Best Horses who Refused To Race

I think Vodkatini was actually favourite for that Desert Orchid/Panto Price epic , but just stood there at the start.

Somebody is bound to mention Ubedizzy and Arcadian Heights innit [smiley:crazy]

King John’s Castle in the Grand National and Twist Magic in the Punchestown Champion Chase

It fell in that.

I'm the master of understatement me
I'm pretty sure Maylane had two races over hurdles and just planted his feet, refused to race and said 'nah, I don't really fancy this.'

Moonax and Challenger Du Luc also liked to have a look at the scenery [smiley:crazy]

Derring rose

1 in how many races a horse does that in the stalls? 1 in 150? amazing that it has to be my favourites that does it. crazy how shes doing exact same thing as the half sister did

Some horse M Reveley trained

How about Browne's  Gazette ?

knockroe

Dr Massini

Tilt !!!!!!

most of the feckers I back to be honest

tbf knockroe would often set off but when he did consent often pulled himself up mid race for no apparent reason.he was an enormous grey horse who as as i recall only ever ran on the flat.when he did consent he could turn him some scintillating performances so he was potentially a horse with enormous ability

Remember Knockroe and what a rascal , must have had fair amount of ability to win the Cumberland Lodge twice 

yes he was a very good horse but what a character..
cannot recall who trained or even who rode it though tbh

Didn't the great Ezzoud stay in the stalls in a King George? He won 2 Internationals at York and a Eclipse.

But there was once another grey, Knockroe. As a three-year-old, in 1971, Knockroe was galloped over six furlongs, at level weights, with the year-older Apollo Nine, who won that season's Stewards' Cup carrying 9st 5lb. Knockroe beat Apollo Nine out of sight. Not bad for a stayer.
When he wanted to, Knockroe, who won four Group races in 1972, could do pretty much anything, but he didn't always want to. In the mood, Knockroe would come
nerve-rackingly late and wide, scything down his opponents with a fine turn of foot.
When Mahmoud's record over the Derby course, set in 1936, was finally broken, in 1973, it was Knockroe who broke it, on the bridle, easing down. Trainer Peter Nelson remembered the vet coming up to him afterwards and saying: "I'm sorry, Major Nelson, but I'm going to have to check your horse again." The vet couldn't believe that Knockroe's heartbeat could be so slow. "I knew the reason," Nelson told me, "Knockroe hadn't really exerted himself."

Knockroe was trained by Major Peter Nelson in Lambourn if memory serves. Can't remember who rode him regularly but I'm pretty sure Lester rode him a few times.

I think Ezzoud did come out of the stalls, but then threw Swinburn off after a few strides. Backed him that day , and many other times , at all sorts of prices, but never won with him

very odd horse.

Yes definitely remember Lester on board several times , also Eric Eldin at least once

Piggott rode Knockroe to win 2 Cumberland Lodge stakes and Eric Eldin won the St Simon stakes on him, don't recall him refusing to race though, was a very good horse imo.

interseting stuff if a trifle too much posigtive spin.there is no mention of his extraordinary habits of pulling himself up mid race and not starting.indeed somenone will correct me if i am wrong but i am pretty sure he was banned from racing for these habits

Ask jamie spencer been stuck in stalls so many times

horses who refuse to race not jocks m8

Cavvies Clown

Pretty sure he was banned in the end,Mallard.

think he was fb but its a long time ago
there seem to be one or two racing historians who sometimes post on here who will have the documentary facts and hopefully may read this  thread

they had a lot of problems with rakti,cant remember if he refused to race mind!

Rakti another horse that wins when nobody was on i think trainer and jockey knew when it was going to refuse to win.

Everything comes alike to properjockey , whether it be tennis , racing or just plain nostalgia the world is totally dodgy and has a personal crusade to stop his bets winning 

Rakti used to pull too hard.Over 10f he often didn't get home. Over a mile he was brilliant.

Rakti stayed better than everyone thinks. He won an Italian Derby and 3 other G1's over 1m2f.

a perfect example that all horses stay all distances,

it just depends on what class and what pace [smiley:crazy]

Did'nt Caergwrle refuse to race once at Goodwood ?

browne s gazzete[;)][;)]

Rakti stayed 10f. His best performances were at a mile. The Italian Derby is renowned for being the weakest Group 1 in Europe.

Pukka Major was a nightmare late on in its career. Bellator another to add to the list.

the one M Channon had a big bet on at chelt....trained by john baker
dutch equestrian lad looked after it ............said it would win champ hdle...i knew him.................2 names........last ran at plumpton after several trainers ????????????????????????

