Your Favourite Horses who weren't champions?

kabast

kabcast even

bronze runner... with his mad action,legs everywhere
disneyland...the all weather hurdle specialist...mrs p and joe tuite
little polvier
yahooooooooo
ten plus
espy no.1
wonderman
voyage sans retour one of my saddest days in racing.myself and tony dobbin waiting in vain   at bangor stables after racing in the hope that we could save this great horse after he fell with mark dwyer when winning.our hopes were dashed when a severe fracture of shoulder was diagnosed.u all know wat followed.it stays with u forever.20 years on and i still think about that day.

soaked
quito
premio loco (although he is pretty good)

Of those not already mentioned,Lefrak City and Mr Frisk.

Of those mentioned,Floyd would be my no.1.

That's correct Pauli, some achievement to win twice in one festival, let alone when it was only 3 day festival.
As I mentioned the owner, course bookmaker Barney Naughton, was s neighbour of mine. His success was what got me interested in racing so I know a fair bit about his horse's. Barney also provided E O'Grady with his first Cheltenham winner Mr Midlands in the 1974 National Hunt Cup, ridden by then amateur Mouse Morris
Also Alan Potts bought Sizing Europe from Barney's grand-nephew's! And Barney's family are still a regular sight on Irish racecoures although no longer bookmaking

And on the flat,another poster recorded 2 old favourites of mine, Spring Cabbage and Le Garcon d'Or,both regulars at Lanark.

Anyone remember Ryoanji?   circa 1977

01 Apr 12 20:44
Joined:
Date Joined: 23 Jan 06
| Topic/replies: 8,644 | Blogger: sixtwosix's blog
New Halen

New Halen was my all time favourite, he was actually a maiden after 39 races flat and jumps
a complete nutter tbh ,but something somewhere clicked ,many happy memories of spending winnings
from him ,when he was retired he became mr james his trainers stable mount ,he died peacefully
aged 21 ,i managed to contact his owner a few months back ,she said she would forward me some pics of him
still waiting but hoefully when she gets sorted she will

would like to also add spartan missile shirley in the right hands he would have been a champion

suluk on the all weather,chaapman new how to work the game

A few people on here have mentioned Floyd who was a progressive, tearaway 2M handicap hurdler in his early days (mid 80's) that'd win his races a long way from home.

If however, they were close enough, Floyd would curl up in a ball like a coward, and fold like a cheap suit!

It used to piss me off, seeing how the field seemed to hand him races, and I wasn't a fan of the horse at all!

THEN (I don't know where from) he re-found his gonads and turned into a brawler that'd fight tooth & nail, and keep finding for pressure.

Amazingly, he was even able to keep up the gallop over 3M, AND still find more at the end.

I don't think I've ever seen another horse like him (in well over 30 years) that totally won me over (without any financial benefit) from almost hating him, to having so much admiration and roaring him on, even against MY selections!

Any trip, any ground - it didn't matter to Floyd.

ubedizzy used to be trained by p,rohan and stevie nessbit,nessbitt was my mates uncle and used to go to the stables near ripon,
remember move off taking on gunner b in the zetland gold cup before gunner b went onto better things when trained by geoff lewis,
i,ll throw in the grey jellaby used to love backing horses ridden  by brian taylor,i,m a driver trained by dickenson was the fastest,flatest jumper of a fence ive seen, but because of this fell a few times

Claude Monet, decent flat horse who went onto jump fences.
Bishops Yarn
Mr Point
Berlin - an early rival of Desert Orchid

Hypnosis was another fav, went off like the clappers and tried to hold on.

Elsworth i think?

1st time poster, Ubedizzy was an asolute nutcase of a horse, their is an
amazing picture of him hanging in newmarket, he has his lad on the ground
and he's trying to savage him, and that was in the winners enclosure and the race.

Father Delaney
Venture To Cognac
The Pilgarlic
Brondesbury
The Drunken Duck
Provideo
Churchtown Boy.

