With so much comparison currently being made between the horse of the day, 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 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 for 1,150 guineas, it was named after her from the mountain opposite her home in Sutherland. Trained by Tom Dreaper; The father of Our Father’s coach, Jim Dreaper; Arkle’s major wins include the Cheltenham Gold Cup (3 times), Lepardstown Chase (3 times), Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup (twice), Whitbread Gold Cup, Gallaher Gold Cup, 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 running and the latter when he was not, in order to Giving your half of the rivals is lucky. This meant that he won the 1964 Irish National by 2.5 stone more than all the other horses in the race. This was a regular occurrence for Arkle and one of his few defeats over his fences was when Stalvridge Colonist defeated 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 major racehorse of the time when jump racing was rapidly gaining popularity due to 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 heartbeat from him! 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 in his body. that it overlapped its hind legs and forelegs, and had such a jumping style that it never fell during a race.

The reason he never entered the Aintree Grand National was the love of his owner, the Duchess of Westminister: she never wanted her beloved Arkle to be subjected to the harshness and fall of the Aintree steeplechase. Unfortunately, he had to stop racing after injuring his hoof in the King George Chase, and he was put down at the age of thirteen due to arthritis. Would he have won the National? More than likely, but even without entering the Grand National it is clear that he is one of the greatest 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.