I never realised what a good race this actually was. Quality wise. 5 gold cup winners, including the winner and the first 4 places were all gold cup winners (eventually) A Grand national winner etc...a good race.....But hey what a walk down memory lane! Thanks for positing all these videos.
This was to be Desert Orchid's last Gold Cup appearance at Cheltenham. Great effort by the great grey. The winner nearly made National Hunt history by achieving the Gold Cup/Grand National double that year.
Richard Pitman was getting up at the end from his position to go and congratulate his son on winning and (possibly Richard Lindley) said he'd better sit down.
The Fellow is my all time favourite n.h. horse. Looking back he made some really bad blunders in this which cost him the race. For an unemployed 17 year old at the time, having a 33/1 shot pipped on the line was GUTTING.
Desie was in decline here, combine that with his dislike of Cheltenham & this was a most gallant effort. He had beaten The Fellow & Celtic Shot just behind, hollow in the King George.
I personally think his dislike of Cheltenham was overplayed a little and probably what was more significant was that connections were trying to win big 2 mile races like the Tingle Creek which he won and the Queen Mother with him in which he finished 2nd, yet how many in this Gold Cup field could have done the same? When you then think that Dessie also won races like the Irish National at 3m4f and the Whitbread at 3m5f then that just shows how hard it would have been to beat specialist 2 mile horses at Cheltenham.
@@seanscanlon9067 There is no doubt he jumped to the right which is why he won precisely two races running left-handed. If you watch his races at Cheltenham he's always on the outside coming into the final turn as when he got tried he jumped more to his right. In his book about Desert Orchid his owner Richard Burridge wrote that the reason Desert Orchid never entered the Grand National was the Canal Turn and he specifically mentions the second circuit when he'd be more tired. Flyingbolt and Kauto Star both won major races at 2m and at 3m 5f and 3m 2 1/2f respectively in the same season.
This was a fine renewal but anyone who said dessie hated Cheltenham look at the stats never finished out of the first 3 in a chase at Cheltenham that included 2 wonderful races against in my mind the finest 2 mile chaser ever pearlyman OK better at kempton but never hated Cheltenham as much as people said
Carrick Hill Lad went lame after the third Last and never raced again. Real shame, as a Novice Chaser he was held in similar esteem as Carvills Hill. Gordon Richards lost so many of his crack chasers over the years, One Man, Dark Ivy & Playlord spring to mind.
Such a shame as he was only an 8yo. He'd won 8 of 11 chases prior to this and last time out had been second in the Welsh National giving 11lbs to the future Gold Cup winner Cool Ground.
Every time I watch a race from yesteryear, I realise more and more what an overrated commentator Peter O'Sullevan was. Can you imagine the reaction if Holt or Hoiles made this final furlong call? In the 1987 Champion Hurdle he also called See You Then (who had won the previous two renewals so wasn't some unknown horse) "See You Again." He had a tendency for long pauses too, and only reporting when a horse fell/unseated/pulled up 2 or 3 furlongs after the event. Shockingly poor when you compare him to the legendary figure so many make him out to be.
He was a Francophile and was pally with The Fellow's owner so I feel sure he was commentating on what he wanted to happen rather than what was happening. Too true, by today's standards he was a shockingly bad commentator. Basically then his only competition were the dire on-course commentators and those that worked for Extel who knew noone could see their blunders. He had it easy, just 3 or 4 races most weeks and the likes of Tony Cook or Graham Goode to compare with. ( Maybe Raleigh Gilbert was a bit better than the latter pair but he still sounded bad compared to O'Sullevan).
Don't forget this was only his second run in Britain after a promising but ultimately well beaten run in the King George. I'm sure he was only 6 or 7 at the time as well, which to British bookmakers/punters was a major negative.
John McCririck was always harping on about how bad foreign jockeys were supposed to be, plus I would imagine many UK and Irish punters had their own home favourites too.
Winning a Gold Cup and being placed in a couple of others, as well as almost winning a Queen Mother at 2 miles when 2nd doesn't suggest he hated Cheltenham. That's just a bit of a fallacy really, mainly due to many of his big race wins coming at right-handed courses like Ascot, Fairyhouse, Kempton, and Sandown yet it didn't stop him winning at left-handed courses like Aintree and Cheltenham too. What many might also forget or not be aware of is the Dessie also ran well when up with the pace for a long way in Dawn Run's Champion Hurdle too.