I'd forgotten about Pukka Major. I backed him when he won at Cheltenham.Grand Annual I think. He turned into a right bugger.

flyingbolt     12 Sep 10 19:20 
Rakti stayed 10f. His best performances were at a mile.
--------

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. I don't think he was any better over 1m compared to 1m2f.

hows it going .....sleeper...          dont sleep on the golf course

That's fine,Shrew. For me his career perfomances were in the QE 2 and the Lockinge.

Deanos Beano needed his mind made up

"****ss2dear".............I actually made some money over the "Caergwrle" incident at Goodwood which was covered by BBC Television.

I believe it was on the Friday & there was a huge run up from the Tuesday on a Tote jackpot pool,with the prospective payout being quite high.

"Caergwrle" was favourite in about the fourth race. The horses were loaded & under Orders........before the gates opened, the filly ducked under her gate & set off down the Course at a fair old rate of knots. She completed the course & the Stewards then had a dilemma due to the weight of public money on her.

The race was held up & she was walked back up the course to the stalls.

The second favourite was now,as near as damn it,a cetainty. There was no way of getting a bet...........no bookmaker in his right mind would lay you the 7/2 about the second favourite.

Suddenly I remembered my account with Tote Investors,who kept the pools open until the actual OFF.
I got on & was quite satisfied with the 9/4 win dividend.....a few other "Sharp Minds" had had the same idea.

Derring Rose how come no one's mentioned it? won the stayers hurdle by 30 lenths but pulled itself up in both of its first 2 races the following season. next time out at cheltenham with john francome riding it started to pull itself up again and lost a lot of ground but francome managed to get it going and made loads of ground and was challenging the leader on the run in but then derring rose started to try and pull up again, it took all of francome's skill as a jockey to win it on him. it is often said it was john francomes best ever ride.

My Da included, Mr Memory...

And thanks for the clarification..

interesting thread - might be able to add Denman to list during 2010/1l jumps season.

slamming into fences does not constitute refusing to race imo [smiley:crazy]

Mr Ed a shocking omission

Did Mr Ed ever refuse to race?

Darren Anderton

Mr Ed was far too clever to be forced into running around a track and getting a good whipping.

Wasn't Mytoto a bit of a dodge pot at the start?
I seem to remember it giving start away a couple of times.

YORKYPETE.     12 Sep 10 21:24 
Mr Ed was far too clever to be forced into running around a track and getting a good whipping.
---------

But did it ever refuse to race? ie. Refuse to start.

Ezzoud - the mention above is unjustified imo. He never refused to race and unseated after the start ONCE. Behaved perfectly well otherwise and well enough to win three Group 1s, and win or be placed in 7 other Group races.

beech road (champion hurdle winner) new years day at windsor

Harwell Lad

Rock Falcon

Shrew D     12 Sep 10 21:17 
Did Mr Ed ever refuse to race?


Basically he did everything Wilbur asked him to do 

Green Green Desert was a bit of a twot..

Harwell Lad is a shokking omission

Evening ****ss - Harwell was really more of a "down tools" merchant!!

21.52 Cymro

Sorry Guiness.  A bit of you is banned!!   Guiness is the new ****ss on here.

Another one from the rank and file of old NH rogues....


Amrullah

Amrullah was voted into 92nd place in the Racing Post Top 100 Racehorses. Just behind Rondetto and just in front of Singspiel. So he defo qualifies.

Good evening blackbarn..

And to you too, Guiness. Hope you are well. Thanks for Amrullah, I had quite forgotten about the concerted campaign to get him to make the top 100 list.  Mind you not an entirely serious list - Danoli 23rd and NO Flyingbolt.

Had his own fan club, did he not ?

I'm well ty, and i trust you are the same ?

If Amrullah is there, there must be an honourable mention of the Crossett horse [smiley:crazy]

Best hosses, foxy, best hosses....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BK5PvIYEMA

Well thanks Guiness, Goodwood today, Granddaughter tomorrow, Gardening Tuesday. All's right with the world.

Foxy - no Quixall surprisingly - in fact Amrullah is the only real loon on the list.

Article by Chris Cook a couple of years ago.

Talented but temperamental, the wretched beasts that left punters in tears of frustration
 

In honour of Harchibald, the famously enigmatic hurdler who made his chasing debut this week, Claims Five turns its attention to Britain's most frustrating racehorses – the ones with bundles of ability but who refused to use it, having worked out that they don't have to. As a punter, these are the ones that turn your hair white. If you've backed a horse like that a few times, you daren't stop for fear that next time will be the day it wins at big odds. But the big day, it seems, will never come for as long as you're backing it.

