1960's - Two Mile Chase Division

Carlsberg....

Royal Relief

Royal Relief was early 70's.

Must admit comparing the champion chasers from sixties to seventies is chalk and cheese to me , far too young for the sixties but the seventies was just when i was illegally visiting bookmakers and fairly hooked on the sport , remember Royal Relief pretty well as used to run against Simian who was one of my all time favourites...


1960    Fortria    8    Pat Taaffe    Tom Dreaper    George Ansley
1961    Fortria    9    Pat Taaffe    Tom Dreaper    George Ansley
1962    Piperton    8    Dave Dick    Archie Thomlinson    Archie Thomlinson
1963    Sandy Abbot    8    Stan Mellor    George Owen    Mrs J. D. McKechnie
1964    Ben Stack    7    Pat Taaffe    Tom Dreaper    The Duchess of Westminster
1965    Dunkirk    8    Dave Dick    Peter Cazalet    Bill Whitbread
1966    Flyingbolt    7    Pat Taaffe    Tom Dreaper    Jean Wilkinson
1967    Drinny's Double    9    Frank Nash    Bob Turnell    Paul Mellon
1968    Drinny's Double    10    Frank Nash    Bob Turnell    Paul Mellon
1969    Muir    10    Ben Hannon    Tom Dreaper    Waring Willis



1970    Straight Fort    7    Pat Taaffe    Tom Dreaper    George Ansley
1971    Crisp    8    Paul Kelleway    Fred Winter    Sir Chester Manifold
1972    Royal Relief    8    Bill Smith    Edward Courage    Edward Courage
1973    Inkslinger    6    Tommy Carberry    Dan Moore    Mrs M. Jenney
1974    Royal Relief    10    Bill Smith    Edward Courage    Edward Courage
1975    Lough Inagh    8    Sean Barker    Jim Dreaper    A. Martin
1976    Skymas    11    Mouse Morris    Brian Lusk    Matt Magee
1977    Skymas    12    Mouse Morris    Brian Lusk    Matt Magee
1978    Hilly Way    8    Tommy Carmody    Peter McCreery    J. W. Sweeney
1979    Hilly Way    9    Ted Walsh[a]    Peter McCreery    J. W. Sweeney

Ben Stack was useful. The clash between him and Irish Imp was supposed to be a curtain-raiser for the same trainers'Arkle v Mill House clash. Irish Imp was very disappointing and never regained his best form thereafter. Ben Stack( geographically near Ben Arkle btw ) I think had injury problems.
I remember Piperton and Sandy Abbot running after their wins but the latter was a fairly ordinary handicapper and I don't remember Piperton being much better.
Dunkirk was outstanding for about 3 runs when they gave him his head but was killed ( or probably had a heart attack ) when trying to take on Arkle over 3 mls.
Drinny's Double was no more than a useful horse in a dry period.
Fortria as a two-miler was before my time but he lost in the GC to Mandarin ( just ) and Mill House ( at 11 ). If two miles was his ditance he must have been pretty good.
The two mile division only really started to get much status in the 80s.

Reference to the eighties sounds spot on Salmon when you look at the list , looks collectively another level and winners well remembered by all...

1980    Another Dolly [b]    10    Sam Morshead    Fred Rimell    Ian Urquhart
1981    Drumgora    9    Frank Berry    Arthur Moore    D. Monahan
1982    Rathgorman    10    Kevin Whyte    Michael Dickinson    J. Lilley
1983    Badsworth Boy    8    Robert Earnshaw    Michael Dickinson    Doug Armitage
1984    Badsworth Boy    9    Robert Earnshaw    Michael Dickinson    Doug Armitage
1985    Badsworth Boy    10    Robert Earnshaw    Monica Dickinson    Doug Armitage
1986    Buck House    8    Tommy Carmody    Mouse Morris    Mrs Phil Purcell
1987    Pearlyman    8    Peter Scudamore    John Edwards    Valerie Shaw
1988    Pearlyman    9    Tom Morgan    John Edwards    Valerie Shaw
1989    Barnbrook Again    8    Simon Sherwood    David Elsworth    Mel Davies
1990    Barnbrook Again    9    Hywel Davies    David Elsworth    Mel Davies

Looks like Pat Taafe and Tom Draper were cleaning up in the 2m division as well, 5 2winners from 60-70, how long have these magic carrots been in use?

I agree with salmon. The standouts would be Fortria, Dunkirk, and Crisp.

Royal Relief was an ever-present in the race, either winning, or going close, but in '71, Crisp beat him into 3rd by 37 lengths. Crisp had only been in the country a few months, having come from Australia, via the US where he'd run in the Colonial Cup, and he'd only made his debut in Britain 5 days earlier when winning at Wincanton with 12-7, but Fred Winter wasn't interested in winning Champion Chases, he wanted to win Gold Cups, so, as he did with nearly all his best horses, he stepped him up to 3 miles.