Also agree with whoever said Peaty Sandy, great old campaigner he was.

wont have a word said against him,won at a huge price 25,s i think for me once,a true gentlemen, , yeh read and heard all the tales of him being a looney

Some of my favourite ladies

Milligram
Midway Lady
Sonic Lady
Lochsong
Marling
Mysilv
Lady Rebecca
Cape Verdi
Lady Carla

Kilkenny.....brought many a tear to my eyes when he constantly over came his price to land southwell middle distance races.

for me my second fav horse of all time

just behind frankel and just ahead of danedream

Couple of right old rogues here, but very enjoyable when the decided they wanted to run.

Levaramoss & Vodkatini. 50/50 as to whether they would decide to jump off, but when they did they could hold their own against some decent opposition.

Slippy...you remember Brondesbury too....a speed ball trained by the king of 2yr old sprinters in those days...Bill O'Gorman

Indeed I do koikeeper, I'm far far older than I look

Tony Ives on board Brondesbury, catch me if you can ...

cashew king
whispering steel
strong promise
southerly buster
skipping tim
lastofthebunch
comandante
cavvies clown
rinus
gainsay
boraceva
brown winsdor
tactico
danny harold
danny connors
barney o neill
sabin du loir
run for free

Ima_mazed asked me to post his favs:

Ballinger Ridge
Top Cees
Rafferty Rules

I loved Silver Socks, he was a little star.

I was completely heartbroken when I saw him break his leg in a Chase at Wetherby.

RIP Silver Socks

Wasn't Brondesbury the one who needed a Group 1 Three furlong fixture adding to Royal Ascot ?

brevity
dato star
rhinestone cowboy
honey come back m hourigan
stanerra
yer man

Theatrical Charmer - easiest maiden winner i've ever seen
Salse  - as consistent as they come
Crazy Horse - so quirky but had some engine

Here's a teaser for the old timers that remember Brondesbury...where did he meet his first defeat, and who was it to?

Yes, sixtwosix.

Brondesbury a very quick, but barely 5 furlong, 2-yr-old.

He flew down the hill at Epsom, at the Derby meeting - and was sent to America because of his 'early pace'.

Brondesbury's first defeat came at Ascot when he was beaten by Horage.

Wasn't horage a top 2yo too, seem to remember p.eddery riding it, did
matt mccormick train it

A fair few speedy 2yos around that era running up sequences,Prescott was a dab hand as was O'Gorman.Whatever happened to Emma O'Gorman? Vaguely remember one called (I think) Anitas Prince that was speedy and dont forget Soba who was bought out of a field for £500 and sold to Sheikh Mo for a million.

W/D Pauli - The Garter Stakes if I remember correctly

That was supposed to be a

Hard to imagine Dandy Nichols riding back then when you see him now.

It was the Garter Stakes Schaden.  Horage beat him 5 lengths that day.  Brondesbury was about 4 or 5 lengths clear around halfway but Horage swept by him.  No disgrace as Horage went on to take the Coventry Stakes under Pat Eddery and Brondesbury won the Great Surrey Stakes on Derby Day before landing the Norfolk at Royal Ascot.

a grand old chaser called tarbank was my favourite,trained by the greatest and ridden by kevin mooney,had a dislike for open ditches but a big bull of a horse and followed him all the tme.great topic and brilliant to read about everybodies favourite and can remember most

They had similar horse in ten plus

Fulke had two good hurdlers, too -

In Kirriemuir and Sempervivum.

By the way motley01 you are correct McCormack did train Horage.

Ironically Quixall had more column inches in non racing newspapers than all the horses mentioned lumped together.

Does anyone remember gay george, think that may have been F. Walwyn, never seen
a horse as quick over a hurdle, maybe Bill Smith rode it, and one of Piman's
called bueche giroud, backed it when it won either a hennessy, or the massey ferguson
at chelts, although i could be wrong

Motley - The Duke Of Devonshire owned the fast ground loving Gay George, and Beuche Giorod won one of the big pre-Xmas chases at Cheltenham...they change the names every year, but you may well be right with the Massey Ferguson Gold Cup.

