t keep that pace up …..yes he could
One of my favourite races, showing the glorious uncertainty. Lord Windermere’s GC puts the 6-runner KG in perspective; a good (not great) horse, in the top of his form, getting the run of the race in a sub-standard field, and etching his name in the roll of honour of NH’s biggest prize
Flat – Halfway point of Frankel’s 2000 Guineas when it became clear nothing would get near him. A phenomenal performance.
Jumps – Never made it to Hexham when Outlaw Tom won. Best I experienced was a second place at Ayr, though we ran into one as the winner was on a sequence that ended with a Listed race win at Ayr the next April!
Otherwise Knockara Beau’s win in the Cleeve Hurdle takes some beating. A deserved win for a horse I followed from his early bumper runs in Scotland.
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