Dunkirk was brilliant once they realised he needed to be let loose in front - he would go well clear from the off and stay clear, and was 4 from 4 that way until the fateful KG vs Arkle - it was a very sporting gesture by the owner, Colonel Whitbread, to try to stop the big bad Irish horse having things all his own way, that ended in tragedy.

Fortria was the previous big bad Irish horse before Arkle - he came to England 14 times, and only on the last occasion, the 4th successive time that he carried top weight of 12-0 in the Mackeson Gold Cup, was he out of the first 2. He won the Cotswold Chase (now Arkle), 2 Champion Chases, and almost won the Gold Cup, having a great battle with Mandarin, where his stamina just gave out towards the end. He won 2 Mackeson Gold Cups, and was 2nd in another.

Perhaps worth noting that Tom Dreaper's horses never had problems with water jumps in England, even though they never had them in Ireland. He trained his horses to jump them by laying down bleached hessian bags with piles of gorse in front of them to imitate a water jump. These days you hear Paul Nicholls moaning about how unfair water jumps are because horses aren't trained to jump them.

Interesting Ged, a wealth of knowledge as usual, have you thought of going on Mastermind, specialist subject horseracing from a certain era?

Yes and I hadn't heard the water jump story before but I knew they had none in Ireland. Thanks ged.

I'm not saying they were the best, but some of my favourites from then would be..

Buona Notte... Quelle Chance.. Scottish Memories.. Owen's Sedge.. Richard of Bordeaux who I think was a grey horse,  and the Queen Mother's Double Star..

Analogs duaghter was a fav of mine.

Yes CROPSICK , front runner and a pleasure to watch. 

Forum poster of the same name was a fav of mine as well   R.I.P 

Richard of Bordeaux WAS a grey trained by Fulke Walwyn. Front-runner who won the Mackeson when it was 2 miles.

Stewarts Rise you have really fallen imo with that question, how long have they had those magic carrots in Ireland, maybe it was the same brand of carrots they gave Frankle eh..Pure gobshyte .

Sorry workrider, it was meant to be tongue in cheek, more a thought of how some trainers have spells of being way above anyone else. Dickinson, Pipe, Mullins etc, wasn't a dig at the Irish.

You are forgiven ARKLE just whispered in my ear...

The Mackeson was run over 2 miles in its first 7 years, from 1960 thru 1966. With the exception of Ben Stack, all the best 2 mile chasers of those years ran it (most of them several times), and some other class horses too. Saffron Tartan was joint top weight in 1960 - he'd run 3rd in the Champion Hurdle in 1960, won the KG chase the same year, and the Gold Cup the year after. Gold Cup winner Pas Seul carried 11-13 in '61, and even Arkle was due to run in '64, but he picked up a 4lb penalty for it, bringing his weight to 12-11, and he was taken out the week before, ruining the weights, leaving the top weight at 10-10.

Thanks for all the replies. I am assuming that everyone considered Flyingbolt ahead of the rest?

ged,

Bit of a tangent, but do you happen to know why Stalbridge Colonist skipped Cheltenham in 1966 when he must have been one of the leading novices? He couldn't have been injured as he won a race at Sandown later in the week. He had won at Cheltenham so I assume it wasn't the track.

dd - I think he might have been between distances at that point. He ran twice the week before Cheltenham, both over 2.5 miles, winning at Lingfield on the Thursday, and Kempton on the Saturday. He then won at Sandown, again over 2.5 miles, on the Friday of Cheltenham week. He'd begun the season running over hurdles, winning over 2m6f, and had then gone novice chasing, starting with 2 impressive wins over 2 miles, 'jumping impeccably', but then finished 3rd in the Henry VIII at Sandown over 2 miles, so I guess Cundell thought he needed stepping up in trip, but wasn't yet ready to go 3 miles, and there was no 2.5 mile option for him at Cheltenham.

* and he hadn't won over fences at Cheltenham at that point.

Flyingbolt didn't take much beating over hurdles     

Thanks, yes, that Cheltenham win came in a handicap hurdle.

Salmon, he would have carried you on his back and still won if he hadn't raced a few DAYS before ..

Bob Turnell and John Haine took him on in the Champion chase by making the pace on Flash Bulb to try to take Flyingbolt out of his comfort zone. Their real plan though was to tire him out enough to beat him in the Champion hurdle with Salmon Spray which they did. Flyingbolt was still third in the CH on bottomless ground 24 hours after winning the Champion Chase. He was as far ahead of the 2 mile chase division as Arkle was of the 3 miles. Shame they never met over 2.5. Flyingbolt might well have beaten Arkle.

workrider

It was the DAY before…. In the Champion Chase!

