50 GREATEST HORSES

1   JODAMI   Oh yes. Excellent hurdles record. Won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and also second (to The Fellow). Won the Irish equivalent three times a row, and was cost a fourth by going lame late in the race. Despite this, sometimes it seemed he was never quite forgiven for only winning three out of six in his novice chases. In his penultimate season he was placed in the Irish Grand National and Whitbread Gold Cup, both times carrying top weight, and the following term, aged 12, broke Haydock's three mile course record, which had stood for over twenty years. As well as his achievements on the track, he also had tremendous presence in the preliminaries. Away from the most hectic racedays, Jodami always gave the impression that he presiding over events rather than participating. An incredible talent.

1A   BREGAWN   Gold Cup winner who spent most of the rest of career doing the minimum he possibly could. That proves his excellence as a disinterested Bregawn was usually far too good for those taking him on. In typically imperious style the horse decided that subsequent successes in the ultimate chase were going to prove nothing we did not already know about him, so decided to let someone else have a turn. Imagine what he might have achieved had his ability been paired with Viking Flagship's attitude! 

2   VIKING FLAGSHIP   Those who read his obituary on this site when he died will recall that as far as Midweek Money-spinners is concerned, the Flagship is beyond all criticism. The occasional below par run was nothing to get carried away about and the major battles won match any horse of recent years. The pinnacle was probably the Melling Chase victory, where the great horse was tackling a trip that gave an edge to his rivals and seemed done for until producing an immense rally. Not bad for a horse that started his novice hurdling career on the all-weather!

3   MIDNIGHT MADNESS   Was the epitomy of many of the entries on this list - an ex-pointer and hunter chaser who was transformed into a decent and honest staying chaser. His pinnacle of success was the Midlands National, but had he taken better to the Aintree fences, he could have nabbed the big one from a low weight. The first year that he tried, Grandstand showed a feature of him being trained in Devon and generally having a whale of a time on the moors. The spirit of jumping.

4   NICK THE BRIEF   The greatest moments of his career were achieved by winning Ireland's staying chasers championship. Unfortunately, Britain was then plagued by a lack of soft ground which precluded him from repeating the feat at Cheltenham. A massively genuine and talented horse who turned up at the right place in the wrong years.

5   MYSTIC MUSIC   A quite brilliant hunter chaser, who did not contest either of the big Foxhunters' trophy races but was poised for a devastating hat-trick in the Horse & Hound Cup until a last minute serious injury prevented her from running in her third renewal and ended her career for good. Those who did not see her race find it hard to comprehend how dominant she was. The race close-up invariably read "mid-div, quickened clear 3 out, easily" and ended in a win by at least fifteen lengths.

6   ST ATHANS LAD   How many courses must a horse win at before we can call him a horse? Apparently just one, as long as he does it nine times in one season and it is Fontwell. St Athans Lad could have won more illustrious races had he put his mind to it, but the Sussex spiral seemed to secure his attention longer than more conventional layouts.

7   GREASEPAINT   Continues a theme that has gone through this section - the reliable each-way certainty for the Grand National. All horses that are posed the ultimate test and respond by putting up their best showing deserve a place on the list and Greasepaint sort of represents all of them that qualify under that principle. 

8   FLOYD   Apparently, David Elsworth's favourite amongst the horses he has trained. Having achieved fame as a game and honest two miler, he kept running at top level throughout a long career and reached a fitting peak when winning the Grade 1 Long Walk hurdle. He could indeed tell blue skies from pain and a green field from a cold steel rail.

9   JOKER JACK   I am as shocked as you are that he did not make the top five, but competition at the top is pretty hot. He won two out of ninety nine, but gave his all on just about every occasion, once making the prize money in a graded novice chase. Eleven out of ten for effort and a horse who is an example to us all.

10   MANHATTAN BOY   The absolute and utter king of Plumpton sellers. As he got older, he extended his repertoire to include two and a half miles, but for most of the time it was at the minimum that he made his name, often partnered by his human alter-ego, Ray Goldstein. We will never see his like again, and not just because the course has scrapped sellers in favour of claimers. Proof that star quality is not proportional to raw ability.

