Arkle.

It is quite impossible to compare the racehorses of different eras, so no one can say for certain that Arkle was the greatest steeplechaser there has ever been.What can be said is that no other steeplechaser in the history of the sport established a wider margin of superiority over his contemporaries or a firmer grip on the imagination of the sporting public.
Arkle ran in 35 races,three of them on the flat and six over hurdles.The rest were steeplechases and in this,his true metier,he was beaten only 4 times,once by a luckless slip,twice by weight,and once by the injury that ended his career.The start of his racing career is featured in todays racing post,his first two races in bumpers were unremarkable but on January 20 1962 he ran in a hurdle race at Navan and won at 20/1 leaving Pat Taaffe on the favourite Kerforo trailing in his wake,many other jockeys were to have the same experience over the next five years but it was the last time Arkle ever left Pat Taaffe behind.Ten months later they won their first chase together,the Honeybourne Chase at Cheltenham,and from then on the names of Arkle and Taaffe were inseperable.No other man ever rode him over fences.From then on,bold footsure jumping became one of the strongest weapons in his armoury.He never once fell in a race and in all his career made less than a handful of serious mistakes.One of those was crucial at thetime,however for it came at Newbury in the 1963 Hennessey,Arkles long awaited first meeting with Mill House,the young English trained giant which had won the Cheltenham Gold Cup the previous season.When Mill House came home with Arkle trailing 8 lengths his supporters were elated.But it was not as simple as that.Three fences from home,moving easily beside Mill House,Arkle had slipped on landing,sprawled and lost all his momentum,it didn`t look much and neither Taaffe or Dreaper were much given to hard luck stories.They kept their opinions to themselves and waited for the next time.It came appropriately at Cheltenham in the 1964 Gold Cup..Arkle took his revenge in emphatic style beating Mill House by an easy 5 lengths and no horse which met Arkle at level weights or anything like it was ever to get as close again.
From then on ,Arkles chief enemy was the handicapper.Whole new systems had to be devised to give his rivals even the remotest chance against him.In Ireland they started issuing two separate handicaps,one for use if Arkle ran,the other if he didn`t.Just twice in the next three years did the handicapper get the better of the argument..
All this time Arkles fame and popularity had been growing.Worshipped close to idolatry here in Ireland,he was loved by thousands all over the British Isles.But the true depth of the publics feeling for him became apparent when on St Stephens Day in 1966,attempting to win his second King George,Arkle fractured his pedal bone,even then hobbling lame,he was only just beaten.But the injury was serious and for the next few weeks,with his leg in plaster,Arkle was the most famous invalid in Europe,he never fully recovered.
So Arkle retired in Ireland.He had never won a Grand National because he was never given the chance,and he won only three Gold Cups to Golden Millers five.But no horse crossed a fence much faster or more safely,no horse ever produced a more deadly turn of foot at the finish of a gruelling 3 mile chase,no horse ever conceded bigger weights,and no horse ever had a bigger heart.Perhaps there will be another like him one day,but those like me who saw Arkle in his prime will believe that only when we see it.