Greatest NH Mares

very hard to find any better than those 2

Jimnast...now I happen to know you could reel off a few of the supporting cast

lady rebecca

RDS - now there's a definite one for the second tier...along with Quevega.

Flakey Dove

caroles legacy

La Landiere, Fiddling the Facts, Feathard Lady (how good might she have been?), Solerina, L'Aventure, Lady Cricket, Mysilv to name but a few....been some cracking good mares over the years.

Kerstin. Won Cheltenham Gold Cup with no mares allowance (unlike Dawn Run, who almost certainly would have been beaten without her allowance).

Kerstibn also won the Hennessy with 11-10.

Another of my favourites which is worth mentioning, particularly this week, was Josh Gifford's, Brief Gale

Lesley Ann & Ebony Jane. Blazing Tempo could be good too.

i dont remember kirsten although i had many happy festivals drinking before racing in the kirsten bar,all the others mentioned above were all nice horses but not in the leauge of anaglogs or dawn run.

Flakey Dove is on my long shortlist but I wouldn't rate Carole's Legacy in such exalted company - sorry Roo

the ill fated french ballerina looked very good when winning the supreme novice hurdle.

Frigate. Came 2nd 3 times in the Grand National. Then won it at the 6th attempt. Described as "15.3 hands of wire and whipcord".

Jezebel - a couple of excellent mares in your list, and I'm embarrassed to say I forgot about Feathard Lady

like a buttterfly grade 1 bumper, hurdle and chase winner im nearly sure

For the old-timers...Glencaraig Lady was a Gold Cup winner in the early 70's, but a bit before my time.

A few others that made the cut on my list were;
Maid Of Money
Opera Hat
Dubacilla
Mysilv

...and a couple of others that were really decent French hurdlers who never really made the anticipated progress were Bilboa & Snow Drop.

PS - Voler La Vedette isn't too shabby either.

Quevega
Princesse D'Anjou
Grivette
La Segnora

None of those are too shabby!

Princesse - do you perchance chomp on the legs of our batrachian friends?

OK then...in English...are you French?

Flying Wild - the only horse to beat Arkle twice.

Non Monsieur Mongous - though they have had some cracking mares over the years, probably due to the better program for fillies and mares IMO. 

Formosa Joana Has and Wutzeline aren't too shabby either

Ged - I didn't know that, and more so...I didn't know Flying Wild was a mare!

One was a bit sneaky. Arkle was 4th in a maiden bumper at Leopardstown on Boxing Day 1961. She was 3rd, giving him 9lb, being a year older. Mr H de Bromhead rode one of the unplaced horses.

Fiddling the facts; dubacilla; mysilv

Mrs Muck was half decent and McManus / Jonjo / McCoy had a pretty decent mare only a couple of seasons ago (name escapes me but the horse is now retired).

GG - are you thinking of Like A Butterfly?

Another half decent mare was Victor Chandler winner Function Dream.

How many of these mares have produced worthwhile offspring?
Wicked Crack is the dam of Cue Card but she wasn't in the same class as everything else listed on this thread.

Greenogue Princess

Refinement? Carried Tabor colours though

Whiteoak was useful too.

Thanks Hugh - it was Refinement I was thinking of.

Cailin Alainn was a decent mare on her day too - French Ballerina is another though whether either is a "great" is highly debatable.

PD - I'd never even heard of those last two Froggies your mentioned earlier.

As for the 'great' epithet...probably ONLY Dawn Run really deserves that.

Nevertheless, I thought it was an interesting topic and there'd be a few I'd forgotten about like Feathard Lady.

There are always so many 'what-ifs' in this game

Marello (Reveley) was okay and Rose Ravine (Walwyn) was very good.

Gerry - Rose Ravine is another that got through my net, but that's understandable as I backed Crimson Embers 12/1 in a yank with Kathie's Lad 7/1 & See You Then 16/1!

That was my only visit to The Festival and the journey home was ugly at best

Not surprising that you've tried to banish all memories of Rose Ravine then! Absolute travesty that she kept it.

Crimson Embers was the first dual winner taking the title for the first time in 1982 and then regaining it four years later, both times ridden by regular partner Stuart Shilston. However it probably should have been three wins as in 1985 Crimson Embers was badly hampered on the run-in by Rose Ravine. There was no objection as both horses were in the same ownership. After a prolonged inquiry the local stewards let the result stand but the Disciplinary Committee of the Jockey Club made it clear that Crimson Embers should have been promoted to first place although at the time they didn't have the power to enforce that judgement.

