HUNTER CHASERS

Too many to mention..

Flying Ace, Eliogarty, Rushing Wild, Grittar...loads more

I backed one in the National once, might have been Spartan Missile?

Could have been Grittar..

Did Venture To Cognac later race in Hunters or am I getting mixed up?

I'm sure it did.

Any info on Credit Call and race record?

Arthur Stephenson, a blast from the past, unmistakable in his sheepskin..

What was that other very good Hunter that Chris Collins owned? I can`t remember it`s name but would if I seen it.

Arthur was a great trainer. He had so many good horses. I remember betting The Grey Bomber @ 50/1 e/w ante post for the Triumph. Unbeaten over timber. It was a sad day when he got electrocuted.

I can`t remember W A wearing a sheepskin but I`ll take your word on it. When I see a sheepskin I always get reminded of The Duke.

I'm sure he wore one as well as nicholson , maybe I'm getting mixed up lol

The grey Bomber was with Denys smith ... electrocuted on the gallops I think

I always remember W A in trench coat and flat cap but it was a long time ago, lol.

You are 100% right koi, Denys Smith trained TGB. Chris Grant connection mixing me up. It was in a field, a Pylon came down in high winds.

Venture To Cognac came straight to my mind, that horse would clear a fence like none other.

Bill Love, owned the 1982 Triumph Hurdle favourite The Grey Bomber! Trained by Denys Smith and ridden by Chris Grant, Bomber was a bold jumping grey who had such a wonderful nature but who was devastatingly electrocuted in a freak accident at home before his full potential was reached.

Earl's Brig and Fortina's Express

I can't remember if they did hunter chasing but were great favs of mine,

and of Arthur Stephenson's ones, Blazing Walker and The Thinker were favourites !

Castle Mane

John Jenkins took over Art's yard in Royston, which was half a mile from me when I lived in Hertfordshire.

I think The Grey Bomber would have turned out to be something special..

Yes slippy, I thought he did race in Hunters. Green and Orange colours halved I think? Owned by the Sherwoods and ridden by Oliver? Trained by Winter. I think Midnight Court later raced in Hunters too.

who remembers Wing and a Prayer of John Jenkins's,

he started setting fastest 50s etc just before Pipe burst onto the scene !

Didnt Midnight Court end up in Hunter Chases, Fred Winter certainly had some good ones
Observe was another off the top of my head

W Six Times
Fifty Dollars More

Yes, N-east

I said that in post prior to yours, lol.

Fishman will say Coneygree sometime soon..

Battle Royal 4842945

Probably a better jumper than Coneygree tbh..

Double Silk was a good hunter,

and another one of Arfur's needs mentioning,

Durham Edition !

Hilbirio

Timmies Battle

Stephen's Society

CHELTENHAM FOXHUNTERS CHASE

1946    Iloilo
1947    Lucky Purchase
1948    State Control       
1950    Greenwood
1951    Halloween
1952    Parasol II
1953    Dunboy II (DH)
        Merry (DH)
1954    Happymint
1956    The Callant
1957    The Callant
1958    Whinstone Hill
1959    Some Baby
1960    Whinstone Hill
1961    College Master
1962    College Master
1963    Grand Morn II
1964    Freddie
1965    Woodside Terrace
1966    Straight Lady
1967    Mulbarton
1968    Bright Beach
1969    Queens Guide
1970    Highworth
1971    Hope Again
1972    Credit Call
1973    Bullocks Horn
1974    Corrie Burn
1975    Real Rascal
1976    False Note
1977    Long Lane
1978    Timmie's Battle
1979    Spartan Missile
1980    Rolls Rambler
1981    Grittar
1982    The Drunken Duck
1983    Eliogarty
1984    Venture to Cognac
1985    Elmboy
1986    Attitude Adjuster
1987    Observe
1988    Certain Light
1989    Three Counties
1990    Call Collect
1991    Lovely Citizen
1992    Rushing Wild
1993    Double Silk
1994    Double Silk
1995    Fantus
1996    Elegant Lord
1997    Fantus
1998    Earthmover
1999    Castle Mane
2000    Cavalero
2002    Last Option
2003    Kingscliff
2004    Earthmover
2005    Sleeping Night
2006    Whyso Mayo
2007    Drombeag
2008    Amicelli
2009    Cappa Bleu
2010    Baby Run
2011    Zemsky
2012    Salsify
2013    Salsify
2014    Tammys Hill
2015    On The Fringe

that's fact it

Stephen`s Society that was the one I was trying to remember. W A Stephenson.

Thanks g2d!

Sea Knight was another goodun of his..

Tartan Snow winning the Aintree Foxhunters @ 100/1

C'mon Skins.......

You got them for the big one too? I know you bet them for division. Green Bay are there for the taking.

Did you see that finish last night Lucky I couldn`t reach my revolver

About as bad as that one then. Seahawks play that way again they won't be going any further.

100/1 btw.

Good luck tonight mate!

Ta

rolls rambler, fred winters,  the druncken duck   ridden  by born munroe wilson  , beating honourable man  ridden by someone called fowler

I`ll shout them home for you as I`ve done nowt after last night. Good night g2d - I`m off to pub to watch game! Just down the road.

