National Hunt Racing – The Big Winners

Arkle

Arkle, a bay horse, was born 19th April 1957 at the Ballymacoll Stud, Dunboyne, Co. Meath, Ireland.

His breeder was Mrs Alison Baker who was the widow of Mr Henry Baker, a farmer from the north of County Dublin. He had bred Arkle’s mother Bright Cherry.

Bright Cherry, when trained by Tom Dreaper had been a very good 2 to 2½ mile chaser who normally carried plenty of weight in handicaps. At stud Bright Cherry produced twelve individual winning offspring.

The sire was Archive, a beautifully bred Nearco horse. Archive had not been very good on the course but on breeding could have won a Derby and it was this flat race speed which attracted the eye of Mrs Baker who thought it might be suitable for Bright Cherry.

When Arkle was born he was described by his breeder as “not so much gangling as scopey”.

After those first few months at the Ballymacoll Stud the young (as of yet un-named) Arkle was sent to his breeders home farm where as a two year old he was broken in.

On the 4 August 1960, the three year old Arkle was sent to the Goff’s Bloodstock Sales (which at that time were at Ballsbridge), where a reserve of 500 guineas was put on the young horse. In the sale ring he made 1,150 guineas and his new owner was Anne, Duchess of Westminster. The Duchess had been advised by trainer Tom Dreaper to have a look at the horse as he’d trained it’s relatives and had a good feeling about the youngster.

Arkle was named by the Duchess after a mountain that was near one of her Scottish estates.

Breeding

Race Card for Arkle’s Final Race

I’ve got this race card which is for the 1966 Kempton Park Christmas meeting which included the King George VI Chase. The race was won by Dormant trained by J. Wells-Kendrew and ridden by J King with Arkle finishing lame in second place.

At first it was thought Arkle had broken down but on examination it was found that he had cracked the pedal bone in his foot. This brought about the end of Arkle’s racing career.

Diagram of the horses lower leg and foot. Pedal bone is marked bottom left.