As it happens, I don't believe Harchibald belongs in this company, despite his reputation. The finish to the 2005 Champion Hurdle, which he should have won but didn't, was just about the most amazing I've ever seen but I tend to blame the jockey rather than the horse. Harchibald is clearly a tricky ride but he showed battling qualities in last year's Christmas Hurdle and that is enough to disqualify him as an out-and-out dodgepot.

You wouldn't catch the horses on this list scraping home in a close finish. This collection of rogues would often cruise through the middle part of a race, looking like champions, but had terrible difficulty at either end of it. Sometimes they'd throw away their chance at the start, sometimes they'd wait for the approach to the finish before making sure something else was in front. Dangerously, most of them would throw in the odd win, just to keep people guessing.

That doesn't apply in the case of my No1 headcase. Quick enough to beat many a decent racehorse, he nevertheless went through an entire career without winning. It made the news when his tally of 74 defeats was eventually surpassed by Quixall Crossett, but Quixall Crossett would have won if he could – he was just slow, and where's the dignity in that?

Horses considered for this list who didn't quite make it include Arcadian Heights, who tried to bite his rivals as they went past and had to be fitted with a muzzle for the 1992 Goodwood Cup. Apologies also to fans of Pukka Major, Bellator, Challenger Du Luc and Dom Samourai, who didn't quite make the cut. I'm not old enough to remember Knockroe, whose antics are described at length in David Ashforth's excellent Hitting The Turf and I dare say there are other shocking omissions, which you can remind me of in the comment space below.

5 Maylane

At his peak, Maylane was barely short of top class. When he won the Group Three September Stakes at Epsom in 1997, he beat Dushyantor, who'd been second in the Coronation Cup over the same course and distance three months before. His win was all the more creditable for a slow start, when he gave away five lengths – something that was already a habit. On a bad day, Maylane would swerve so sharply left as he came out of the stalls that Michael Roberts would be unseated, a trick he pulled off twice that year. From 18 starts after his Epsom success, Maylane won two more races, largely thanks to a series of absurdly slow starts. Still, at least he would leave the stalls eventually. Tried in two hurdles races in 2002, he refused to budge when the tape rose.

4 Harwell Lad

Every dog has his day, so the saying goes, and Harwell Lad's came in the Whitbread Gold Cup of 1997, when he led home Flyer's Nap, a one-two for Dorset trainer Robert Alner. The horse had a well-established reputation for moodiness, but his amateur rider, Rupert Nutall, explained that hunting had cheered him up. "When he came to stay with me, he wouldn't go on the gallops and he'd try to buck people off," Nuttall said in the winner's enclosure at Sandown. "We took him hunting and played around with him, and it gave him something else to think about. And one day he seemed to turn around and decide that life wasn't a bitch, after all. But I promise you, if it wasn't for hunting, he'd be in a meat can by now."

Uncharitable punters at Chepstow the previous year may have felt that Harwell Lad was not worth saving when he gave up in mid-race. He was sent off at 4-6, his main rival had fallen and he had only a 10-1 shot to beat but, from the 10th fence, he refused to respond to Nuttall and trailed home a distance behind. It was the last time he was sent off favourite and he was a 14-1 shot for the Whitbread.

By the following season, hunting therapy no longer seemed to be working. Harwell Lad dropped himself out in four runs out of five and was retired. "The applause when he came back was all for his rider," said the Racing Post after his final start. But the ability was still there – on his only 'going' day of that final season, Harwell Lad was second in Ascot's Betterware Cup behind Alner's Cool Dawn, who won the Gold Cup three months later.

3 Green Green Desert

On his debut in a backend maiden at Newmarket in 1993, Green Green Desert was such an impressive winner that my learned colleague Will Hayler was moved to back him ante-post for the 2,000 Guineas. Unhappily for Will, something must have upset the horse that day because, for the rest of his career as a Flat racer, Green Green Desert seemed extremely reluctant to repeat the experience of passing the post in front, despite the efforts of his trainer, one M Stoute. The dream survived as far as the Craven Stakes, in which he started 11-4 favourite but trailed home 20 lengths behind King's Theatre.