Oliver Carter's Otter Way, won the Whitbread 1976.

I don't know what Timeform's ratings would show but at a guess Earl's Brig must be top rated or very near. Finished third in a decent Gold Cup.

Mr Mellors
Clonmellon

are 2 I'll never forget, as I knew Lucy King/Gibbons back then. Long time ago, lost touch with her soon after she got married, and stopped riding

Baulking Green I think that was a good one, I think it won a big end of season hunters race at Stratford many moons ago. cheers.

the greenall brothers...johnny and peter..the former was very agricultural in style..had some good horses to ride though

stewarty Earl's Brig was a prolific winner great horse

What a Myth 69 gold cup winner before 3 wins in HC

I remember a hunter called Sheer Jest, used to mop up a lot of races.  Always travelled like a Dream

Looking at some of those names and mightymac's list of Foxhunter Chase winners,think Long Run 2016 might fit in nicely.

feels a bit like cheating going the other way round like they did with Neptune Collange,

being a hunter chaser and improving enough to compete at higher sits a lot better than turning a top class chaser into a hunter imo

They're all God's creatures

The one that sticks in my mind was the best Hunter Chaser around when I came into racing.  Freddie seemed to carry Alan McTaggart around Kelso every other week and I believe was unbeaten in Hunter Chases.  He was entered for the 1965 Grand National where Pat McCarron took over and eventually finished second to Jay Trump.

Freddie won the Cheltenham Foxhunters an hour before Arkle beat Mill House in the '64 Gold Cup. His form figures on the racecard were 1111-11 - ridden by Alan Mactaggart. His owner/trainer Reg Tweedie had ridden the winner of the Foxhunters (Cheltenham and Aintree) in 1934. In all he rode over 100 winners under rules. His wife Betty was a good PTP rider. Kelso suited Freddie well as the fences were big there in his day, and used to suit horses that jumped well. Whaat Fettle was a horse of Gordon Richards that won plenty of races there, and at Wetherby, by his good jumping, before they knocked the tops off the fences to make them easier.

Baulking Green won the United Hunts Chase at the Cheltenham Festival 4 times in the 1960s. He was trying to win it for a 5th time, as a 15yo, when he broke down.

Volant from the early 60s.

Baulking Green was 2nd in that last United Hunts as a 15yo. His full record in the race from 1962 to 1968 was F111U12. He was going well on both occasions when he blundered and fell/ur'd.

His career figures under rules were...

FF/(1d.p2)111/11211/F1112/1111/1U111/11F1F/2

That included 3 wins from 3 goes in the Scottish Champion Hunter, and 3 wins in the Horse and Hound Cup at Stratford (Credit Call had 4).

Baulking Green a great memory. I first saw him at a point to point at Barbury. We had been told that Mr Nash (who owned and trained him before sending him to Tim Forster) was going to have 2 winners that day but only had one listed in the racecard. The last race had a very good horse owned and ridden by Laurie Morgan, an Olympic equestrian Gold Medallist running, but then we saw the Nash colours on a newcomer called Baulking Green. The group I was with found a bookie backing without the odds on fav. and we had 10/1 BG. The fav beat him about a length from memory with the rest out of sight and he was seldom beaten again in his career including the United Hunts as it was then called at Cheltenham. The Dikler and See More Business were 2 Gold Cup winners who started out at Didmarton which was my local ptp course for many years.

Teeton Mill.

He was sadly pulled up with a hock injury in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, this ended his career but he went on to have a long and happy retirement. He died aged 25.

A wonderul horse

Anyone mentioned Cool Dawn or Teaplanter..

I used to like watching Mr Custard

Another favourite of mine was Mr Dow Jones

Raced well into his teens then lost his life after being kicked when out in his field

baulking green had a whole book to himself...pretty rare for an out-an-out hunter

Just looked him up, isleham.

.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Hunter+chaser+who+raised+the+roof%3B+Baulking+Green.-a0281145106

Loving this thread.

My first ever racecourse visit was Horse & Hound Cup day at Stratford. Credit Call just got home and I think Persian War gained his last ever win on the same card.

Other top hunters in the early 70's were the mares; Matchboard (grand-dam of Morley Street and Granville Again), Sally Furlong (produced the ill-fated Romany Furlong) and Black Baize. Poulakerry and Bullocks Horn were a couple of useful geldings at the same time. Titus Oates had a brief stint in hunter chases before he was sold.

Jan 11, 2016 -- 8:37AM, koikeeper wrote:

Anyone mentioned Cool Dawn or Teaplanter..

I remember Teaplanter, was just thinking of him. Sure I watched him at Towcester or it might have been another horse who had come second to him elsewhere and I backed it off the boards on the strength of that form. Trotted up. Brings back great memories. Anyone remember the book that used to come out each year (small hardback like Timeform Chasers and Hurdlers - but fewer pages) and featured all the hunter chasers. Some of the comments used to be hilarious about both the lesser horses and the lesser riders!

In those days, Hunters used to run up winning sequences, sadly not now..

