Related Research Articles
Arkle was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. A bay gelding by Archive out of Bright Cherry, he was the grandson of the unbeaten flat racehorse and prepotent sire Nearco. Arkle was bred by Mary Baker of Malahow House, near Naul, County Dublin, and was born at Ballymacoll Stud, County Meath. He was owned by Anne Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster, who named him after the mountain Arkle in Sutherland, Scotland, that bordered her Sutherland estate. Trained by Tom Dreaper at Greenogue, Kilsallaghan in County Meath, Ireland, he was ridden during his steeplechasing career by Pat Taaffe.
The Coral Gold Cup is a Premier Handicap National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Newbury over a distance of about 3 miles and 2 furlongs, and during its running there are twenty-one fences to be jumped. It is a handicap race, and it is scheduled to take place each year in late November or early December.
The Irish Grand National is a National Hunt steeplechase in Ireland which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Fairyhouse over a distance of about 3 miles and 5 furlongs, and during its running there are twenty-four fences to be jumped. It is a handicap race, and it is scheduled to take place each year on Easter Monday.
Rupert Walsh is an Irish former jockey. He is the second child, and eldest son, of former champion amateur jockey Ted Walsh and his wife Helen. Walsh is the third most prolific winner in British and Irish jump racing history behind only Sir Anthony McCoy and Richard Johnson.
Foinavon (1958–1971) was an Irish racehorse. He won the Grand National in 1967 at odds of 100/1 after the rest of the field fell, refused or were hampered or brought down in a mêlée at the 23rd fence. The fence was officially named after Foinavon in 1984.
Tom Taaffe is an Irish racehorse trainer based at Portree Stables, Boston, Ardclough, Straffan, in County Kildare.
Flyingbolt was a famous racehorse. Officially he is the second best steeplechaser of all time, behind only Arkle, who was ironically stabled just a few doors away in the same yard at Kilsallaghan, Co. Dublin where both were trained by Tom Dreaper. A comparison of their merits is probably best illustrated by the Official Handicapper, who at the end of the 1965-1966 season rated Arkle the superior by only 1 lb (0.5 kg). Timeform, the highly respected racing publication, had a difference of 2 lbs between them. However, whereas Arkle is feted and remembered as the greatest steeplechaser of all time, Flyingbolt has been all but forgotten. As a hurdler, he was the best Tom Dreaper ever trained. His wins included the Gloucestershire Hurdle at Cheltenham and the Scalp Hurdle at Leopardstown. He also finished third in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. Flyingbolt and Arkle never met on the race track, mainly because they were trained by the same man, and he preferred to keep them apart.
David Nicholson was a British National Hunt jockey and trainer. He was British jump racing Champion Trainer in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons.
Frederick Thomas Winter, was a British National Hunt racing racehorse jockey and trainer. He was British jump racing Champion Jockey four times and British jump racing Champion Trainer eight times. He is the only person to have won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Grand National as both jockey and trainer. Winter won the Grand National four times, as a jockey in 1957 (Sundew) and 1962 (Kilmore), and as a trainer in 1965 and 1966 (Anglo).
Fulke Thomas Tyndall Walwyn CVO was a British jockey and a celebrated racehorse trainer, who was particularly successful in National Hunt racing.
Tom Scudamore is a retired third-generation British flat and steeplechase jockey. He is the son of eight-time champion jockey Peter Scudamore; his grandfather Michael won the Grand National on Oxo in 1959.
Captain Christy was a champion Irish-bred and Irish-trained hurdler and steeplechaser who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup as a novice.
Timothy James Murphy, known as Timmy Murphy, is a retired Irish jockey who competed mostly in National Hunt racing. A multiple Grade 1-winning rider, he is best known for his victory on Comply or Die in the 2008 Grand National. He overcame problems with alcohol, which had led to a prison sentence after a drunken incident on a plane in 2002, to resume a successful career and win the 2005 jump jockey of the year Lester Award. He won the Irish Grand National on Davids Lad in 2001, and the Scottish Grand National on Merigo in 2010 and 2012. He had eight winners at the Cheltenham Festival, the first in 1997 and the last in 2009. He recorded his 1000th win in Britain in 2010. Following an injury in a fall in 2010 he was unable to regain his licence to ride over jumps and switched codes, riding on the flat from 2015 until 2018, when he retired from race riding.
Tommy Carberry was an Irish jockey who rode mostly in National Hunt races. He was Irish jump racing Champion Jockey four times. He is best known for winning the 1975 Grand National on L'Escargot. He rode a total of 16 Cheltenham Festival winners, including L'Escargot in the 1970 and 1971 Gold Cup and Ten Up in the 1975 Gold Cup. After retiring from race riding in 1982 he became a trainer and in 1999 saddled the winner of the Grand National, Bobbyjo.
Thomas William Dreaper (1898-1975) was an Irish steeplechase racehorse trainer, best known for having been the trainer of Arkle and Flyingbolt.
Stanley Thomas Edward Mellor was a National Hunt jockey and trainer who was the first jockey to ride 1,000 winners and Champion Jockey three years in a row from 1960 to 1962.
Bobby Beasley was an Irish jockey and horse trainer.
Willie Robinson was an Irish jump jockey. He is the only jockey to have won the Hennessy Gold Cup three times. He is associated with the great steeplechaser, Mill House on whom he won both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Hennessy. He also won the Champion Hurdle on Anzio and Kirriemuir and the Grand National on Team Spirit. Unusually for a jump jockey, he was also placed in the Derby.
Prince Regent was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1946 Cheltenham Gold Cup. He was the dominant steeplechaser in Ireland during World War II with his wins including the Irish Grand National in 1942. After the war he was able to compete in the major British chases and won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1946. He finished third when favourite for the 1946 Grand National and fourth in the race in 1947, carrying top weight on both occasions. He continued to race until the age of fourteen, retiring in 1949.
References
- ↑ "Taaffe, Pat". Dictionary of Irish Biography. 2009.
- 1 2 3 Magee, Sean (2009). Arkle: the story of the world's greatest steeplechaser. Newbury: Racing Post.
- ↑ Peters, Stewart (2005). The Grand National: The History of the Aintree Spectacular. Stroud: Tempus. ISBN 9780752435473.
- 1 2 Colley, Declan (2010). When Bobby Met Christy. Cork: Collins Press. ISBN 9781848890398.
- ↑ "Taaffe at the top". Irish Examiner . 25 February 2004.
- ↑ "Obituaries 19-11-11". Meath Chronicle . 16 November 2011.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
