SHARPE MIND: Get Back on the Horse

In this week’s SHARPE MIND blog, where sports betting PR legend GRAHAM SHARPE aims to bring you a rundown of Sensational, Hard to believe, Amusing, Remarkable, Pertinent & Entertaining events which have happened over the years in the worlds of racing and betting during each specific week of the year, he digs out some of the golden moments from the week between 18 April and 24 April.

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APRIL 18, 1847….…SUNDAY TIMES……..Bell’s Life magazine carried a racing-related article observing: ‘Many very good people in England think it is a shocking thing that the French should run races on a Sunday, and still more shocking that Englishmen should join in what is so very dreadful.’ Double standards? Surely not…..!

APRIL 18, 2014……….GOOD DAY TO RACE…….Lingfield attracted a capacity crowd of 8777 as the first race meeting to be permitted on a Good Friday began with the 1.45 All Weather Championships Apprentice Handicap, won by Richard Hannon-trained 5/1 shot, Viewpoint, ridden by Cam Hardie.

APRIL 19,1877……FRED 6, FRANKIE 7………Fred almost did a Frankie on this date, as the great jockey, Archer, equally as famous in his day as Dettori is now, won on all six of his rides at Newmarket, at odds of 504/1, and including just two favourites, on the seven race card.

APRIL 19, 1891……UNCOMMON FEAT….…John Porter-trained Common was making his racecourse debut in the 2000 Guineas, but ran out an impressive winner by three lengths, en route to victory and the first leg of a winning Triple Crown.

APRIL 20, 1992……OH BOY, WHERE’S HE GONE?….Red hot 1/2 favourite Riverside Boy, trained by Martin Pipe, disappeared before the start of the Real British Col Novice Chase at Uttoxeter. Puzzled connections finally discovered that the horse had broken free from his lad, found an exit gate and set off down the road. The race was run without him – but he was eventually tracked down some three miles away.

APRIL 20, 1946…….PAT ON THE BACK……..Pat Taaffe, who would achieve racing immortality as Arkle’s jockey, rode his first winner, Ballin Corona, on the flat at Phoenix Park on this date. He would say of Arkle, who was foaled at Ballymacoll on April 19, 1957, that ‘when he first came to (trainer) Mr (Tom) Dreaper’s, his action was so bad you could drive a wheelbarrow through his legs.’

APRIL 21, 1989……..HEROIC HORSEBOX…Quick-thinking horsebox driver Ivan Hughes saved the lives of three people trapped on the roof of a blazing building in Newmarket by driving an empty box up close to it, so that they could jump on top of it to escape.

APRIL 21, 1999…….GET BACK ON THE HORSE…..Affectionately known as the most pessimistic of trainers….. partly due to the instructions he gave his jockey, Hywel Davies to ‘keep remounting’ as he went out to ride 50/1 Last Suspect before the 1985 Grand National – which he won…….Captain Tim Forster, who also won the National with Ben Nevis and Well To Do, died aged 65 on this date.

APRIL 22, 2020….LUKE AND LARRY AT LOGGERHEADS….. Aussie jockey Luke Tarrant was stood down from race-riding for six months after fighting with fellow rider, Larry Cassidy, at Doomben on this date. The pair initially had a verbal altercation by the weighing area. Then Tarrant reportedly headbutted Cassidy, his helmet striking Cassidy’s nose, causing an injury. Their dust-up appeared to have started after the finish of a race in which Tarrant finished seventh and Cassidy eighth. Tarrant also broke social distancing rules, which was taken into account with the punishment handed down.

APRIL 22, 1995……NATIONAL TREASURE……Jenny Pitman-trained Willsford won the Scottish National at 16/1 – adding to the trainer’s pair of Grand Nationals and hat trick of Welsh National triumphs.

APRIL 23, 1985…….ANNE WENT AGAINST THE GRAIN……Princess Anne made her racecourse debut, finishing 4th at Epsom over one and a half miles, on Against The Grain, as Elain Mellor won the race on 11/2 No-U Turn.

APR 23, 2005……FLYING HAT TRICK BID….…Martin Pipe-trained six year old hurdler, Commercial Flyer, a 13/2 chance, finished 5th of 17 at Sandown in a two and a half mile hurdles race – having won a three and a quarter mile hurdles race at Perth in Scotland the day before at 7/4, and having won yet another race, also at Perth over two and a half miles, at Evens, the day before that.

APRIL 24, 1967……….NICE GUY………Guy’s Master won at Alexandra Park – appropriately enough, as the horse became the first winner trained by Guy Harwood, who would go on to train Dancing Brave, winner of the 1986 Arc, and European Horse of the Year for that year.

APRIL 24, 1830…..OH, LORD!………An objection was made following a race at the Curragh – ‘Lord Portarlington’s Dandy came in first but in consequence of having caught the stirrup leather and boot of Lord Howth in his mouth, the Stewards decided that Queensberry won the race.’ A brave decision as, at the time, the Senior Steward just happened to be……Lord Portarlington.

AND FINALLY…..THAT’S THE (KELLE) WAY TO DO IT……..Former jockey and current trainer, Gay Kelleway has been in the news for travelling from her Newmarket stable to the Ukrainian border with Poland, to deliver medical supplies and aid for horses affected by the war. Her father Paul, who died on April 21, 1999, aged 58, would have been justifiably proud of her actions. He rode 392 winners, including winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup on What A Myth in 1969 and won the Champion Hurdle on Bula in 1971 and 72. He trained Madam Gay to win the 1981 French Oaks – she cost 9000 guineas and was sold for £1.4m.

GRAHAM SHARPE

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