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Ladies/Gentlemen
Please excuse the possible re-hashing of the subject which has been discussed earlier in this forum about the 1978 Erin Foods Irish Champion Hurdle run at Leopardstown and the system used by VDW (never heard of by me before – but that’s prob my loss !!)
Mr Kildare was owned by my late father (Owen Carty who died 2 years ago aged eighty eight) and I remember him well ! He was an American bred gelding (by Hill Clown x Vahine) that my father bought in 1976 for the now amazing amount of IR£30,000 ( you could buy a house for about 15-12k in those days)
He has won the Leop Nov H’Cap and what was then a NH Flat race, the JT Rogers Memorial Gold Cup at the Curragh – he subsequently won the same two races under our ownership the following year, completing the so-called ‘double double’. In the JT Rogers (the 2nd time) he beat horse called La Cita, trained by Clem Magnier, giving her 42lbs weight (yes – forty two !!)
He then went over hurdles, the Erin Foods being only his 3rd outing over the flights !
I remember that morning well at home, because my Dad was ‘hopeful’ but didn’t really think, even off a light weight, that he could compete with the class horses like Monksfield and Beacon Light.
In fact he should have won – approaching the last he was upsides Monksfield and beginning to take the lead. Tommy Carmody (Jockey) got a good jump from him, but he stumbled on landing and split his off fore shoe in two (a fact that never became public) and therefore lost a length on Monksfield who then seemed was going to win, but MK was nothing if not gutsy, and battled back to beat him, only for them both to be pipped by Prominent King and Bobby Coogan at the post – a memorable day indeed , especially for a 13 year old.
One of my late father’s regrets was that when he won the Sun Alliance in Cheltenham, beating Eddie O’Grady’s Flame Gun, was that we dod not run him again in on the Thursday, like Flame Gun who came out and won !
Thank You for the opportunity to remember such a brilliant horse
