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Just so much wish I had a camera to have got snaps of the likes of Sea Pigeon, Monksfield and Night Nurse. They seemed to appear regularly, hardly a couple of weeks would go by without one appearing somewhere at a racecourse near you.
Always remember more fondly the events attended live, where you get that extra perspective with the atmosphere and all that. Unfortunately, the older and more cynical I become about the path the sport is taking( but that’s an entirely different subject), then ‘live’ events for me are few and far between. On the flat I will give special mention to Commanche Run beating Oh So Sharp in the B&H and Frankel winning the same race 27 years later.Over the jumps, Rummy’s third National, a card that also included the Night Nurse, Monksfield, dead heat; Dawn Runs’Gold Cup, Denman’s Gold Cup…..but for the best I will pick one of those occasions that you are proud to say ‘I was there’. The equivalent in footy would be picking some end to end FA Cup fourth round replay over a Champions League or European Cup final. So, I will nominate the 1979 Embassy Premier Chase Final, where Silver Buck came out ahead in a long fought duel with Night Nurse.The race was due to be run in it’s normal January slot, but the meeting was abandoned and it was eventually run on a Friday in early March. In recent times, I will also give honourable mention to another duel,in the 2009 Betfair Chase involving Kauto Star and Imperial Commander.The cameras don’t convey how dark it was when that race was run.
Stoute managed to sort out King’s Best after running a similarly buzzy race and finishing last. Admittedly, all in all, they don’t normally live up to previous expectations once they blow out in such a way in their big juvenile test, but if he comes out and wins the Craven( quite sure he will run in a trial), then he’s right back in the picture.
The RP article could reasonably have been expected to mention, as an example, the Sherwood/Webber collusion, when Exterior Profiles Ltd were buying their first horse.
Agree LS3 – animal aid pepper their hypothesis with some nonsense eg,creating a supposed link between a national hunt horse dropping dead on the gallops, to the fact that there is a sprinter appearing twice in the fourth generation of its pedigree.This then taints even the authentic points which they raise.
It’s worrying that they are close to being on the ball with the wastage factor, and if (or when) they polish up their act, they could produce a damning indictment. Would be even more effective if they produced it in conjunction with a national newspaper – and don’t think it could not happen. Even the so called ‘patriotic and traditional’ Daily Mail is not adverse to putting the knife into the sport.
As with breeders destroying unsound foals,I don’t think a credible argument can be made to reverse that.Though they can try to ensure that they are dispatched in a more humane way than having to wait for days inside a grim slaughterhouse. What I’m sure would disturb many,would be the revelation that thousands of healthy, manageable horses, who have received red carpet treatment, are suddenly condemned to death (ooops,sounds a bit too much like activist speak) because they cannot run fast enough.
The racing authorities with the help of the televison media create a pretty front cover for the sport. They like to give horses human characteristics,and in true Stalinist style,rewrite historical facts. Remember before this years Grand National, they had a few ex jockeys sitting around a table discussing their experiences. They came to Jonjo, and asked him if he ever had a chance of winning the race.I was expecting something like ‘ Alverton was thrown in at the weights after his Gold Cup win. He was lobbing along approaching second Bechers. I know they said he broke his neck but I was sure he was dead before hitting the ground- maybe a heart attack. I swear to this day we would have won’. But instead, gagged by the producers (‘ you know how it is now with the image we need for the sport‘,they probably told him ), his reply was something like, no,I was never lucky enough to have a mount with a chance of winning.
The ‘Grand National In Name Only Chase’ is to me a new race, formed from pandering to noisy minorities. I think soon they may have wished they had stood their ground and kept the race as the test it was,BUT had tackled the wastage problem with horses coming out of training as this will sometime soon blacken the image of the sport in the eyes of the honey fed general public.
Ironic to think that a sole Try My Best ND line silently survived and is now blossoming(or is cascading the in word?)through Acclamation and Dark Angel. Won’t be a bad thing for the sport when, hopefully, and Acclamation wins the Dewhurst at the weekend.
I feel comfortably with the risk factor, and would much rather see a return to stiffer fences – don’t have figs more I’m guessing steeplechasing is no safer than 40 years ago. What however I do feel uncomfortable with is the wastage,where perfectly healthy horses end up in abattoirs. It’s no good saying, ‘aaah it’s probably the kindest thing for them, you don’t know whose hands they could end up in’.Surely racing has a duty of care and the money is around somewhere. For each animal fortunate enough to end up at the re-training schools, a multiple number must just disappear without trace.
It’s curious how some of these owner/breeder operations hit a dry spot and don’t return to the level formerly operated at. An example would be the Barnett family, who had all those good stayers with Henry Candy – when that trainer was known for excelling with his stayers.The Barnett’s had Time Charter, Master Willie, and a few years earlier the likes of Centrocon, Centroline and Nicholas Bill. Today they had the 5f 2 year old Hannon winner at Nottingham. Time Charter, the third dam.
Really like Dshingis Secret here. With it being more than just possible that Enable will prove to be gone for the year, this one arguably will have less negatives than the rest. Although the German runners are not as Toylesomelike overpriced as they once used to be,this one is really on a roll at the moment and surely won’t be far away.
I would expect it would be OK if you included the source in the article eg. ‘ I wanted to find out if a pattern emerged for the future, with well backed horses who were beaten in races run in a fastar than standard time, so using Techform Interactive I bla bla bla….’
Forum name is the Neville Crump chaser,but Crump was not the trainer of this horse.Was trained by a famous trainer though, who was celebrated enough to have had a book written about him.
The gelding was not beaten far in a 1970’s Hennessy.
He ran in a Grand National,King George and Cheltenham Gold Cup.
He started at single figure odds when he ran in the King George
The owner had a very useful novice hurdler in the yard at the same time.
He was a chasing type in build but turned out a huge disappoint over fences.
The trainer was an established top class NH trainer with most success in the chasing sphere.
The trainer did not train a horse to win a Champion Hurdle.
The silks were taken over by the owner’s son who owned a Group One flat winner in England
The G1 winner in the owner’s sons name came during a later decade with a different trainer.
The G1 winner was trained by a handler not used to success at the very top level
The trainer of this quiz horse achieved great success with a well known horse who started racing under rules in another UK yard.
The trainer of this quiz horse also trained a well known horse who achieved great success with another UK trainer.
The era was the second half of the 1970’s.
The sire of this quiz animal won an Irish classic.Sorry,be…. none of the clues are tricks… and started racing under rules with another UK trainer
Christ, Royal Mail, brings back memories, not him but same era – late 70’s. Not knocking Stan Mellor as a trainer (or am I), but he would have been mighty interesting with a Fulke Walwyn or Fred Winter.
3 more clues ( btw none of the questions are tricks, eg the Grand National was an Aintree one)
The trainer of this quiz horse achieved great success with a well known horse who started life with another UK trainer.
The trainer of this quiz horse also trained a well known horse who achieved great success with another UK trainer.
The era was the seoond half of the 1970’s.The gelding was not beaten far in a 1970’s Hennessy.
He ran in a Grand National,King George and Cheltenham Gold Cup.
He started at single figure odds when he ran in the King George
The owner had a very useful novice hurdler in the yard at the same time.
He was a chasing type in build but turned out a huge disappoint over fences.
The trainer was an established top class NH trainer with most success in the chasing sphere.
The trainer did not train a horse to win a Champion Hurdle.
The silks were taken over by the owner’s son who owned a Group One flat winner in England
The G1 winner in the owner’s sons name came during a later decade with a different trainer.
The G1 winner was trained by a handler not used to success at the very top level