Sorry sageform, missed your post!

15 Mar 66    Cheltenham    2 miles    Champion Chase    P Taaffe    12-0    Soft    1/5f    6    1st    15 lengths
16 Mar 66    Cheltenham    2 miles    Champion Hurdle    P Taaffe    12-0    Soft    15/8f    17    3rd    3+3⁄4 lengths


Didn't they introduce a rule to prevent a horse running twice at the festival in 2019  ?

Hayden, yes they did.

Thanks Saxon 

Inkslinger.  Was he the last?

was he the last to win two at the same Festival. I think so!

When was that blackbarn? I know early 70s but when and what races?

In 1973, Inkslinger, an American horse, won two races at the Cheltenham Festival in the same year. This is a rare feat that is hard to duplicate 12. The horse won the Champion Chase and another race at the festival 1. The trainer of Inkslinger, Dan Moore, made a bold decision to run the horse twice in three days at the festival, which was considered implausible at the time 1. The horse’s achievement is still celebrated today, and it is considered a remarkable moment in the history of horse racing 2

At the 1973 Festival, Inkslinger won the 2-mile Champion Chase – now known as the Queen Mother – and returned two days later to win the 2 5/8-mile Cathcart Chase.

I think Tommy Carberry rode Inkslinger

Tommy Carberry was the jockey of Inkslinger when it won two races at the Cheltenham Festival in 1973 12. Tommy Carberry was an Irish jockey who won the Gold Cup on L’Escargot in 1970 and 1971, and rode a total of 16 Cheltenham Festival winners 1. He was also the father of jockeys Paul, Philip, Peter, and Nina 1.

Thanks Hayden and MrC.

Great thread all. I learnt loads from it. Love racings history

There was a horse that won consecutive races at the Cheltenham Festival Montelado, who took the last race, the bumper, in 1992 and the opening Supreme Novices' Hurdle in 1993.

Tommy Carberry also won a Gold Cup on Ten Up who was owned by Anne Duchess of Westminster . At that stage Carberry was now stable jockey to Tom Dreaper's son Jim. He was previously stable jockey to Dan Moore and also married Dan's daughter Pamela who was a great brrod mare for jockeys
Amazing that the Duchess also owned Arkle. Some people are born lucky

And of course there was Willie Wumpkins who won the Pertemps final 3 years running ridden by Champion Amateur Jim Wilson who also won the Gold Cup on Little Owl. Other notable feats were winning the Imperial Cup and the County Hurdle. They were 5 days apart but winning both earned a fat bonus in addition to the prize money. Moody Man did it for Philip Hobbs and owner Jim Burley while Blowing Wind did it in 1998 for Martin Pipe and Peter Deal. A friend of mine Peter Emery had a mare with Philip Hobbs which won on both days of the Cheltenham April meeting. She was called Celtic Native, nicknamed Kelly. All of the mares races at that meeting are on the same day now so it won't be repeated.

I think it was really MW Dickinson who was responsible for making the 2-mile division a championship in its own right. He had so many top-class chasers that some of them had to be kept to 2 miles simply to find races for them (this was in the happy days before the Ryanair Chase).

If you weren't punting back in the 1982-5 period, it's hard to grasp now just how dominant Dickinson was. Not only in terms of number of winners and strike rate, but in the way every animal he got hold of appeared to have championship potential. I remember the period in November and December 1982 when it felt as though every meeting from Market Rasen northwards would feature a Dickinson chasing debutant winning by 30 lengths in a canter. In any other yard that horse would have been campaigned as a Gold cup horse. But Dickinson seemed to have literally dozens of them, so they had to go somewhere else. Hence, I think, the rise in prestige of the 2-mile division at that time.

I mean, we all know about the Dickinson famous five in the Gold Cup, but it could have been famous ten really.

Make it famous 11 please

Badsworth Boy was the Dickinson horse that got publicity winning 3 years running but I am old enough to remember earlier star 2 milers such as Fortria who won it twice, Ben Stack (Duchess of Westminster again) Dunkirk, Royal Relief (twice with Crisp in between!) Hilly Way and Skymas twice each. All before the Dickenson era. Then followed Pearlyman who won twice after winning the handicap the year before, Remittance Man who only won once but was a very high class horse and then the more familiar Viking Flagship, Edredon Bleu and the best of the lot, Moscow Flyer who had epic battles with Well Chief and Azertyuiop.

I remember being absolutely gobsmacked when The Mighty Mac won The Hermitage Chase at Newbury in October 1982 I think?
All his chasers seemed to jump impeccably.