My Dad has been telling me about the great racehorse Arkle. Did he win all his races? asked Simon Harrington
Arkle didn't quite win every race he entered, but the famous horse ended up with 27 wins out of 35, a pretty good record for a steeplechaser, especially one who received tough handicaps later in his career.
Arkle was foaled in April 1957, and lost his first two outings -- flat races under National Hunt rules -- in Ireland late in 1961, before finally making the winner's enclosure in his third race, the Bective Novice Hurdle at Navan in January 1962. Five more runs followed in Ireland -- bringing three wins, a fourth and an unplaced -- before Arkle's Cheltenham debut, in the Honeybourne Chase in Nov.1962: starting as favourite, he won by 20 lengths. After another win in Ireland he was back at Cheltenham in Mar. 1963 for the festival, and romped home in the Broadway Chase -- again by 20 lengths.
There were four more races in Ireland in 1963: Arkle started as odds-on favourite in all of them, and won all four. But there was a setback at Newbury in the Hennessy Gold Cup in November, when Arkle slipped at the 19th fence and ended up third, behind Mill House and Happy Spring. Mill House -- "The Big Horse" -- loomed large again in 1964 when, after three more wins in Ireland, Arkle started the Cheltenham Gold Cup for the first time. There were only four entrants, and Arkle beat Mill House by five lengths.
At Gowran Park in Oct. 1964 Arkle started at 5-1 on -- and won again, before returning to Newbury and beating Mill House in the Hennessy. A week later he went to Cheltenham for the Massey-Ferguson Gold Cup, and finished a close third behind Flying Wild and Buonanotte.
He was soon back to winning ways, finishing first in a handicap at Leopardstown in Feb. 1965, and a fortnight later trounced Mill House by 20 lengths in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The following month Arkle won the Whitbread Gold Cup at Sandown; later in the year, also at Sandown, he won the Gallaher Gold Cup by 20 lengths -- a warm-up for the Hennessy Gold Cup, three weeks later at Newbury, which he start at 6-1 on and won by 15 lengths. A month later Arkle tackled the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park for the first time: heavily handicapped, he still started at 7-1 on and beat Dormant by a distance.
After a close-run win at Leopardstown in Feb. 1966, Arkle returned to Cheltenham and crushed Dormant by 30 lengths to complete a Gold Cup hat-trick. That November, giving away 35 pounds to Stalbridge Colonist in the Hennessy at Newbury, Arkle was pipped by half a length.
An easy victory followed at Ascot, and then Arkle lined up for his 35th race, the King George at Kempton Park. Starting at 9-2 on, Arkle led most of the way, but lost out by a length to Dormant in the end. He was very lame after the race, and a broken bone was discovered: despite treatment, it proved to be the end of his stellar career.
The only horse since Arkle to complete a hat-trick of Cheltenham Gold Cup victories is Best Mate, from 2002 to 2004.