Manhattan Boy returns to Plumpton on his 21st birthday, eager to get it on with the whippersnappers

10A   FLYING ACE  It was especially shocking that I missed out this fellow because of the small matter of his massing in points and under rules over fifty wins. That is not a misprint, and the fiftieth success, in a hunter chase, made the evening news. To match this record, a horse would have to run from the age of five to the age of thirteen and average six wins a season.

11   COMEDY OF ERRORS   Blessed with a name that both conjures up classic pretensions, admittedly literary ones, but warns of a potential chapter of disasters, he remains the only Champion Hurdler to lose and then regain the title. And that was in what was probably the greatest era of two miler hurdling there has been. Oddly enough, he is possibly the least well remembered of that bunch.

12   REMITTANCE MAN   A graphic illustration of how much difference there is between fences and hurdling. He was a good but unprolific novice hurdler, who turned into an extraordinary novice chaser. He ought to have run up an incredible winning sequence but was condemned to a futile stab at the King George. Although retired early due to injury, he was also one of the most comfortable Queen Mother Champion Chase winners of recent years.

13   BIRD'S NEST   Another appearance for the late 70s/early 80s school of hurdling, he is another who might have achieved a frightening dominance had he emerged in a different era. In the head to head record versus his main rivals he probably came out a bit behind, but Bird's Nest kept to the top of his game as long as the others, despite the succession of hard races.

14   BRADBURY STAR   There are not many horses manage to win major handicap chases for two years in a row, because they either get stuffed by the handicapper or were such a good thing that they go onto championship races. Bradbury Star did both, running with credit in grade 1 races at 2m and 2m 4f, winning a couple of Murphy's/Mackeson Gold Cups and generally being very game and likeable.

15   NORTON'S COIN   Subject of one of the legendary racing quotes, "more a candidate for last than first," in the Cheltenham racecard on the day he won the big one at 100/1. The lasting image of that year was a bemused crowd watching as Graham McCourt celebrated by throwing Sirrell Griffiths' flat cap at them. Sadly, the great horse recently died, but having struck in an era when the Gold Cup was littered with extraordinary stories, this is one that stands above the others.

16   CRISP   Whilst the triple success of Red Rum is a historic achievement unlikely ever to be matched, my first memory of the race is of Crisp bouncing around miles clear of the rest, making me wonder why all the commentators had made out that this was so difficult. Obviously he won some other top races, but really deserved the 1973 National as well.

17   SEA PIGEON   Unlike the current preference for avoiding any decent opposition until Cheltenham, it used to be the case that all of the top hurdlers took each other on several times in a season. And when those races happened Sea Pigeon seemed to come out on top more often than anyone else. More than just winning Champion Hurdles, he won an array of competitive top-class hurdles

18   THE FELLOW   Were his face three inches longer, The Fellow would have been the first horse since Arkle to have won three Gold Cups, which would have added nicely on to a pair of King George VI chases as well. Plus whatever big races The Fellow won in France.  Yet this incredible tally seemed to receive little appreciation at the time, and he is not often used as a yardstick for comparison now. Strange.

19   THE DIKLER   Started out as a great big lumbering/clumsy thing before maturing into a Gold Cup winner. He was the stereotypical powerful chaser that everyone in their heart of hearts wants to see reach the top of the tree. And let's be honest, although it is actually a pond or stream or something, the name is pretty funny as well.

20   EDREDON BLEU   Another horse who has been underestimated as full credit would involve certain people in the media eating their words. Whilst it was well known that he is best right-handed, to have been first and second in the Queen Mother proved he is an outstanding horse to have done so well in championship races under adverse conditions. 

21   ESHA NESS  He was denied his moment of extreme glory by the particularly inglorious circumstances of the void Grand National. He went into that day as a decent staying handicap chaser primed to run the race of his life. Inclusion here is partly due to the fact that the fine round of jumping that he put in on the day was ignored in the general excitement.

