Horses

Postponed is a six-year-old racehorse who has come through the age-category years since 2013, currently in his seven-year-old season. Born in Ireland and trained in England, the Sheikh Mohammed bin Obaid al Maktoum owned bay colt most recently raced at the Dubai World Cup, where he could only manage third place behind Jack Hobbs and filly Seventh Heaven.

His trainer Roger Varian, disappointed with the loss, blamed to below-performance on the slow track, a headwind and the slow pace of the race. He was however quick to point out that they had lost to a worthy opponent. Varian argued that Postponed did not have a bad race; that having grown a year older and after such a good year in 2016, a little slump could be expected.

In 2016, Postponed was sweeping all clean, winning the Dubai City of Gold, Coronation Cup Dubai Sheema Classic, and International Stakes with Atzeni as his jockey. The four wins propelled him to the top of racehorse ratings in Britain, despite finishing fifth in the 2016 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Postponed’s race career began in the two-year-old category, debuting at the Newmarket Racecourse in July 2013, where he finished fifth. His first win came at The Hamilton Park Racecourse in 2014, beating Double Bluff by three and a half lengths.

His career then took a series of highs and lows, losing out some races where he began as favorite, and at other times coming first in races where odds were aginst him. He was 15/1 favorite at the Sandown Park Racecourse in April 2015, but lost by a neck to come third behind Al Kazeem and Fascinating Rock. In July of the same year, he won by a nose when he was 6/1 fourth favorite at the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, arguably his greatest race ever.

Postponed’s earliest return to racing would probably be the Epson Coronation Cup, and, with age catching up, it will surely be one of his career tail-end races.

Istabraq, born in 1992, was at the very beginning considered a potential flat race winner. Born in Ireland, he had all the trappings of success written all over him. He was not the kind of horse that would hold back in mock races as a one year old, and his handlers thought that he was the perfect pedigree of a winner. However, after he turned two, it became clear that he was not built for flat racing, and his trainers had to rethink their choice, finally deciding to use him at the hurdles, where he went on to enjoy considerable success over the course of his 29 races. His owner was John Patrick McManus and the trainer was Aidan O’Brien. For all his races, it was Charlie Swan who sat on the saddles.

Hurdles

While the first few hurdle competitions did not go quiet as well as planned for the horse, his minders still believed that he could become the surprise package of the decade. It was not immediately clear to the fans that this would happen, so they did not really vouch for him much. However, after the initial blips, the horse came back strongly and established himself a one of the best and most accurate jumpers. He did fall a couple of times but then at that point in time in the competition, that happened a lot because of the concept of the game. His victories included The Champion Hurdle and the Irish Champion Hurdle , both of which he won for three consecutive years between 1998 and 2000. Others included the Aintree and December Festival Hurdle. He won 23 out of his 29 races at the time of retirement in 2002.

Despite the humble beginings, Istabraq managed to make his owners

1,053,385 on winnings alone. As a stud, he has gone to impress as well and is now living it out at Martinstown.

Born in Ireland (1995) and trained in England, Best Mate would go on to win plenty in the course of his career, and is known in particular for his affinity for the Cheltenham Gold cup. Henrietta Knight trained the horse and Jim Lewis was the owner. Loved and adored across Ireland, Best Mate gave the love right back to the fans in his performances. One of the things that stood out about him was that he was never one to throwing in the towel, and would exhilarate fans with his sudden bursts of energy and general demeanor. His death, (2005) which happened on the tracks, send shock waves reverberating around the world.

Career

With Jim Culloty at the saddles, Best Mate romped to victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times in a row, from 2004 to 2004. He was one of the hottest prospects for the 2005 edition but was pulled out of contention as a result of sudden injuries. Had he participated and won, he would have smashed right through the record set by Arkle to become one of the best ever in racing and the greatest in this specific competition. He also won the king George VI chase in the year 2002. 2003 came with good tidings in the form of the Ericsson Chase. Out of the 22 starts of his career, Best Mate led 24 times and came in second 7 times. He was solid on the ground and never fell at the tracks at any one time.

In November 2005, when competing in the Harold Gold Cup, jockey Paul Carberry stopped the horse and dismounted. When he did, Mate collapsed to the ground. He died a few minutes later in what many suspect was a heart attack.

Mate’s death was national news, and he was memorialised like the hero he was. His accumulated earnings were £1,022,436 at the point of death.

Mill Reef (1968–1986) was a magnificent athlete who enjoyed a meteoric short career that was tragically put to an end by an injury.

The flat horse racer was owned by Paul Mellon, a wealthy American. In one year, Mill Reef won the Derby, the Eclipse Stakes, the French Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Mill had a career that was filled with notable victories and over a surprisingly wide range of distances. He is known to have taken the Coventry S by over eight lengths. He took the Dewhurst by four, the Gimcrack by 10, the Eclipse by four, the Derby by two, the Arc by two and King George by six. He also took the Prix Ganay by an extraordinary ten lengths.

The brilliance of this horse was reflected in his Timeform ratings of 133 at only two years, 141 at three and 141 again at four.

It was appropriate that one of his most remarkable performances came in the Gimcrack S, a match named in honor of the eighteen-century star who stood more than 14 hands. Mill Reef fractured his near-fore at the end of August in 1972. A triangle of bone some two and a half inches long was found to have broken from the lower end of the cannon bone. Fortunately, an international veterinary team succeeded in saving him for a stallion career at the beginning of 1973.

Mill Reef went down with qualities of consistency, courage, soundness, superb action and an ability to act on any type of ground. He passed this streak to most of his sires. In his very successful stud career, his offsprings were amongst the winners (in 1978) of the Shirley Heights, the French Derby, the Acamas and the 1987 derby winner.

Mill Reef died in 1986 and was buried at the National Stud where a statue stands in his honour and memory.

The wag of a tail, the flash of saddles, and all of a sudden, the sight of a horse at the homestretch, leaving rivals winded. The story of the greatest racing horse of all time has been told and retold, and it never gets old. Arkle, who was simply referred to as ‘Himself’, was revered the world over and left fans of the sport bleary-eyed in each competition. Put simply, Arkle was a class act that never seemed to lose the sparkle. And decades after he left the sport, he is still the name on everyone’s lips.

The story of Himself started in 1957, when this bay gelding was born. Winning ran in Arkle’s blood, as he was the grandson of the highly prolific Nearco, who put together a 14-race unbeaten streak. Arkle’s owner was Anne Grosvenor who was at the time the Duchess of Westminster. Tom Dreaper was the trainer here, and Pat Taaffe rode him for much of his racing days.

Arkle’s story

Arkle had a long and illustrious career that only came to an end when one of his hooves gave. He was such an influential part of Irish racing that the organisers of the Irish Grand National came up with a two-forked weight system for races-one to be used when Himself was racing and the other when he was out. In the stretch between November 1962 and December 1966, Arkle romped home to victory in a massive 22 out of 26 steeplechases. He won three Gold Cups. He also put away the Hennessy Gold Cup two times. At 212, his Timeform rating is the highest ever accorded in steeplechasing.

Winnings

Arkle, the ‘King of Ireland’, won a great many races, but this happened decades ago, and sites like Racing Post did not exist back in the day. However, were we to take a conceptual look at the races and ratings, it would be fair to say that he won tens of millions of pounds in today’s terms.