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Must be horses names we remember from our youth,but don't really know ,This one I can remember From the Times I watched Racing, Had not Got a Clue what 20-1 bar was, but if you were watching the racing on TV they put up the Results from other meetings ,FLASH IMP the fcker was always coming up in results 
Think I was about 10 early 70s I thought that must be a Great horse 
I await to be enlightened ,I have not googled so if he was decent, Just shows what a Judge I was ,Shame the fckin wheels fell off in later Life
Think I was about 10 early 70s I thought that must be a Great horse I await to be enlightened ,I have not googled so if he was decent, Just shows what a Judge I was ,Shame the fckin wheels fell off in later Life
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Very classy and capable 2m hurdler who was trained by the predominantly flat Epsom based trainer Ron Smyth, who loved nothing more than to have a decent hurdler to keep the yard going throughout the winter months.
Won the Imperial Cup and Gerry Feilden in 74 and was placed a couple of times in the Champion Hurdle mid-seventies, second behind Comedy of Errors in 75 and third to Night Nurse and Birds Nest in 76. |
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anyone recall BELPER , from the 70s , if i recall he only had one eye but still won numerous races, racing on courses with the
rail on his good side.  |
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John Dunlops .i think he specialised @ Brighton
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Glasgow, I was in Arundel two weeks ago, walking by the castle the very first horse I thought of was Belper, one eyed Brighton specialist, a remarkable horse from that era.
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Flash Imp also won the Cesarewitch in 1973 as a 4yo, ridden by Smyth's apprentice, Terry Cain, and the Great Metropolitan handicap at Epsom in 1975 as a 6yo, ridden by another of Smyth's apprentices, Philip Cheese, riding just his 2nd winner. The horse had made his racecourse debut on the corresponding card at Epsom 4 years earlier in a 2yo 5f maiden, going off 33/1. He ran up a string of duck-eggs as a 2yo, getting himself nicely handicapped for running over longer distances as a 3 and 4yo.
Flash Imp actually spent his juvenile hurdling year with Roddy Armytage, but returned to Smyth for his 4yo flat season. He subsequently stayed with Smyth as a hurdler, until going to Martin Tate for the 75/76 season. He still ran on the flat, and was 4th in the '76 Chester Cup to John Cherry. Finally he went to Derek Kent. Kent sent him novice chasing as an 8yo in Oct 1977 - he won his first race over fences at Wincanton over 2m5f, a novice, and may have won his 2nd, a much better race over 2 miles a fortnight later at the same track, against the likes of Artifice and Strombolus, but Artifice fell 3 out when in the lead, and brought down Flash Imp, leaving Strombolus to win. Flash Imp fell at Hereford 2 races later, in March 1978, and broke his back. |
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I remember that race well Ged, backed him that day,what was the name of that other good horse the owner of Artifice had .
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See More Business, Denman - Paul Barber has had quite a few since Artifice. But probably the best one he had around the same time as Artifice was Arctic Beau.
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Artifice was ridden by Philip Hobbs that day. He was trained by John Thorne.
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Ged,
Err, Jackie Thorne, not John. John Thorne had died in 1982 after a fall in a point to point. |
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He was doing ok in '77 though?
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Ged,
Yes, sorry, didn't read the dates right. But it was Jackie Thorne that trained Artifice throughout his career from her base near Bridgewater. In those less enlightened times, her name was given as just J Thorne in form books etc. |
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Ok. I didn't know that. I thought John was the trainer, and I thought Paul Barber had talked of John as having trained Artifice and having got him (Paul) involved in racing.
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Ged,
You might well be right - perhaps Jackie had a father called John! I have a Directory of the Turf from the 80's in which Paul Barber lists Jackie Thorne as his only trainer, and the trainers section has just Jacqueline Thorne listed with that surname. Jackie Thorne also trained Beau Ranger until the owners were enticed away by Martin Pipe. |
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After a bit of digging....
I can't speak for Jackie, but there are 2 John Thornes spoken of here. One was the one associated with the Polaris and Spartan Missiles, who died as a result of a hunting fall. The other was the Bridgewater trainer (and perhaps father of Jackie). The latter John Thorne died of multiple sclerosis on May 21, 1986, aged 57. He had taken out a permit to train in 1953, and a full public licence 6 years later. Artifice won 21 of his 64 races, including the Tingle Creek in 1979. He was called 'Artifiss' at Sandown, but 'Arrrt-e-fice' at Wincanton, apparently. Beau Ranger, and Loving Words (perhaps unlucky not to win Grittar's Grand National, when she was brought down 4 out, but remounted to finish strongly in 3rd) were 2 of his other well known horses. |
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*Loving Words was a gelding
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One I remember from my youth (because it was one my uncle was waiting for in his round robin) was Sparrow Pie - no idea how good it was but I'd think that it would have been a run of the mill type midweek race well over 50 years ago
 . Great celebrations as it was announced as the winner over the radio & his sixpenny R/R was up, happy days! |
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First time I took my wife racing at Kempton in 1956 she asked why Bar One was running in so many races.
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Workrider. Did you pass where John Dunlop's Castle Stables used to be?
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Didnt Know John thorne was killed
in a hunting Accident |
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..it was in a PTP, as Anorak said. I got that wrong. His son Nigel was killed in a car crash in 1969 on the way back from a day's hunting. He was 18. As a 16yo schoolboy, he had ridden the family's Indamelia, then 4yo, to beat Aurelius and Makaldar at Newbury, who had finished 2nd and 3rd in the Champion Hurdle earlier in the year (though Aurelius got DQ'd).