22   SPANISH STEPS   Another selection based on performances in the National, he is the first horse that I can remember latching on to, and that was based purely on what seemed a good name. To the best of my recollection, at no point prior to this had I seen "The Battleship Potemkin." 

23   MORLEY STREET   The true mark of a class horse is to have ability and the quirks of character that make for a real entertainer. Stuffing the ex-ferrets in the Champion Hurdle, and then beating a classic winner on the flat were grand days, but the legendary ride of Graham Bradley in the Aintree Hurdle, when the horse was held up to the last possible moment, and then another fifty yards, winning with an astounding burst of acceleration was as good as we have seen anywhere.

24   RED RUM   There is not a lot to be said here, and he is included despite the fact that most people would still think that Crisp deserved to win the National when Red Rum took his first one. Given how hard it is to win twice, should any other horse ever win the big race three times (not likely), would it be able to pick up a couple of seconds as well?

25   SEE YOU THEN   If you can win three Champion Hurdles, why bother mopping up the minor races along the way. A major training feat with a great horse. After the golden age of hurdling in the seventies and early eighties, the hat-trick was viewed as perhaps an easier feat than previous dual winners were achieving, but I still think See You Then would stuff Istabraq.

26   MISTER ED   Having overcome an early tendency to jump when the other horses did, irrespective of his proximity to the fence, he learnt to excel in marathon chases. Late in his career Mister Ed ran an absolute cracker in the Scottish National and was gradually reeling in the leading group in the big one at Aintree when brought down by The Fellow at the second visit to the Canal Turn.

27   KING'S CURATE   Won the Stayers Hurdle under a monstrously brilliant ride by Mark Perrett in 1991. The race developed into an epic duel with Run For Free (who was probably no. 51 in this list). The appeal of King's Curate is that he worked his way up from being a decent handicapper and earned the highest accolade. Unfortunately, he never really cut the mustard as a chaser.

28   WEST TIP   There used to be a time when you could pickup on a horse for the Grand National and make money by the simple technique of backing them each-way. West Tip, with a win and three places in the great race, was probably the last horse to qualify for this system.

29   SETTER COUNTRY   A game two mile handicap chasing mare, she caught the imagination by winning the occasional valuable race. One in particular, at Ascot, when she seemed the least likely to prevail on the home turn, typifies how she always managed to conjure cause for optimism and was very game when on good terms with herself.

30   BARNBROOK AGAIN   Would surely have been much more highly praised if not in the same yard as Desert Orchid at the same time. A dominant force in two mile chases who could also win over much further, his titanic head to head with Waterloo Boy was such a close run thing, it is hard to know why they are not adjacent in this list.

31   HENRY MANN   Surprise, surprise, it's another staying hurdler. He never quite progressed onto the heights that once seemed possible, but a horse with such unrelenting determination is always going to be eminently likeable.

32   WATERLOO BOY   Somehow managed to not win the Queen Mother Champion Chase, despite being a perpetual major player in two mile chases during his career. His mighty tussle with Barnbrook Again in 1990 was one of the classic races of recent years.

33    WILLIE WUMPKINS   Staying hurdler who won at three consecutive Cheltenham festivals. If that is not sufficient reason for inclusion, he did it in handicap hurdles, which means defying the wrath of a thwarted handicapper for two years. 

34   TOBY TOBIAS   Almost pulled off a unique double by winning both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and at Plumpton. In fact, he went closer at Cheltenham, as he finished fourth, but unseated the only time he visited the so-called lesser track.

35   BREAKFAST CAR   A chaser for whom a race away from Fontwell and Plumpton was quite a rare event, and every so often he would pop up and win a chase at one of his regular haunts. The main appeal is being present to see him race so often.

35A   CHASMARELLA   Unbelievably I forgot her from the original list. She was trained by uberlegend Albert Davison, so almost certainly could have done a bit more if it had ever been required. The pinnacle of a great career was when she started favourite for a staying handicap hurdle at Cheltenham two races after being quietly beaten in a seller at Plumpton.