After that, Green Green Desert started amassing an impressive run of placed efforts but it took a surprisingly long time before his resolution was called into question. Not until his 14th start did the ominous words "not run on" appear in his in-running comments. The nadir came in the ladies' race at Ascot on King George day, which Green Green Desert would have won with just an ounce of willingness. Instead, he defied the urgings of Maxine Cowdrey in the saddle, stuck his nose in the air and got run out of it close home. The Racing Post said he "would lay down" to avoid winning. Four months later, he was sent hurdling. His first season was a success but it was clear that he remained the same horse when he downed tools at Bangor the following year. The 5-4 favourite, he soon had a big lead but basically gave up under Jamie Osborne when another horse came alongside. He finally found himself as a chaser, wining seven times – but after his early run of success, he would still find a way to get beat if asked to battle. Over the course of his career, Green Green Desert was beaten at odds of 8-11, 5-4, 11-8, 2-1, 2-1, 9-4, 5-2, 5-2, 5-2, 11-4, 11-4 and 11-4. Few horses have let punters down so often.

2 Vodkatini

The form was there for all to see. On his hurdling debut, Vodkatini gave the first clue that he might not be the most straightforward character when, leading on the approach to the second-last, he ran out. In December 1985, he got off the mark over fences despite whipping round at the start and losing many lengths at Huntingdon, a trick he repeated two years later at Kempton, where he gave up 20 lengths at the start but still managed to hit the front by the third-last.

Such antics were all very jolly for as long as he kept winning, but Vodkatini left a sour taste in the mouths of many when refusing to race in the 1988 Tingle Creek. There was no refund for those who had made him the 2-1 favourite and had to watch Desert Orchid score a bloodless victory. Vodkatini rubbed it in by winning next time out and he was a fine third in that season's King George, ahead of Cavvies Clown and Charter Party.

One can easily see why punters forgave him enough to make him favourite for the two-mile handicap chase on Grand National day at the end of that season. Suckers. The tape went up but Vodkatini stayed put. That season, betting shops saw the evolution of the Vodkatini slam. Taking advantage of the fact that bookies would often accept bets on jump races up to the first fence, punters would wait to see if Josh Gifford's moody beast had started before slapping their money and betting slip on the counter. They needn't have bothered. After his King George third, Vodkatini never won another race, despite 17 attempts.

In 2005, Vodkatini returned to the track in the guise of a two-year-old with Peter Makin. Whoever shelled out 30,000 guineas for this one could have named it anything at all, but instead chose to reuse the name of one of the sport's most famous rogues. They were punished for their hubris – Vodkatini II failed to place in 12 starts.

1 Amrullah

By a Guineas winner, High Top, out of a mare by a Derby winner, Charlottown, Amrullah was bred in the purple but left his backers in the red. He failed to win in a 10-year career but, oh, the frustration for his growing band of followers, who knew he had talent – they saw him finish just four lengths behind Pearlyman, for example, when the pair were fourth and fifth at Ascot in 1986. Pearlyman won the Champion Chase for the next two years but Amrullah was still running in novice chases up to his retirement six years later, by which time he had raced 74 times without success and had a fan club – something Pearlyman may never have achieved.

"He was a crafty character, but I feel a bit sick I couldn't get him to win," said his trainer, Hampshire-based John Bridger. It wasn't quite a case of refusing to go past. Often, Amrullah would set off in front and once, in a race at Newbury, was clear at halfway before, inevitably, being reeled in. "Led 12th until approaching last, not run on," says a telling comment on another occasion, in a race won, appropriately, by a horse called Going Gets Tough.

Still, Amrullah racked up £26,000 in place prize money and was so popular that his retirement was mentioned on News At Ten. Typically, Timeform wouldn't lighten up enough to give him a valedictory essay, seeing him off with a cursory mumble of "thoroughly irresolute" and a double squiggle, used to denote "an arrant rogue or thorough jade".

In hindsight, the most significant outing in Amrullah's career may have been at Kempton on Boxing Day 1985. Later that afternoon, Wayward Lad would win his third King George, Aonoch would beat Ra Nova in the Christmas Hurdle and Charter Party would win something called the Falklands Handicap Chase. But the opener was the main event, when Amrullah's opponents included … Vodkatini. Kasparov had beaten Karpov the previous month and now here was another epic clash between two great thinkers. Vodkatini and Amrullah should have been helped by the fact that two of their three rivals failed to get round but it goes without saying that the other one, Bolands Cross, won. Naturally, Amrullah was third

Double squiggle

If you want a real nutcase of the flat look no further than Carte Diamonde.

It tried to commit suicide by impaling itself on a rail at Flemington, and then came back here and refused to race completely, instead having a nice chew of the grass. May well have been up at Newcastle

A class horse, but a complete loon

Swansea Bay

Great thread from the past.

Thanks for the resurrection sparrow   


We all get a lovely reminder of the great Anaglogs Daughter's posting qualities   

The great days of the forum, hayden.

