The 10 greatest racehorses of all time!
Lammtarra
10th Pentire
A model of consistency who finally had his big day with victory in the King George at Ascot in 1996. He always sat off the pace and powered through late and in his prime only the mighty Lammtarra was able to beat him.
9th Lammtarra
My first big winner. I was stuck at some school play in London and was listening to the 1995 Derby on the radio. I’d somehow managed to back the Godolphin runner on the back of something I’d read and Walter Swinburn’s mount won by a length. At 15 years old, a 14/1 winner felt amazing and so did the £30 I’d won. Lammtarra went on to win the King George and the Arc before retiring unbeaten.
8th Halling
I was a big Godolphin fan in the mid 90’s and Halling was another of their runners I followed. He had a certain class about him that couldn’t be matched and he was victorious in five Group 1 races including the both the Eclipse and the Juddmonte in 1995 and again in 1996.
7th Soviet Song
What a tough filly Soviet Song was. Although too many hard races seemed to catch up with James Fanshawe’s pride and joy in the end, in her prime she was simply the best over a mile and even showed her male counterparts a thing or two.
6th Russian Rhythm
Kieren Fallon considers her one of the best fillies he’s ever ridden and the image of him on her back in those red white and blue silks is unforgettable. She was the first filly for 20 years to win the Juddmonte Lockinge Stakes and she was also victorious in both the 1000 Guineas and the Coronation Stakes.
5th Master Oats
Probably my favourite Gold Cup winner. The Kim Bailey trained Master Oats progressed from a very average chaser into a Gold Cup winner. Norman Williamson knew exactly how to get the best out of the horse and always rode him to perfection. He never looked the same after his Gold Cup win and the National run a few weeks later probably finished him but he’s a horse I’ll always remember.
4th Relkeel
I think Relkeel could have been a top class Champion Hurdle winner if he hadn’t been so fragile. His career was plagued by injury but he still managed 12 wins from 21 starts, the last 3 of which were all in the Bula Hurdle at Cheltenham.
3rd Large Action
Another hurdler who always sticks in my mind for some reason. He never managed to win a Champion Hurdle but did finish 3rd behind Flakey Dove in 94 and 2nd behind Alberbrook in 95. The frustrating thing was he showed more than enough to win the Champion in races leading up to March but fell just short on the big day.
2nd Sparky Gayle
This horse probably means very little to most readers but he really got me out of trouble. I was 16 years old and had struggled to get a few hundred quid together to spend 3 days at the Cheltenham Festival. Although I’d found a knack for picking winners at a young age, I had 3 shocking days at Cheltenham. I had about £40 left and put it all On Sparky Gayle at 7/2. The horse managed to win the Cathcart at 3/1 and made the difference between me going home skint and miserable, or happy and with enough money in my pocket for a few good nights out.
1st Double Trigger
I said Lammtarra was my first big winner but it might have been Double Trigger that got me well and truly hooked on betting on the horses. I was convinced Mark Johnston’s horse would win the 1995 Ascot Gold Cup and couldn’t not understand how Moonax was favourite with the way Double Trigger had finished behind the favourite at York over a shorter trip. I was convinced over 2m4f that Jason Weaver’s mount would not be beaten. I saved a few pounds each week and ended up with about £25 on which was a fortune to me back then while at school. Double Trigger won the race by five lengths and he continued to earn me money throughout my teens.
Agree with any of those? Disagree? Feel free to post your own favourites.
Tags: double trigger, lammtarra, pentire, top 10 racehorses
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Wow, that’s some list! Brings back a lot of memories. I’m also a big Relkeel fan and one I think you shouldn’t have left out, also a hurdler, the mighty Istabraq!! The triple Champion Hurdle winner was the best of them all as far as I’m concerned.
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
I love it Mabbs, but you really need to say your 10 favourite race horses, not the ten greatest. Everyone can say Arkle and Secretariat without it really meaning much to them. I’ve had a lot of ideas about mine already and had been thinking about starting a thread like this myself. I’m going to have to think about it carefully before I put my ten down.
May 1st, 2009 at 2:02 am
My top 10 favourite horses, subject to change at anytime
10. Sinndar - this is should really be plum average sprinter Sharp Hat to in fit with my list but I’ve included Sinndar as a nod to obvious brilliance. It ran in the days before I spent half my waking hours trying to work out what will win the 2000 guineas each year. But bloody hell just look what it did, it won the National Stakes at 2, then it was 2nd once at 3 but went on to win the Epsom Derby, the Irish Derby and the Arc. The greatest colts burn bright and run fast, not an extended career but as a 3 year old classic colt, it was truely class.
9. Comply or Die - Hopefully this great galloping machine has one more performance in him. Money matters here, I have to admit it, i had a feeling it was a better horse than what it had done. I remember Sir Bobby saying he had it in his 10 to follow one time, and there it was running the Eider. I made a smart bet and ended up making a mint when it won the national. It was so well in that day I told the world and his wife I was sure it would win the national and its lush when everyone is saying thanks. It put in a bloody fine effort in the 2009 national too it was a smart horse having a bloody good day that stopped it from winning them back to back.