Yeh your right schadenfreude, ta

moment of truth
greenheart
barry's gamble
mistertopogigio
how's yer father
barathea

all old favs

my favourite of all was giants causeway

Vorvados, Chaumiere, Socks Up, Absalom, Jupiter Island, Just James...Silky Sullivan...

a few from THE DUKE
bigsun
another coral
bankers gossip
carobee
relkeel
moorcroft boy
mulligan

horses back in the day were named very well i always thought..not like these days...

I remember Bueche Giorod motley01.  He made all to win the Massey Ferguson at Cheltenham in 1980 beating Lord Greystoke and Bachelors Hall.

Jesus that's another two Pauli, Bachelors Hall I used to follow that over
cliff, I was a young boy then, and lord greystoke, I know bachelors was Cundell,
riddem by M o'halloran, was greystoke G. Richards by any chance. Good thread gents
a proper thread for once.

Yes Lord Greystoke was trained by Gordon Richards motley01.  He was a useful chaser on his day and won the Cathcart at the 1981 Festival.  He stayed 2m 4f really well but I always thought he was a better horse on soft ground over 2 miles.

Here's an amazing/extrordiary race, i have never witnessed one like it, doncaster
in the 80s i think, one trained by A. Stevenson, don't know who rode it, but it was
absolutely tailed off turning into the straight, picked up the snaff and just flew, won
going away. Initials R.O. if in running was available then, 1000000000/1 shot, love to
see it again, if anyone could find the link, only downside seem to remember GG was commentating
But then again it could of been worse, tommo could have called it.

The race was at Doncaster in February 1983 motley01.  It was the Ladbrokes Novices Handicap Hurdle Final won by Run Over, trained by W.A. Stephenson and ridden by Ridley Lamb.  Unbelievable at the time and still is today:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti3lQLU73jU

Thanks Pauli that's class, today's technology eh, amazing how memory fades, would
off haid £10k on gg calling, was it Rory Gilbert or John penny, fook me 29 years and
tommo was still as sychophantic and patronising as ever, great to hear commentries from then,
and not the personlised droning, and over commentating, and lingusticly inflated **** we get today
They seemed detatched the commentators back in the day, they let you see what was going on.
But that's for another thread maybe.Ta

Run Over also won a race at Market Rasen in November 1982 in similar fashion.

Night Nurse beat Bueche Giorod on his comeback from being pin-fired at Doncaster @ 14-1,Red Alligator Hcp chase I think.

You're right fts.  The race was at Doncaster and Night Nurse carried top weight and slammed a useful field.  I'd forgotten about that - Night Nurse had been off over a year I think.

no champions allowed

Anybody here remember a horse called Traloch (sp?)? He won a few races in the 80's. He was an entire horse and always came from way off the pace. I remember backing him in Cheltenham, not the festival, and Sandown (i think).
If my memory serves me right he was owned by a syndicate from Derbyshire. They bought him for penny's and he was blind in one eye.
I have yet to thank JJ O'Neil for thinking he had a train under him and gave him a stinker of a ride about 40 lengths off the pace and finished 2nd. Cost me a what was at the time a small fortune!

You've got me stumped on that one MrWilts.

I remember a horse called traloch, but I think it was spelled toirbhalbeach, which was bizarrly pronounced
Traloch, it was obviously irish, was an entire, think it was trained by p.o connor. although i would not put
money on it.

You may be right motley01.  I vaguely remember a horse spelt like that but don't ask me to pronounce it!

Yeh me neither Pauli, not to fooking sure about the spelling either, but I do
remember a little black entire always got miles behind, it's the name that sparked,
altough pronounced traloch, it was spelt entirely different, like lean ar aghraigh
or lean on the arga, apologies to our Irish friends

Yeh me neither Pauli, not to fooking sure about the spelling either, but I do
remember a little black entire always got miles behind, it's the name that sparked,
altough pronounced traloch, it was spelt entirely different, like lean ar aghraigh
or lean on the arga, apologies to our Irish friends

That's the one Motley

I think your spelling of toirbhalbeach is fairly close too. He would have had some in running price nowadays!

just switched on and brilliant motley with that entire horse,going back to my post about the greatest and his horses ten plus would have won the gold cup of course and great to read that so many of his not top draw horses were well liked any one remember kilbritain castle?