Names keep popping into my head!

Gunner Welburn

Won the Fox Hunters' at Aintree one year, with another Caroline Bailey horse in second!

FLYING ACE

THE last race at Hexham on Saturday was named in honour of the hunter chaser, Flying Ace, which two decades ago became the darling of amateur National Hunt racing in the Borders area. The ultimate punter’s friend, Flying Ace racked up 59 wins at 18 different courses, and was unbeaten at Hexham, Kelso, Sedgefield, Ayr, Edinburgh, Perth and Stratford. Of these successes, 41 came in Scotland, 17 in England and one in Wales.
The horse was owned and bred by Borders point-to-point enthusiast Doreen Calder, of Marigold, near Duns, and the two of them proved to be a record-breaking partnership. Together they notched up a sequence of 17 wins on the trot, became the first Scottish horse and lady rider to win the Horse and Hound Cup at Stratford in 1985, and won their 50th race at Perth. “He actually finished first in 60 races, but when he lost the weight cloth after the last fence at Kelso, it brought his total down to 59,” said Doreen. “He was always a very clever jumper, as were all his family, and that won him many of his races.”

Flying Ace’s dam Flying Eye was no slouch herself. She was by the top jumping sire Vulgan, and was bought by the Calder family from Scottish trainer Ken Oliver. She went on to win 13 point-to-point races and two hunter chases before being retired to the stud paddocks as a brood mare. Doreen said: “She first visited Cagirama, and the next three seasons she visited the former champion hurdler Saucy Kit. ‘Ace’ was the middle foal, the other two were good enough, but were overshadowed by their brother. “They were all bred to be point-to-pointers or chasers, because that is what gives our family pleasure, as we can do it ourselves in our own back yard,” she added. But destiny could have played out a different tune: “My father thought he would sell him as a four-year-old, as we had too many horses, and the legendary Michael Dickinson turned him down because of his sire what luck!” said Doreen.

DRESSAGE
“We also almost sold him as a five-year-old to the international dressage rider Stephen Clarke, who wanted to buy him as a dressage horse, but that was not what we had intended for the horse.” An imposing chestnut gelding, Flying Ace began his competitive career in the show ring by being placed third at the Royal Highland as a two-year-old. He was shown under saddle as a four-year-old at the Border Union and Duns, and his all-round education took in hunter trials, riding club competitions and the hunting field. But as a six-year-old, the horse suffered a major setback which delayed his point-to-point debut, when he fractured a pedal bone (in the centre of the hoof) while hunting. He was in plaster for two months which perhaps was a blessing as he was given time to recuperate, which also gave him time to fully mature. During his two months of box-rest, it was decided to also operate on him to rectify breathing problems caused by a paralysed larynx.

His point-to-point debut was a victory in the Berwickshire Members’ Race in February, 1983, followed by a run in the restricted at Alnwick. Doreen said: “At Alnwick we missed the break and gave the field a huge start, but we made steady progress to win from an impossible position, and that’s when we realised he was very, very good.” He was retired from point-to-pointing at the age of 16 in March 1992. He continued to hunt, and did a few hunter trials until he was 22. Three years later, he was put down after falling ill, but he remains close to Doreen’s heart and is buried in a wood adjoining the Calders’ farmstead, where he spent his life giving the family endless pleasure. “He took me places I would never have gone, and I met some wonderful people through him. Ace was an exceptional horse, because I am a very amateur rider, and he won so many races in spite of me!” she said.

59 wins, It was definitely the punters friend.....

You dont get that these days..

I remember seeing Flying Ace win his 50th race at Perth . I think it was mentioned in the TV news headlines that night ( the meeting was run in the evening ). I can also recall Miss Doreen Calder had long hair held up in a hairnet , and the colours she wore was blue with a black sash . I wonder if others can verify these snippets from long ago ?

it seemed like Flying Ace had a string of 1s every year for about 6 seasons running next to his name

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19860204&id=0rdAAAAAIBAJ&sji...

Anyone remember Rusty Bridge? 4m was the absolute bare minimum for this once paced stayer, he ideally needed a trip of 7m! A young Dickie Johnson must have slept very well the nights after riding him.

3 of my favourites are eastern destiny who was almost white, silverdalesureshot who used to often win round Hereford under Richard Burton and jigtime who won a fair few on the bounce in Scotland and up north.

Whipping picadilly I remember rusty bridge, pretty sure I saw it win the 4mile open at Heythrop. Used to be a great race that, shame it was always pissing down. I remember backing the winner one year on a horse called the humble tiller who i think was ridden by tim jones or damien duggan. He won by a neck but the judge gave a dead heat.

Bright Approach was one of my favorites of the past few years
always gave you a good run for your money a genuine horse.

Aww, yes, Rusty Bridge and Bright Approach

Rusty Bridge was trained by Richard Johnson's mother

Slippy blue John  Jenkins yard used to be willie  stephensons yard not W A yard

I was at Stratford in May 1966 (could have been late April) when Baulking Green won the hunter chase. It was the same day that Glad Rags won the 1000 guineas. It was either him or Pomme de Guerre.