Birds Nest (horse)
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Birds Nest (horse)
Birds Nest (1970–1994) was a British-bred thoroughbred racehorse. In a long career as a specialist hurdler he ran six times in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham Racecourse, finishing second to Night Nurse in 1976 and third behind Sea Pigeon and Monksfield in 1980. He won 19 hurdle races including the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and the Bula Hurdle on three occasions each. He also won the Christmas Hurdle and two runnings of the Scottish Champion Hurdle, beating some of the best hurdlers of all time. He has been described as the best hurdler never to win the Champion Hurdle. Throughout his career, he was known for being a difficult and temperamental horse, with a tendency to veer left when under pressure. Assessment Birds Nest was rated at 176 by Timeform in the seasons 1975/6 and 1976/7. At the time of his retirement he was the joint-third highest rated hurdler in the organisation's history, after Night Nurse and Monksfield and equal with Golden Cygnet Golden Cygnet (19 ...
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Gelding
A gelding is a castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. Castration, as well as the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male equine to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter, gentler and generally more suitable as an everyday working animal. The gerund and participle "gelding" and the infinitive "to geld" refer to the castration procedure itself. Etymology The verb "to geld" comes from the Old Norse , from the adjective 'barren'. The noun "gelding" is from the Old Norse . History The Scythians are thought to have been the first people to geld their horses. They valued geldings as war horses because they were quiet, lacked mating urges, were less prone to call out to other horses, were easier to keep in groups, and were less likely to fight with one another. Reasons for gelding A male horse is often gelded to make him better-behaved and easier to control. Gelding can also remove lower ...
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Cheltenham Racecourse
Cheltenham Racecourse at Prestbury Park, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, hosts National Hunt horse racing. Its most prestigious meeting is the Cheltenham Festival, held in March, which features several Grade I races including the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Ryanair Chase and the Stayers' Hurdle. The racecourse has a scenic location in a natural amphitheatre, just below the escarpment of the Cotswold Hills at Cleeve Hill, with a capacity of 67,500 spectators. Cheltenham Racecourse railway station no longer connects to the national rail network, but is the southern terminus of the preserved Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. The main racecourse has two separate courses alongside each other, the Old Course and the New Course. The New Course has a tricky downhill fence and a longer run-in for steeplechases than the Old Course. Hurdle races over two miles on the New Course also have a slight peculiarity in that most of the hu ...
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Racehorses Trained In The United Kingdom
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been mostly unchanged since at least classical antiquity. Horse races vary widely in format, and many countries have developed their own particular traditions around the sport. Variations include restricting races to particular breeds, running over obstacles, running over different distances, running on different track surfaces, and running in different gaits. In some races, horses are assigned different weights to carry to reflect differences in ability, a process known as handicapping. While horses are sometimes raced purely for sport, a major part of horse racing's interest and economic importance is in the gambling associated with ...
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Racehorses Bred In The United Kingdom
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been mostly unchanged since at least classical antiquity. Horse races vary widely in format, and many countries have developed their own particular traditions around the sport. Variations include restricting races to particular breeds, running over obstacles, running over different distances, running on different track surfaces, and running in different gaits. In some races, horses are assigned different weights to carry to reflect differences in ability, a process known as handicapping. While horses are sometimes raced purely for sport, a major part of horse racing's interest and economic importance is in the gambling associated with i ...
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1994 Racehorse Deaths
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Mandela casts his vote in the 1994 South African general election, in which he was elected South Africa's first president, and which effectively brought Apartheid to an end; NAFTA, which was signed in 1992, comes into effect in Canada, the United States, and Mexico; The first passenger rail service to utilize the newly-opened Channel tunnel; The 1994 FIFA World Cup is held in the United States; Skulls from the Rwandan genocide, in which over half a million Tutsi people were massacred by Hutus., 300x300px, thumb rect 0 0 200 200 1994 Winter Olympics rect 200 0 400 200 Northridge earthquake rect 400 0 600 200 Sinking of the MS Estonia rect 0 200 300 400 Rwandan genocide rect 300 200 600 400 Nelson Mandela rect 0 400 200 600 1994 FIFA Worl ...
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1970 Racehorse Births
Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * February 19 – Battle of Lugdunum: Emperor Septimius Severus defeats the self-proclaimed emperor Clodius Albinus at Lugdunum (modern Lyon). Albinus commits suicide; legionaries sack the town. * Septimius Severus returns to Rome and has about 30 of Albinus's supporters in the Senate executed. After his victory he declares himself the adopted son of the late Marcus Aurelius. * Septimius Severus forms new naval units, manning all the triremes in Italy with heavily armed troops for war in the East. His soldiers em ...