8. Hurricane Run - Its just when you see one early and your waiting for it to do something great. I remember thinking Magnier has a Montjeu colt with Fabre that is interesting and it was. It didn’t go to Epsom but it went to the Curragh and won their Derby then it did what the best horses do, it won an Arc. Top class, it went on to win a Diamond at 4 and got itself placed in the Arc with a troubled run. A smashing horse.
7. Attraction - Not one I won much money on, just something I had to marvel at. With a sprinting pedigree Attraction seemed destined to go down that route winning at five furlongs as a two year old, but at three she proved what an amazing talent she had. The ability to go like a sprinter but keep going for a mile. With its compellingly unusual action she ploughed her own furrow. I thought at the time that it may change horse breeding from now on , it didn’t seem to but if another of the progeny of Efisio, Delegator, wins the Guineas easy this year, everyone will need to think again about how to breed a miler. Its ability to stay could have just been down to Mark Johnson who must be my favourite trainer, a brilliant man who sends out his horses to do their best and win their races. Attraction was the perfect name not a classical beauty but she seemed to draw you in, captivating.
6. Rock of Gibralter- I so remember the 2000 Guineas that year I was in a bookies in Edinburgh on a mates stag do. Everyone else was in the pub around the corner. All the hype was Hawk Wing and the debate still goes on about the side of the track but when it all comes to all the horse won 9 group ones in an amazingly short space of time. He finally lost at the breeders cup but does that really diminish what he achieved. A superstar in my book.
5. New Approach - What a battler to have such talent. It fought its way to wins at two over distances too short, and in the English and Irish guineas a bloody good miler got him beat, but he battled and tried, and when he finally got to take his chance in the Derby I just knew what he would do. I’d backed and backed him, I even backed him for someone else I was so sure. I don’t care what everyone else thinks of Jim Bolger, like his horses he has his own way of thinking and his own way of doing things, and I like the old begger. When he finally said the horse would run, that felt like a victory but when it did, crass as this is I was jumping up and down, shouting and crying. Through the mill but I came out a fair bit richer and with a bookie that won’t take my antipost bets and limits all my stakes.
4. Amberleigh House - Jumping, if you don’t get around you don’t win a national and this little thing could jump buildings without putting a foot wrong. I knew it would get around and I backed it to place when it was too old to win a national, but did. I was standing at St. James park listening to it on a radio. I was cheering it on to win even though my place money was already safe, it was then that I knew it wasn’t just about the betting I had a deep seated affection for some of the horses I followed. I still brings a smile to my face when I think of this little diamond and his bonkers old trainer.
3. Hugs Dancer - This horse never won me a fortune, and was just short of being group class. But I just loved the way it tried and tried, it went up and up in the handicap and something that really sticks in my head was an EBA thread where I said I was staying loyal, and someone told me loyalty was the route to the poor house, or words to that effect. It won that day becuase it tried hard again. Good old Huggsy, I wish it had won a plate but sometimes its about what you try your very best to do but can’t that can make you live long in heart and the memory. I guess when you see a real trier get beat you know its given its all and that’s as much as I’d ever want from anything or anyone.
2. Scarlet Heart - I’m not married and even if I was I can’t imagine I’d have enjoyed a wedding day that much. I love my boys more than anything and they’ve made me as a man, but I didn’t think the days when they were born were that much fun. Its hard seeing someone give birth, looks like it bloody hurts. I’ve had some pretty good birthday parties, holidays and big nights out but, sad as it is, maybe the best day of my life was watching my own horse win a race, it might only have been a share of a share but for that day it was mine. It was Oaks day and I’d been dotting round the bookies in Bristol making sure all situations were covered. In came Light Shift and everything was fine, my trip was paid for. I’d been telling taxi drivers and everyone I saw, to back Scarlet Heart that night, it had won once already and this claimer was just right for it. The Makins and the owner of 90% of the horse were so nice and friendly, charming and kind, I felt so happy even before the race. Then it steamed through and won like the good thing it was. My only regret was not absolutely hammering it, Mr Makin didn’t seem as sure as I was so I held off a bit. The next day was the Derby and I had the biggest price ticket I’ve ever had rolling on to Authorised, I got home just in time to see it make a weekend that was like a dream, a beautiful dream.
1. Red Rum - In 1977 I was 8, my mam, who has an amazing record in the national told me not to bother having my bet on Red Rum. As always I wouldn’t be told. Winning money is great but its the putting your faith in something and being proved right that’s the real magic bit. Red Rum was so special there have of course been better horses but its in my psyche and everyones. Ask someone who knows nothing about horse racing to name a horse and it will be Red Rum. I haven’t always been in love with racing but it started when I was 8 and it just took a little while for me to reallise that it has me. I just has to be Red Rum at number one.
1. Red Rum
2. Hugs Dancer
3. Scarlet Heart
May 1st, 2009 at 6:17 am
Great read richy, a couple in there I’d forgotten about. Sinndar and Attraction would be my top 12!