I just hd a quick read of the thread and am a bit surprised none of the oldimers has mentionaed that grand old horse The Tsarevich.

Yeh cinkno as i said earlier great thread brings back memories, kilbritain castle was that
a cheshnut horse went from front jumped brilliant, was it walwyn, similar type of horse Burnt oak
trained by the duke i think, from the front as well, if i remember correctly

Walwyn again,better right handed I think.Ten Plus who knows where it could have gone? For those who love tight finishes,remember Lettoch, Diamond Edge and I think Special Cargo having a buckle in the Whitbread?

Great race ph, didnt Bill Smith get special cargo up on the line, photo finish
took an age, lettoch/dckinson, diamond edge stablemate, did he have top weight diamond

not sure if d/h for places but it was an epic, how the season should end IMO.

Great effort with the spelling motley, I think it's Toirdhealbhach.

Don't know who trained it, but you're also spot on with the P O'Connor connection. Tralochs owner also had Three Of Diamonds with Martin Pipe, and P O'Connor rode him to finsh 7th in 82 National. The owner, a Mr Harpur-Crewe, also had Oer The Border in the 83 National, but he got rid of O'Connor at the chair.

My memory of Kilbrittain Castle was that he was great round Sandown, I remember coming from absolutely miles back to win there on one occasion.

Fabulous there you go, memory is funny thing I always thought kc went from the front.
was Oer the border trained up north, P. Calver perchance

I can't remember if he always ran like that, but on that day he really did come from a mile back. He was one of those horses who seemed to run every week.

Oer The Border was trained by O'Connor, so no doubt he trained Traloch too.

Toirdhealbhach is a name in irish TURLOUGH OR TEARLACH in scotsgaelic...me been a paddy and all..

Quito

The Grey Monk (never saw him race just remember hearing the name blasting from inside the bookies before I was old enough to try and get in

Untold
Brig Chop
Maamur
Monkerhostin
Duncan Idaho

Great memories of that Whitbread in 1984 ph.  Plundering and Lettoch were disputing the lead over the last, Diamond Edge was back in 3rd and Special Cargo in 4th.  I'm pretty sure Ashley House ran in that race for Dickinson as well.

think it was that year or maybe a year on when Francome nursed Burrough Hill Lad around in the Hennessy under a stopping weight.1984 ffs seems a lifetime ago,I was nearly legal as regards punting being 17,however there was none of that Prove 21 bollox around and we can happily go and punt in the smokey atmosphere with board markers and Extel.

Burrough Hill Lad won the Hennessy in 1984 ridden by Francome who also won the race in 1983 on Fred Winter's Brown Chamberlin.  I'll never forget that Hennessy ph, Burrough Hill Lad carried 12st that day and became the first horse to win the race under that weight or more since Arkle in 1965.  He thrashed Canny Danny and Gaye Chance and a number of other good horses including Drumlargan and the promising Everett.

I had £40 around 7/2 and £2 r/f with the 2nd. A good day for a young A level student esp. after chucking a score at the Gold Cup ante post not knowing JF was claimed by Winter and Phil Tuck would be on, many bad days since (and some decent ones as well) but its been a game and a half.

slight confusion there,the AP bet was on BHL after JF won on Brown Chamberlin.I followed BHL through thick and thin and can remember thinking 12st wasn't such a big deal being young and naive and £40 was a lot of money to me then.You have to learn the game eh? Denmans weight carrying actually meant more to me aesthetically,you finally get the game after serving your time,highs and lows and appraciate class and guts at the top level.

AMHARULLA Trained by JOHN THORNE 100 PLUS runs never won MY number SQUIGGLE in Timeform but for me did his best,

I know exactly what you mean ph.  I used to follow Sea Pigeon on the flat and over hurdles and had some great days, 2 Chester Cups and 2 Champion Hurdles and a host of other wins.  However, on Ebor day in 1979 unlike you I allowed the fact that Sea Pigeon was carrying 10st to influence me and I didn't back him.  Needless to say he won beating Donegal Prince in a photo.  The race wasn't televised that day due to a TV strike so I had to listen to it in the local bookies which was packed out.  I was both delighted and gutted that he won - delighted for my favourite horse of all time but gutted that I didn't back him at 18-1.  He remains the only horse to win the Ebor under 10st which puts his achievement into perspective.  I think if he could have he would have phoned me up and gave me a right b0llocking for daring to doubt him.

