WITH the Cheltenham Festival now 4 days away, the Sun Racing team will be bringing you their ‘Festival 50’ every day between now and 10 March.
We will salute the Prestbury Park heroes that made us fall in love with the Festival, all the way until the ‘Cheltenham roar’ signals that the wait is finally over.
Number 4: Arkle
Sir Peter O’Sullevan labelled him ‘a freak of nature’, and such was his standing in Irish society that he would receive fan mail addressed simply to ‘Himself, Ireland’.
The legendary Arkle won 27 of his 35 starts over a variety of trips, and in the 1960’s he won three consecutive Gold Cups.
The Irish used to joke he got his strength from drinking Guinness twice a day – if it worked for him…
His first Gold Cup was perhaps the most memorable, as he arrived as the slight underdog against the English superstar Mill House, who had won the previous year’s race.
It was billed as a titanic clash, and so it proved as the great chasers drew away from their rivals and battled it out into the home straight.
However, to the amazement of everyone bar the Irish fans on track, it was Arkle who saw it out best and he stormed up the hill to win impressively.
The pair locked horns again 12 months later, and again Mill House tried to serve it up to the Tom Dreaper-trained aeroplane.
But this time, Arkle opened up at the bottom of the hill and left his old foe for dead, recording a jaw-dropping win under regular rider Pat Taafe. If there were any doubters beforehand, there were none now.
The horse who had ‘the grace of a stag and the watchful eye of an eagle’ would return in 1966 as the 1-10 favourite.
Those who took the odds will have needed a stiff drink after the race…
Bowling along in the lead with a circuit to go, Arkle made a complete mess of the fence in front of the stands – drawing huge gasps from the crowd, but he somehow found a leg and survived.
It was a procession thereafter as the champion sauntered clear for an historic victory.
The best ever? Quite possibly.
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