Gerry - 1985 and it cost me about £380 and on the coach home, I only had enough for a packet of cut price apple pies from a service station, and I couldn't afford a drink!

Horrible day (didn't enjoy the Festival 'experience' at all (and I haven't been since) horrible result (like something from a rag-arsed dictatorship) and compounded by the journey home with empty pockets when I should've been celebrating!

Crimson Embers was 1/5 to get the race and it remains to this day the most unjust 'result' I've EVER seen, despite the fact that there was NO CONTACT AT ALL!

PS - you know I'm a moaning fcuker and I've had a few other disqualifications affect L15 bets BIG TIME as well!

Kabil at Newcastle around 1994 cost me FOUR WINNERS!

The only reason there was no objection in the '85 stayers hurdle, was to gain Rose Ravine "black type"

Dawn Run first ,the rest nowhere!

SF - even if there wasn't officially an objection (much as I hate to admit it, but it's understandable) am I right in assuming there was at least a stewards' enquiry?

I am certain that Crimson Embers was 1/5 on course to be promoted, so that would suggest an enquiry.

Whatever the case...what an utterly rancid decision they came to in their 'wisdom'

I think Rose Ravine was around 5/1 fav & Crimson Embers 12/1 or 14/1, so it's a result that suited the vast majority, and losers like me carried the can, even though I was only a 25p E/W yankee punter - come to think of it...I think even with such little stakes it cost me a lot more than £380!

That was a decent wedge more than a quarter of a century ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7cwkCrjr5Y


This girl wasn't bad - Glencaraig Lady

Soz .... just noticed Hugh already mentioned her.

Dawn Run did very well in receipt of 5 pounds to Wayward Lad , not really the point of a championship race imo.

crimson embers i believe she won the stayers hurdle twice?

another post from someone who couldn't be bothered to read the entire thread -  Saw Flying Wild from ged though. Good call, and Height of Fashion should be in if not already.

Does anyone remeber Glen Caraigh Lady. Not a bad mare ran in top chases for a few seasons. Hope my spelling is correct. An Irish mare.

Councillor - we are all at it now - see the post hidden away from 45 minutes ago.

Function Dream mentioned earlier - mother of Captain Chris.

Ive been off work on the sick, and rather than watch Jeremy Kyle watched old Grand Nationals instead!

In 1976 and 1977, Eyecatcher was placed behind Red Rum and i believe she was a mare (ridden by Brian Fletcher).

I was only born in 74 so have no idea on how good she was otherwise.

Also, I think POS said that Spanish Steps or Rondetto had emulated their mother by being placed in the National too. Would appreciate correction / details as applicable

If the Gold Cup and National were 5 miles long think Dubacilla wouldve done a Golden Miller!!

Al, Spanish Steps mum was Tiberetta, who was placed a couple of times in the 50's.

Cheers Fab.

The ground at Aintree was far too quick for Dubacilla under a heavy weight. She was always struggling to go with the pace , yet managed to take second place near the finish. On any version of soft ground that year she would have been an easy winner imo.

I didn't mean she finished second , she faded to fourth of course.
Unfortunate to be around at the same time as Master Oats who was even better in dreadful ground.

Think she was 2nd in the GC, 4th in the GN.

Remember Deano hugging her as if she'd won it after the Gold Cup - nice sight

Tiberetta (dam of Spanish Steps) finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the Grand National in the late 50s. (Spanish Steps finished 4-4-3, so didn't quite match his mum's record in the race, though he did win the Hennessy as a 6yo carrying 11-8, and was placed in the Gold Cup, so he was classier than his mum). Tiberetta won 11 chases all told, including a Becher Chase, and a Grand Sefton, so she was some jumper. She was also 2nd 17 times, and hardly made a mistake in over 50 chases. She produced several other horses who won several chases, including Trajan (8 chase wins), Quintus (4), and Lictor, who won a Topham.

Tiberetta's full sister Tiberina herself won a couple of chases, and produced, amongst others, San Angelo, who won 10 chases.

Their half-sister, French Colleen, produced Royal Relief, who won 2 champion chases, and ran in the race about 8 times.


The dam who produced all 3 mares was Drumrora. All were owned by Edward Courage, who bred, owned, and trained just about all those mentioned above.

Nice one Ged.