With so much comparison currently being made between the horse of the moment, Kauto Star, and the late great Arkle, it’s worth finding out why he is, by common consent, the best steeplechase to ever race in the John Smith Grand National. In fact, he is considered the ultimate hunter of the second half of the 20th century, if not of all time. To put it succinctly, Arkle between November 1962 and December 1966 ran in 26 steeplechase races, all driven by Pat Taaffe, winning 22 of them. Owned by Duchess Anne of Westminister, who bought Arkle when she was three years old for 1,150 guineas, she was named after the mountain opposite her home in Sutherland. Trained by Tom Dreaper; The father of Our Father coach Jim Dreaper; Arkle’s major victories include the Cheltenham Gold Cup (three times), the Lepardstown Chase (three times), the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup (two times), the Whitbread Gold Cup, the Gallaher Gold Cup, the King George Chase and the Irish Grand National.
Arkle was such a wonderful horse that the rules had to be modified to accommodate his seemingly unnatural abilities! The Irish show jumping authorities felt they had no choice but to introduce a new weighting system – ‘A’ and ‘B’ handicaps – the former being used when Arkle was racing and the latter when he was not, in order to give your rivals half is lucky. This meant that he won the 1964 Irish National by 2.5 stones more than all the other horses in the race. This was a regular occurrence for Arkle and one of his few hurdle losses was when Stalvridge Colonist beat him by half a length in the 1966 Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup, conceding two and a half stones to the winner.
Arkle was the first great racehorse of the time when show jumping was rapidly gaining popularity due to the increasing television coverage of the sport and the 1964 Gold Cup, a highly anticipated race similar to the one we are anticipating this year between Denman and Kauto Star. , it was the first time the race had been held on a Saturday, attracting many more fans and spectators. Of course Arkle won, with his intelligence, courage and unusually low heart rate! When his future jockey, Tom Taaffe, first saw Arkle, he commented, “He moves so terribly he could drive a wheelbarrow between his hind legs,” but he was in for a surprise: Arkle possessed a greyhound-like style of riding. he overlapped his hind legs and front legs, and had such a jumping style that he never fell off during a run.
The reason it never entered the Aintree Grand National was the love of its owner, the Duchess of Westminister: she never wanted her beloved Arkle to be subjected to the rough and tumble of the Aintree Steeplechase. Unfortunately, he had to stop racing after injuring his hoof at King George Chase, and he was euthanized at the age of thirteen due to arthritis. Would you have won the National? More than likely, but even without entering the Grand National it is clear that he is one of the best horses of all time, right up there with Red Rum. Can Kauto Star compare? He will have to wait until March and the Cheltenham Festival to find out.