36   IVY EDITH   An entertainer! Throughout her career, she was appallingly behaved in the preliminaries, usually needing two handlers and still carving a swathe of terror around the parade ring. And to maximise the humour level, the worse she behaved before a race, the better she ran! We await her offspring with relish.

37   DUBACILLA   Runner-up in the Gold Cup, admittedly at a respectful distance, she was a classic case of a horse being slowly brought along. Most of her novice chasing was at two and a half miles, but a late season step up saw massive improvement. In tougher company Dubacilla did even better, but also had a hint of mischief about her.

38   JIBBER THE KIBBER   Sadly his career was not long enough to make a lasting impact, but he was shaping up as a useful stayer. His selection here is based on him being the best named horse of the nineties.

39   VODKATINI   The classic wayward genius. Big wins and high profile refusals, the latter of which Josh Gifford memorably attributed to pre-race nerves, when we all knew he was just being cantankerous. I recall him making a brief comeback over three miles and many punters waiting on the starting blocks to see if they could get a bet on in the short time between him starting and the bookies wiping off their prices.

40   DUBLIN FLYER   Mainly due to his manner of racing, he was a horse that is was impossible not to like. And to improve the impression created, he usually managed to gain his highest profile victories in the sort of close finishes that we are used to seeing the brave front-runner agonisingly pipped at the post.

41   CAPTAIN CHRISTY   Comes out as my earliest memory of the Gold Cup being reported, and it revolves around him recovering from a potentially disastrous error. Reading accounts of the horse's career has strongly implied that he might have picked up plenty of big races had he remained sound enough.

42   COOL GROUND   Whilst he did win a Gold Cup, that is not the reason for selection (I had backed The Fellow), but before that day he was a smashing performer in marathon chases, in particular the wins the Welsh National and Mildmay/Cazalet with Anthony Tory in the saddle. In fact, the Gold Cup only served to mess up his handicap mark and prevent compiling a very long roll of honour.

43   CLARA MOUNTAIN   He was a classic Tim Forster chaser, who kept running until he was thirteen. He turned out year after year and actually won at least one race in about eight consecutive seasons. At his peak, he never had a high profile victory, but his run of winning seasons must be close to a record of some sort.

44   RULING DYNASTY   The figure of eight chase course at Fontwell has always had a share of specialists, but the more normally shaped hurdle track also throws up some, and Ruling Dynasty has been about the most prolific of them. As he got older, he managed to expand his winning repertoire to 2m 6f. A mighty warrior of West Sussex.

45   SEE MORE BUSINESS   Has had a funny career in public, as it took ages for him to get the plaudits for big races won, but the press then suddenly went mad over him. Regularly victorious in graded staying chases contested by the top of the tree horses, so what more could be asked of him?

46   BLAZING WALKER    He was gradually sneaking up towards the top of the tree by the technique of winning by a similar margin against opposition of all qualities. Injury struck when he was just about to be acknowledged as a an exceptional two and half mile chaser.

47   YAHOO   It is almost as silly name for a horse as it is for a web directory/search engine. He might have been accorded many more accolades had he not been at the peak of his powers simultaneously with a certain very popular grey chaser.

48   CHERRYKINO   Was given a classic Tim Forster slow-but-sure education and seemed poised on the verge of something special when sadly killed in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. His appearance here is proof that I was right  and the scoffers were wrong!

49   VAGOG   Staying hurdlers are too often ignored and this one contested sellers and claimers at two miles until a big step in trip enabled him to show his true capabilities. From Newton Abbot seller to Grade 1 Ascot Hurdle. Needless to say, his history caused the merits of the achievement to be under-appreciated.

50   TEAPLANTER   Set up an enviable roll of honour despite being mostly hindered by the attentions of an enthusiastic but not overly skillful owner-rider. Add in the tendency of the horse to throw in the odd bad blunder, and their combined tally of success is somewhere between a great credit them both and miraculous.