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The Watson Manton’s used to live at Sancton Hall, East Yorkshire when I was a member of the Pony Club. This was in the 1970s, he was the Chairman of the local Conservative association too. I am sure they will be easy to contact.
Re: Quare Times I think I saw a colour image & the colours are green with a white band.
Happy, I was trying to be gentle about the Doncaster area population. I grew up fairly close by & I think the track has always attracted some rough necks, especially on the course myself. I haven’t been before its reordering, or to a jumping meeting.
No, unemployment &, or poor education are no excuse for this kind of behaviour. As the sounds appeared to come from the grandstand it could have been from a works hospitably group. These people are often first time racegoers who know nothing of horses, the alcohol may be provided free, so it’s open season to drink as much as you can at someone else’s expense. This is one of the changes in the sport since I was young & race meetings & other sporting events seem forced to do it now to make money.
I have also seen the "lager girls" at Haydock, which is another rowdy course near large industrial towns.I used to go to Doncaster when I was in my early teens with my Father. It was a really nice racecourse then, well laid out with good views of the paddock from the stands. I even used to go to the sales on my own when I was 16.
However we always went in the most expensive enclosures.One has to remember that Doncaster is in a very run down area with a lot of unemployment (since mining ceased) & a very chav culture. Twenty years ago things were different & people didn’t get so rowdy & drunk.
Saying that I have been to Pontefract, which has a similar demographic & it has seemed very family orientated. I went with another woman & we felt very safe. So maybe it is something to do with the way Doncaster is run.
Having a beer festival in conjunction with a race meeting doesn’t seem such a good idea, hopefully it will not be repeated.Re David Robinson & Our Babu. It is the same one who had My Swallow & others. So the same colours would apply.
I saw Son of Love win the St Leger as a teenager & the jockey’s colours were yellow I think. The horse was a very unprepossessing individual, the worst looking in the field.
Airborne’s colours were pink & green hoops & pink & green quartered cap, I have a colour photograph of him.I didn’t make the connection between Godiva & Rothermere being a fascist. It’s interesting how much European history you can pick up if you are interested in racing history.
Rothermere didn’t have continued luck with Godiva as she died in her first stud season with out producing a foal.
It wasn’t her fault that her owner supported Oswald Mosely!I wish I could help more with the colours, but the Copes I have are the wrong dates. I always want to find out things myself. I spent last night trying to trace the horse being PTS on the British Pathe site. Rather disturbing footage, & given the content of some previous posts on here, stands to show how far race courses have progressed in this area since 1966. For anyone’s interest the unfortunate horse is Northern Union, Arctic Time-Miss France by Jock, trained by John Oxx & ridden by J Roe. The race was the 1966 Derby. It was relatively easy to trace via 1966 Timeform Annual.
The Pathe news site is great. There is some wonderful footage of horses & training establishments as well as races. Particularly one one The Horse which shows arabian stallions at the Crabbet Stud & goes on to show Blue Peter at Mentmore. Also one of Cecil Boyd-Rochford’s string, Tulyar, Horse of the Century & good colour footage of stallions at the Irish National Stud in the early 1960s. Recommended
That’s where I found the colours for you Isinglass. I have a lot of them, two have sections on colours, but I could only find Baron Waldner’s. I will re look.
They did do an annual over a long period of time, but it would be a real needle in a haystack job.
Where have you been looking? I think there was a publication that listed them in the 1970s.
I will keep digging for you; fascinating.The only one I can help you with now is: Baron Waldner; White with black hoop on body.
I wasn’t implying that we should go back to the days when the suffering or the death of an animal was laid bare to the general public equitrack. When I said "brushed under the carpet" I was thinking more of television reporters not updating their viewers about the demise of a horse in a race.
I have been watching horse racing since the late 1960s. The covering & removal of horses is a relatvely new thing. I have seen a lot of televised races over the years where the runners have been waved past a dead horse on the course or the uncovered corpse of a horse has been spotted lying under a rail & sometimes I have seen a tarpaulin over one on a course.
We are becoming more sensitive to death & I think that the race courses are compelled to do this due to the attentions of the Animal Rights activists who use horseracing as a political tool.
As a nation we have become much more squeamish about dead animals. Few people now have dealings with large animals & most buy meat in plastic packaging which doesn’t indicate its origin. I recently saw some very distressed people & children when a local butcher had a whole piglet displayed in the shop window. Although I do not advocate going back to the old practice of leaving an uncovered dead horse on a race course I do think deaths should be acknowledged & not overly sanitised & brushed under the carpet.
She foaled Dancing Lad who only raced once & was retired through injury. He was by Sicambre, he went to stud but I think success was limited. There is a piture of her as a broodmare on http://www.sporthorse-data
Perhaps it’s also that people remember the Brigadier as a poor sire rather than a great racehorse. He also had a quite ordinary pedigree (though he did go back to Pretty Polly).
I would have put Ribot in there.
Compared to Sea Bird & Ribot Sea the Stars is a better physical specimen & has a better pedigree. Brigadier Gerard was also a fine physical specimen.I would like him STS to win, but I won’t be surprised if he isn’t in the first three. The Arc throws up plenty of shocks & I think it might this afternoon.