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BELPER , from the 70s
Won at Epsom as well. |
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Supermaster.
''Achieved nine wins in hurdles and chases at Wetherby between 1967 and 1974. The Arthur Stephenson-trained gelding beat Red Rum at the course in a handicap hurdle in 1970, despite giving the future three-time Grand National winner 29lb, and gained a cult following with his electric jumping.'' https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/horse-racing/who-are-wetherby-s-all-time-racing-greats-1-7019281 |
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Timeform writers had some fun with Belper descriptions....
1971 - Tall colt. Sure to improve. 1972 - Attractive colt, but has only one eye. 1973 - Blind in nearside eye, seems to need a left handed track 1974 - Attractive gelding, good mover, blind in nearside eye 1975 - Still attractive, still a good mover and still blind in nearside eye. Won five races including four at Brighton. 1976 - Same as all above - a thoroughly game, genuine and consistent old campaigner. For those who never saw him he was quite a flashy chestnut with a big white blaze and three(?) white socks. |
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He had a strange Gate if I remeber Correctly
 I must have seen Flash Imp in some of them Races ,My Brain has Gone |
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I can remember being in a betting shop and listening to the Extel commentary when Belper was battling for the lead in the final furlong (at least that's what we were told) at Brighton one time, and the commentator referred to him as 'the one-eyed devil' as he got the best of it and scored another win.
Belper was presumably named after Lord Belper, who was once racing manager to Stavros Niarchos, and then owned horses himself, including Persian Lancer, who was one of several winners of the Cesarewitch for Ryan Price, who brought that particular horse back from a long-term injury to win the race as an 8yo. Lord Belper was a brother to the Duchess of Norfolk, whose husband owned Arundel castle, and plenty else. That was where John Dunlop trained, and he of course trained the horse Belper. |
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OP is right about horses we remember from our youth. I started mid-seventies and the names I recall from that period come clearly to mind: Ardoon, Record Token, Forest King, Glanford Brigg, Border Incident, Yamadori, Forest King, Kas, Pattern Maker, The Dealer, Berkeley Square, Song Of Songs, Dorlesa, Early Spring to mention just a few.
And I remember Flash Imp. Loved heavy ground and wasn't far off the top when he got it. |
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Blue Wind, won The Oaks in 1981. Trained by the maestro Dermot Weld and ridden by Lester, she was a great horse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hio9Ikdtxvo |
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Some memories there. Artifice was one of the first horses to run in the Paul and Richard Barber colours. Certainly the first high profile one. I can remember Flash Imp running but he doesn't stand out.
My favourites down the years were Pointsman, Taxidermist, Pas Seul, Salmon Spray, Persian War, Mill House, Collier Bay, Red Rum of course, and on the flat, Rheingold, Ravens Pass and Frankel. |
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First horse I really remember from my childhood was a horse called Pentland Javelin trained by Reg Hollinshead. Had a £1 on it when it won at 20-1. Come to think of it that was my last winner.
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Flash Imp beat one of my early favourites, Tree Tangle, in that 75 Champion Hurdle. In that You Tube clip the way he is swinging on the bridle you would have thought he would have gone close to winning but the Cheltenham hill was never his bag.
At his best on a flat track he wasn't too far off Bird's Nest. I think he won a maiden from a few runs on the Flat and although he didn't win as a juvenile hurdler he contested some of the better races. The following season he started a sequence of something like 7 wins in 8 before that third in the Champion. He initially started well as a chaser but again Cheltenham wasn't to be and sadly his career tailed off. It didn't help his cause that he was prone to breaking blood vessels. |
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st athans lad at fontwell
couldnt handle the first down the back if he cleared it on the last lap GAME ON ! |
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what was peter osullevans one ?
went off , got 20 lengths clear nothing could catch it wpn chester cup,plus manyothersover two miles ATTIVO ??? |
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captain christy
won the king george at kempton 70s jockey rode it with long irons monster of a horse hacked up |
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Kingfisher Blue, The Flak Bomber, Swan Shot, Lochranza, Kithairon, and one i can't remember the name , raving front runner trained by either Poston or Jermy, Ged may know.
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Homefield?
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So many names stick in my mind from the late 70's some of the favourites are those that ran in the then early season jumps meetings usually at Devon & Exeter , Newton Abbot , Plumpton etc , Pine Lodge , Mouldy Old Dough , Grey Dolphin , Shoot the Lights , Low profile and Carrigeen Hill who won 9 small field novice chases in early season 1978 mostly on fast ground , he was still racing at age 16 .
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Mid to late seventies:
Coded Scrap, Yes Yes Yes, Cry No More, Offa's Mead****(?). Ubedizzy - won his fair share but had a nasty streak in him (had to be muzzled now and then). Dred Scot - would occasionally run up a sequence in low level middle distance races and always seemed to be odds-against! Lochranza - as above. Vilgora - sprinter use to hump great lumps of weight around! Ribellaro - first horse I backed. Is there anywhere you can look up any of the old names/results on this thread? |
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Dred Scot - A "reformed character in 1977". Ran 15 times, winning eight, four seconds and two thirds. After his seasonal debut (5th) his record looked like this 11122111113223. Timeform called him "a fair handicapper".
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Proud Tarquin Was won I remember Well was on EW in one of the Big Hcaps ,Got thrown out Lord oaksey was on ,think the Race went to the Dikler and Ron Barry ,,,
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