Istabraq 32 Today.

One of Greats and what a retirement the old boy has had.

Foot & Mouth probably cost him 4 Chmpn Hdls.

Came across this on twitter last night, a good watch, an hour of the ITV coverage of the 1984 Derby...

Won by Istabraq's half-brother Secreto.

Given how Istabraq progressed with age, makes you wonder what this fella could have done, he could have been a triple Champion Hurdler too

After the race, they interviewed his dad Vincent, David's wife, but David himself was nowhere to be seen, so I wondered if he was even there, but he did eventually show up to have a brief interview with Brough Scott.

The interview with the trainer's wife was interesting, hearing how committed David was to training, (they were actually going straight back to Ireland to see one of their horses run that evening, no time for celebrating), so astonishing to think he'd give it all up within a few years.

And there was Big Mac at the start, telling us about all the lumpy bets going on to El Gran Senor

https://x.com/horsevault/status/1792955974963069113

* I say " Big Mac", but he was still quite slim in those days.

After the race Pat Eddery objected to the winner, but when they showed the head-on, it was actually El Gran Senor who had drifted into Secreto, with the winner unflinching under a fierce Christy Roche drive.

They asked Vincent after the race if it had been him who had objected, calm and measured, Vincent said no, I wouldn't want to win that way against my own son.