| That rare combination of patient and kind trainer, Tom Dreaper, courageous jockey, Pat Taffe, astute owner, Anne, Duchess of Westminster, and quick, economic and intelligent horse, Irish-bred Arkle, produced three successive Cheltenham Gold Cup wins, 1964-66. In race after major race, Arkle, carrying the heaviest weight, would trounce the opposition, rarely failing to win; all business on the course, and affectionate towards his adoring public in the stable yard. His owner declined to enter him in the Grand National, concerned about the risk of injury, so he never contested that race. He was retired in 1966, after cracking a pedal bone in his off forefoot during the King George VI chase at Kempton. Arkle, whose races were broadcast on television, was a world-reknown racehorse before the era of marketed superstars. Arkle's sire, Archive, did nothing on the racecourse, despite his royal breeding, but he did sire the good chaser Mariner's Log, second in the 1954 Gold Cup. Arkle's dam, Bright Cherry, won twelve steeplechases and her dam, Greenogue Princess was a point-to-point winner by the great 'chaser sire, My Prince. Bright Cherry's sire, Knight of the Garter, was a top 'chaser sire in 1949-50, who passed on both stamina and speed. |