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Golden Cygnet
Golden Cygnet (1972 - 1978) was a racehorse who was described in the 1979 Irish Racing Annual by legendary Irish trainer Vincent O'Brien as "the best hurdler I've ever seen." His hurdling career lasted less than 5 months, as a result of the fatal injury he sustained in the 1978 Scottish Champion Hurdle. Lineage Golden Cygnet, a bay gelding, was born on 21 June 1972, which made him a very late foal in bloodstock terms (although barely 6 months old on the 1st January 1973, he was officially a yearling). He was from the first crop of Deep Run - who would prove to be the best National Hunt sire of his era by becoming Champion Jumps Sire for 14 consecutive seasons - and his dam (mother) was the unraced Golden Vision mare Golden Cygneture. Golden Cygnet turned out to be the only foal of his dam. His grand-dam My Cygneture was also unraced and had only two foals apart from Golden Cygneture, both of which were colts with one of them being a minor winner. Early career Golden Cyg ...
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Timeform
Timeform is a sports data and content provider located in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1948, it provides systematic information on form to punters and others involved in the horse racing industry. The company was purchased by the sports betting exchange Betfair in December 2006. Since 2 February 2016, it has been owned by Flutter Entertainment. History Portway Press Ltd was formed in 1948 by Phil Bull, who wanted to establish a mathematical link to a horse's performance, based on the time the horse recorded. At a time when such data was virtually unheard of, Bull started publishing a racing annual, which evolved into the "Racehorses Of.." series. The company was purchased for a reputed £15 million by the sports betting exchange Betfair in December 2006. Data system According to Timeform, one of its ratings represents "the merit of the horse expressed in pounds and is arrived at by careful examination of its running against other horses using a scale of weigh ...
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Monksfield
Monksfield (1972–1989) was an entire horse Irish-trained National Hunt racehorse who won the Champion Hurdle in 1978 and 1979. He also won the Aintree Hurdle at Aintree Racecourse three times - including a dead-heat with Night Nurse, one of his two greatest rivals. Monksfield's dam, Regina, was bred by the Aga Khan. His granddam was Tambara who won the Coronation Stakes at Ascot. His dam sire was the 1952 Derby winner Tulyar.Timeform Chasers and Hurdlers 1975/76 Monksfield cost his Irish trainer Des McDonogh only 740 guineas as a yearling, but he won five times on the flat to add to his hurdling triumphs. He won four times in his first season hurdling, as well as finishing second in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham. He was runner-up in the 1977 Champion Hurdle behind Night Nurse, but triumphed in 1978, ahead of Sea Pigeon Sea Pigeon (1970–2000) was an American-bred, British-trained racehorse who excelled in both National Hunt and flat racing. In a racing career wh ...
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Sea Pigeon
Sea Pigeon (1970–2000) was an American-bred, British-trained racehorse who excelled in both National Hunt and flat racing. In a racing career which lasted from 1972 until 1981 he competed in eighty-five races, and won thirty-seven times. He was best known for his performances in hurdle races when he won the Champion Hurdle on two occasions. He was also one of the best flat stayers of his era winning major handicap races under weights of up to 140 pounds. As a gelding, he was ineligible to compete in the most prestigious flat staying races, such as the Ascot Gold Cup. On his retirement he was described as Britain's "best known horse after Arkle and Red Rum Red Rum (3 May 1965 – 18 October 1995) was a champion Thoroughbred steeplechaser. He achieved an unmatched historic treble when he won the Grand National in 1973, 1974 and 1977, and also came second in the two intervening years, 1975 .... Background Sea Pigeon was a dark-brown horse bred by his owner, Jo ...
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Night Nurse (horse)
Night Nurse (26 May 1971 – 1998) was an Irish-bred English-trained National Hunt racehorse. Night Nurse garnered 35 wins, winning a total of £174,507 viz. He won 3 races on the flat at 3 and 4-years old and placed 3 times; he also won 32 National Hunt races, 19 wins over hurdles and 13 wins in steeplechases from 64 starts. He was awarded the highest Timeform rating ever given to a hurdler and has been acclaimed amongst the greatest ever hurdlers. Background Night Nurse was a bay gelding bred at the Cloghran Stud in Ireland by Eleanor Samuelson, the daughter of Dick Dawson. He was sired by Falcon out of Samuelson's mare Florence Nightingale. At the Newmarket Houghton sale in 1972 Night Nurse was sold for 1,300 guineas to the trainer Peter Easterby. During his racing career he was owned by Reg Spencer and trained by Easterby at his stables at Habton Grange near Malton, North Yorkshire. Night Nurse was ridden in many of his early races by the Irishman Paddy Broderick, who use ...
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Champion Hurdle
The Champion Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run on the Old Course at Cheltenham over a distance of about 2 miles and ½ furlong (2 miles and 87 yards, or ), and during its running there are eight hurdles to be jumped. The race is the last leg of the Triple Crown of Hurdling and is scheduled to take place each year on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival in March. As its title suggests, the Champion Hurdle is the most prestigious hurdling event in the National Hunt calendar. Its list of winners features many of the most highly acclaimed hurdlers in the sport's history, and several of these, such as National Spirit, Istabraq, Hatton's Grace, Persian War and Lanzarote, have had races named in their honour. As part of a sponsorship agreement with the online gambling operator Unibet, the race is now known as the Unibet ...
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