Bertie Wooster

Soba
Rapid Lad
Champion The Wonder Horse

Blue Dolphin and Laffy,both trained by Peter Cazalet in the late 50s early 60s,they were nothing special but still have fond memories of them winning round Lingfield and Hurst Park.

patsyone
04 Apr 12 11:30
Joined:
06 Jan 02
| Topic/replies: 615 | Blogger: patsyone's blog
AMHARULLA Trained by JOHN THORNE 100 PLUS runs never won MY number SQUIGGLE in Timeform but for me did his best,


Sorry was not trained by John Thorne,think it was John Bridger.

Many of these average horses from yesteryear mentioned were followed with a keen ear (commentaries) and reading about them in the Sporting Life/Chronicle, as TV coverage was nothing like it is today, so the mediocre performers like Toirdealbhach didn't appear on TV too much.

I remember being baffled (when standing in the bookies) hearing in commentary 'Traylock' and 'my horse' was bang there in contention!

I recall him having a string of 3rd & 4th placings to his name - am I dreaming about 10 or 12?

As for Kilbrittain Castle...he popped up on TV quite a bit as he seemed to run at every Sandown meeting, which were often covered.
I have a recollection that Pauli is right about him being a light year behind in one race at Sandown, and coming through to win from an impossible position, though I'm sure he was an habitual front-running 2M chaser, as Motley suspects.

It's very difficult to remember the colours of the supporting cast that rarely made the TV, and I have a vague memory that Toirdealbhach sported light blue colours (help anyone ) and Kilbrittain Castle had a brown checked jacket, though I've forgotten whether it was with blue or orange!

think it was spelt AMRULLAH

Schad, Trayloch was light blue with black cap, with tassle on cap.

Kilbrittain Castle was Brown, yellow collar & cuffs, and cap. These colours were worn by the likes of Ten Of Spades, Leckie, and Beau Bob.

Barona was another who sported these colours of K Castle, should have said they were Bill Whitbreads.

Thanks Fab - I've forgotten the owner of Kilbrittain Castle but now you mention those colours, I should remember the owner's name.

Glad I remembered the light blue of Toirdealbhach

Whitbread...of course!

just come in motley,the unsung hero was kevin mooney who got special cargo up in one of the greatest races of all time for the greatest and the queen mother and on a sad note for my pocketbrown chamberlin went wrong on the run in when burrough hill lad won his gold cup even though probably wouldnt have won,still brill to read all new names of favourites

Bog Trotter
Fuzzy Duck &
Strangely Brown


good shout Fenway for Bertie Wooster.

Another couple for mix, grey salute, vicario di bray, scheppes gold trophy
late 80s. I was working for an insurance company, down in a place called borough,
in london town, done my fookin hills course there as well. Anyway It's Saturday,
city on Saturday's for anyone's who's never worked there, ghost town. I'm all over this vicario,
i'm having my biggest bet on this, it's just slaughterd celtic shot for f--k sake, it's chucked
in a h/cap no weight, cant be beat this, bookies is a billys as well. I'll show em i can punt.
I'd worked out I got £210 for the saturday, stuck £90 to that, I think I nicked 4/6.
Valuable lesson learned, never trust heavy grnd form in a conditions race at places like haddock,
going into good ground on a flat track like newbury.
Walked out of that shop with my head on the floor, how the f--k did that not win.
Got back to the office late, the boss you was a c u next tuesday anyway, worked out where I was
got the boot 2 weeks later. I never ever bet an odds on shot again.

You've jogged my memory on that race motley01.  Think it was 1989.  I remember Vicario De Bray was about 2's on.  It was only a small field by Tote Gold Trophy standards as he'd scared off most of the opposition - he looked a banker but as you say Grey Salute beat him.  Ridden by Dunwoody and trained by John Jenkins.