Horse Profiles

Nashwan was an American race horse that was shipped to the other side of the world to dazzle fans with his relentless potential and aggressive pursuit for victories at the tracks. This powerful chestnut showed promise early in life while growing up at a farm in Kentucky, and his stature alone was known to set other horses’ tails wiggling with nerves. When he was transported to Britain, owner Hamdan Al Maktoum knew that the tide was about to turn. In England, Nashwan was trained by Major Dick Hern for all his races, with Willie Carson riding the saddles for the entirety of the horse’s career.

Career

In 1988 at the start of his two-year-old season, there was a buzz surrounding the horse’s pedigree. A lot of people expected to see him strut his stuff out there, and he sure did. In the first two races of his fledgling career, Nashwan managed to show power and grace despite his size. His three-year-old spell started off in a tantalizing manner, when he grabbed the General Accident 2000 Guineas. Afterwards, it became evident that he was a top horse that thrived o victories and never needed a whip to hit the ground running. Some of his best moments include the Epsom Derby, which he claimed in 1989 as well as the Eclipse Stakes in the same year. At 3 years old, Nashwan was rated as the best British-trained stallion of 1989. He was always a joy to watch because of the grace he projected and indeed, Joy was his name, only that he was named in Arabic.

Nashwan was retired in 1989, upon where he became a highly successful sire, with winners in his wake. He had participated in 7 races. At the time of retirement, he had accumulated £793,248 in winnings. The stallion passed on in 2002 after undergoing a foot surgery.

Secretariat was an American racehorse who ruled the racing tracks in the first half of the 1970s, with race stats so incredible that at the turn of the century, he was voted second in the honours list of 100 top horses that raced in the United States in the 20th Century. He is most remembered for winning the Belmont Stakes by a record 31 lengths, a races which evokes nostalgia for many as the greatest they ever set eyes on. He was also the Horse of the Year twice, at ages two and three.

Secretariat was foaled in 1970 in the meadow Stable in Virginia, and received his race training at Hialeah from horse trainers’ hall of famer Lucien Laurin. With Lucien, he got to polish his clumsy and lazy tendencies that threatened to derail the career of one of the finest looking thoroughbreds of the time. One thing he never really got over was his tendency to edge towards the rail during races, and had to race with a visor to correct this.

He made his racing debut at The Aqueduct in July 1972, a less-than-satisfactory race that fully exposed the same faults his trainer had been trying to work on and saw him finish fourth. One major positive from this race was his recovery, as he came back from a bump and traffic at the stretch to finish fourth.

The big beast then went on to win all remaining races of his two-year-old season, although he in one instance paid again for his clumsiness as he was disqualified to second for bearing in on eventual winner Stop The music.

There was no stopping in the next season, as he went ahead to seal the Triple Crown with wins at Kentucky, Preakness and Belmont in 1973.

His dethroning came at the Saratoga Race Course, where, at a stage of seeming invincibility, he fell to a horse named Onion. He retired after winning the Canadian International Stakes in 1973, with a record of 16-3-1, at which time he had raked in $1,316,808.

It took Secretariat some time to get into thoroughbred siring after retirement, as his sperm was considered somewhat immature. When he got to it, however, he produced some fine horses whose generations linger to date. He died at the age of 19 in 1989.

The story of L’Escargot is best told from the perspective of the one event that earned him fame – The 1975 Aintree Grand National. The race earned the 1964 Irish born race horse plaudits for both for whom he beat to win this prestigious race, and the style in which he did it. L’Escargot began the race as an underdog, legend of the sport Red Rum was seeking to make it a hat-trick of Grand National wins in a row, was 7/2 favourite to win the race, and had virtually the entire nation cheering him on. With that in mind, L’escargot went on to carve out his own place in history with a win of 15 lengths over Red Rum. His starting price was 13/2 and he had Tommy Carberry on board.

Remarkable career

L’Escargot’s story is remarkable for a number of other reasons, not least that his name, quite ironically, means ‘The Snail’ in French. His owner Raymond R. Guest had settled on the name asimply because it had a similar sound to his preferred Let’s Go,’ which was a name that had already been taken.

Ridden by Tom Carberry, the Dan Moore trained horse won the Cheltenham Gold Cup two times in succession in 1970 and 1971 before raising expectations yet further by setting sights on the Grand National. This horse and jockey combo was effectively a long term formula for success starting off in 1968, when he won two of the five races he took part in. Then a spell in the United States.

Story of persistence

After returning to the Europe in 1970, the horses career was very much England and Ireland centred. After the aforementioned Cheltenham successes, the Grand National was very much the goal. This proved to be far from a formality in that it took multiple attempts to get it right. First off in the 1972 Grand National, L’Escargot fell at the third fence. In the following year, his fortunes improved and he came third. Buoyed by this success, his team entered him again the following year where to he placed second in the 1974 Grand National . The story of has persistence pays finally came in 1975, when ‘The Snail’ became only the second horse to win both the Gold Cup and The Grand National, after Golden Miller had won the double in 1934.

L’Escargot lived out the remainder of his life being doted on by the wife of his trainer. After such success, he’d certainly earned a taste of the easy life.