Magnificent, made it look easy, never troubled here, and yet had little attention as a possible winner beforehand. They didn't think he would stay 3 miles. David Elsworth the trainer had no doubt he would, said beforehand Dessie's regular jockey Colin Brown had picked the wrong horse in Combs Ditch, who he pulled up in a bad way, so David had to go over to him instead of being at the winner's enclosure with Dessie. Simon Sherwood was ideal for him. I highly recommend the book The Grey Horse: The True Story of Desert Orchid by his owner Richard Burridge- the chapter on this race is exhilarating and had me choked up.
This was the race that I became a desert orchid fan before the race the big 3 everyone was talking about were wayward lad superb horse forgive n forget classy peformer and Coombs ditch a real battler who was often the bridesmaid round kempton door latch I was a fan of to but who was to guess for the next 5 years the stunning handsome grey would have the racing public give so much pleasure and joy rip dessie and to all these wonderful chasers
The most wonderful chaser I have ever seen in 70 years of watching,Simon Sherwood and Dessie the PERFECT partnership.What other horse could beat champion 2 milers and upwards giving them all weight.The best there has ever been
Don`t forget that he also won some top class staying flat races while he was chasing, not only one of the best horses i ever saw but also one of the most versatile too.
Nupsala must have been some horse ..beat dessie 15 length, in his prime, good going,kempton...no excuses, great horse but beatable.... something which over chases, Arkle was not...at levels, and most of the time giving stones.
Ah remember this day well. The day that Desert Orchid announced himself as a staying chaser of the highest order. A fantastic racehorse. Also nice to see that little black n white striped box in the top right hand corner at the end of the vid. Haven't seen one of them for yonks.
F&F was badly ridden here. He gave up 25 lengths at Kempton before the second fence. Wouldn't have changed the result, but he was always out of his comfort zone because of this.
Hywel Davies on Western Sunset who rode the 1985 Grand National winner on Last Suspect and of course Ben De Haan who rode Corbiere to win the 83 National
Forget hindsight, that will remain the most overpriced steeplechase winner in living memory at 16/1. He was the only progressive horse in race and the only thing that threw the betting public was Brown opting for Combs Ditch, a complete rogue who had just run one amazing race against Burrough Hill Lad when just beaten
The prize money for jumping is crap. High time they increased it. Graham Bradley screwed his own career for bribes, he did take out a trainers licence but nobody took him up because of his cheating.
Yes, these horses' lives are at greater risk than on the flat. I admire them greatly, Dessie above all. It's like in athletics, the sprinters get much more glory but a runner like Gebreselassie would beat Bolt at all distances after 5-600 yards.
