The Horse Lovers

From his earliest days my father loved horses. His interest began with ponies and graduated to race horses. He progressed from riding to training and from owning to breeding horses. At each level he enjoyed success. In the early forties Black Mask won eleven races over fences to become my father's most successful horse.

Summer Star provided my father with his greatest training success by easily winning the Leopardstown Chase at tote odds of almost 100/1. In the humbling way of horses, no further successes were recorded for over eight years after Sharp Command won in 1948.

A welcome change of luck came in 1957 when two of my father's horses won races – one at Thurles and the other at Wexford. Following their successes they were bought by Judge Wylie on behalf of an undisclosed client.

The death of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother reminded me of my late father's love of horses and of the great pleasure we all derived from his racing successes. You see the Queen Mother turned out to be the undisclosed purchaser of my father's two horses. With the benefit of hindsight, I believe that Judge Wylie's decision to buy the horses for the Queen Mother was due, in part at least, to their names - King of the Isle and Queen of the Isle.

Did the Queen Mother get value for money in purchasing my father's horses? I believe she did. King of the Isle won a couple of races for his new owner while Queen of the Isle became the Queen Mother's best brood mare. Her most successful foals were Inch Arran, Isle of Man, Queen's College and Colonius who between them won forty four races. Additionally, Isle of Man was placed third in the Two Mile Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

Like my father the Queen Mother was a great lover of horses and experienced in full measure the highs and lows of racing. In racing terms, she will be best remembered for a day in 1956 when Devon Loch lost the Aintree Grand National just when a royal victory looked assured.

Within fifty yards of the winning post Devon Loch attempted to jump a non-existent fence and ended up sprawled on his belly. ESB, which was over three lengths adrift, then passed Devon Loch to win the race. The large attendance were stunned and had difficulty believing what they had just seen.

Inch Arran scored a resounding success in the 1973 Topham Trophy Chase over the Grand National course and fences. In so doing, he broke the course record and atoned in part for Devon Loch's Aintree tale of woe. By the way, the dam of ESB was a mare called English Summer and guess what? English Summer was also the dam of Summer Star.

© Matt purcell (2002)