Bregawn

Labaik
Shishkin
Mad Moose

15 years have passed and still no one has mentioned the greatest "refuse to race" horse in living memory.

When it started it inevitably WON but on so many occasions it simply didn`t want to start.

And it was a top class Hurdler in it`s own right.

Answers on a postcard please to ..............

Percy's Lass (dam of a Derby winner) Refused To Race in the 1988 Group 2 Princess Of Wales stakes at Newmarket's July meeting

Jan 8, 2025 -- 7:10PM, Cardinal Scott wrote:

Percy's Lass (dam of a Derby winner) Refused To Race in the 1988 Group 2 Princess Of Wales stakes at Newmarket's July meeting

Unfuwain who sparkled that day is my choice for best middle distance nag that never won a Group 1 of last 50 years

I see Percy's Lass was mentioned earlier but I added more detail so forgive me.

Australians would nominate Chautauqua

Was it Browns Gazette Mac     

No Hayden. It used to do it with alarming regularity. I will refrain from naming it just now. You will definitely remember it.

I may be wrong but I think it was first horse to be banned because of it. Was rated 152 over hurdles at it`s peak. After being banned it ran in point to points but also wouldn`t start. Took a great dislike to the game.

In the meantime here are a few other main protagonists.

bsequent races, including in point-to-points, and he was banned in January 1981.

Mad Moose refused to race on five occasions, his reluctance to race and being pulled up before the first in the 2013 Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown not counting among them. On his day, he was a useful performer who won six races over jumps, and even made a winning debut on the Flat at the age of nine in an attempt to rekindle his enthusiasm. That didn’t last long though and he refused to race two outings later. After the Tingle Creek, he was banned from racing, but the authorities relented to allow him back at Cheltenham a year later; he refused to race again, and that was it.

Knockroe was a very smart but enigmatic individual, whose ‘galloping companion’ was his trainer’s three-and-a-half-litre Rover as he was kept away from other horses. He gave signs of temperament in his first season as a three-year-old in 1971. He won five races that year but should have made it six when, after virtually refusing to race until halfway, he made up an enormous amount of ground before hanging badly left and finishing second (demoted to third) in the Morland Brewery Trophy at Newbury. He refused to race in the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket the following year, but also put up some good performances to win the Jockey Club Stakes, the Yorkshire Cup, the Cumberland Lodge Stakes and the St Simon Stakes.

His temperament again threatened to get the better of him in 1973. The Weetabix Wildlife Handicap over a mile and a half at Epsom in June was to be his last as he had shown little interest in his four previous outings that year, including when virtually refusing to race on his latest appearance. Well, Knockroe certainly did show an interest, winning in impressive fashion at 20/1 and in the process breaking the thirty-seven-year-old course record previously held by Mahmoud. As with Zucchero, the turns and gradients at Epsom had rekindled the waning enthusiasm of a good horse. Knockroe followed up at Brighton later the same month, but in doing so he received a rap to a joint and he missed the next two seasons. However, he showed no interest in three races in 1976 and was retired after being injured at Redcar.

Over the jumps, punters kept their bets back until the last possible moment in races that involved Vodkatini. There was a clue to his future when he ran out at the second-last when in the lead on his debut in 1982/3, but he progressed into a high-class chaser when transferred to Josh Gifford’s stable, winning the Grand Annual Challenge Cup Handicap at Cheltenham in 1987/8. However, his temperament worsened and despite regularly being led in at the start it was always doubtful whether he would set off or not. On two of the occasions that he refused to race he was a heavily-backed favourite in the Tingle Creek Handicap (won by Desert Orchid) at Sandown and the Captain Morgan Aintree Handicap in 1988/9. He was rated $$ in his last two seasons, though, and his ability to finish a race became a rarity as his form figures portray: R4-UUPPP.

I`m off to the pub. So here is the horse that immediately sprung to my mind about horses refusing to race:

Levaramoss. Rated 152$ at his peak, Levaramoss won the Free Handicap at Chepstow and the Salmon Spray Hurdle at Fontwell in 1977/8. However, he twice refused to race, including in the New Year’s Day Hurdle at Windsor, and even a change of stable made no difference – he was thoroughly unco-operative in all his subsequent races, including in point-to-points, and he was banned from racing in January 1981.

Remember Knockroe pretty well , i brought up the name on page 1

Who could forget Knockroe with his temperament.

gold cup winner bregawn refused to race in the kerry national when fav. came out 2 days later and won the slan abhaile for
paddy mullins.