Arkle

Ask anyone in Britain to name the greatest steeplechaser of all time and there will be few who would oppose Arkle. Now and then a chaser will come along and inevitably will be compared to Arkle ,but frankly Arkle is simply incomparable. No horse ,since the days of Arkle, has been required to carry bone -snapping weights of 12stone 7lbs or even ,on occasion ,13 stone in the races they contest. But such was the supremacy of Arkle over his competitors that the handicapper had to shoulder Arkle with huge imposts in order to give the other runners in the race a chance of beating him , which,even so, they rarely managed to do. Unlike Flat racing, Arkle has no equals. He is,quite simply, unique.

I was too young to remember Arkle racing,but I have seen many of his races on film and I know that he was a great champion. I have read that he won 27 of his 35 races which is absolutely amazing. He broke the course record at Sandown Park in 1965 carrying the massive weight of 12stone 7lbs and he still holds that course record which has stood for nearly 45 years. Without doubt he is the greatest steeplechaser of all time.

There cannot be many people on the planet who hasn't heard of this equine legend . Arkle is universally acclaimed as the greatest chaser in the long history of steeplechasing. I remember on one occasion in the Irish Grand National, Arkle carried the massive weight of 13 stone ( 182 pounds) and was conceding 3 stone to some of his opponents and STILL beat them. It is extremely unlikely that another horse of Arkle's calibre will ever come along again. He is probably unique.

It is extremely unlikely that there will ever be another steeplechaser who can emulate the exploits of Arkle, the greatest jumper in the history of National Hunt racing. It has been more than 40 years since this great horse graced the British racecourse,but Arkle's performances are still indelibly etched on the memory of those of us who were privileged to have seen him race. Only a career-ending injury prevented Arkle from further consolidating is already unrivalled position as the pre-eminent steeplechaser the horseracing world has ever seen.

The greatest steeplechaser that ever appeared on a racecourse. I feel privileged to have seen this truly amazing horse race. There will never be another like him.

on of the 3 greats alongside.red rum and desert orchid....but where is Sadler`s wells...now the greatest..!

Racing pundits may argue about the relative merits of  flat horses,but there is no argument as to which was the greatest jumper, that distinction belongs to Arkle. Enough said!

Considered the greatest steeplechaser of all time.[ Won 27 of 35 races with 7 places and 1 non-place ( 77% winning precentage), which is amazing for a jumper. Was born 19th April 1957 in County Meath in Ireland - May 31st 1970. The places and non-pace came mainly in the first year of racing when it was still finding its feet and running on the flat. After it established itself as a jumper it was nearly unbeatable. Loved to jump and never fell. The losses came when the horse was over- weighted or over-raced. The weighting system had to be adjusted to compensate for this special horse.

Arkle was a freak of a racehorse. There will never be another steeplechaser like him. He was THE GREATEST.

The greatest steeplechaser as well as the greatest racehorse overall in the last Century.He revised the weight for age handicapping rules.In Cricketing Terms he was a Donald Bradman to racing.Mill House whom Arkle vanquished was an all-time great racehorse.There have been great chasers like Golden Miller,Red Rum, Desert Orchid and Best Mate but none of them in the same league as Arkle.His 1966 Cheltenham Gold Cup victory by 30 lengths was phenomenal. No horse has so consistently established such a degree of superiority conceding so much weight at the same time.