Cool Dawn (11 May 1988 – 25 March 2018) was a

National Hunt In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: ...

chaser of the 1990s who went from winning minor Point-to-Point races to winning the

1998 Cheltenham Gold Cup The 1998 Cheltenham Gold Cup was a horse race which took place at Cheltenham on Thursday 19 March 1998. It was the 71st running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and it was won by Cool Dawn. The winner was ridden by Andrew Thornton and trained by Rober ...

, the Blue Riband of National Hunt Racing.

Racing career

Early career

His racing career began in an Irish Point-to-Point at Kilossera on 24 January 1993 where he finished 6th out of 14. After a further four races he was sold to Dido Harding to run in point-to-points in England. Cool Dawn started his English career with a win in a maiden at

Badbury Rings Badbury Rings is an Iron Age hill fort and Scheduled Monument in east Dorset, England. It was in the territory of the Durotriges. In the Roman era a temple was located immediately west of the fort, and there was a Romano-British town known as ''Vi ...

. He subsequently had a second, first, and a ran out. Two further point-to-point wins (including a Ladies Open) preceded his debut on a professional racecourse during the 1994/95 season in a novice Hunter Chases when he came second at

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

. After a further point-to-point win he won his first Hunter Chase at Ascot (6/5f), but followed that win with an unseated with the race at his mercy at

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

(2/11f). His performances during this season clearly established him as a top class point-to-pointer and hunter chaser. His target during the 1995/96 season was the Foxhunter at

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

. He was moved to

Robert Alner Robert Alner (21 November 1943 – 3 February 2020) was a British racehorse trainer specializing in National Hunt racing. He was based at stables at Droop, near Sturminster Newton in Dorset, England. He trained the winner of the Cheltenham Go ...

's professional yard for his Hunter Chase campaign. After a good win at Kempton (7/2), beating the useful Teaplanter, he ran well in the Foxhunter (7/2) coming second to the Enda Bolger ridden favourite, Elegant Lord. He then returned to Ireland and, ridden by Conor O’Dwyer, came third in the

Irish Grand National The Irish Grand National is a National Hunt steeplechase in Ireland which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Fairyhouse over a distance of about 3 miles and 5 furlongs (5,834 m ...

behind Feathered Gale. In the 1996/97 season it was decided to go for a professional campaign. However, he only had one outing, finishing fourth of five in a handicap at

Sandown Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake in between. Together ...

, before his season was curtailed by injury.

1997/98 season

This season was Cool Dawn's ''

annus mirabilis ''Annus mirabilis'' (pl. ''anni mirabiles'') is a Latin phrase that means "marvelous year", "wonderful year", "miraculous year", or "amazing year". This term has been used to refer to several years during which events of major importance are rem ...

''. After an undistinguished reappearance at

Wincanton Wincanton ( or ) is a small town and electoral ward in South Somerset, southwest England. The town lies off the A303 road, a main route between London and South West England, and has some light industry. The town and electoral ward has a populati ...

in the Badger Beer Handicap Chase, his owner-rider handed over the reins to a professional jockey,

Andrew Thornton Andrew Thornton is a retired National Hunt racing, National Hunt jockey. Early life He was born on 28 October 1972 in Cleveland, England, Cleveland and schooled at Barnard Castle School in County Durham. He is not related to another English jocke ...

, who rode him for the rest of the season. His next three outings, all at Ascot, all resulted in wins, the Gardner Merchant Handicap Chase by 6l (from 4 lb out of the handicap)(4/1), the Betterware Cup by 9l (carrying 10-5)(5/2f), and the Ok Soil Remediation Ltd Handicap Chase by 2l (carrying 12-0)(10-11f). His final outing before the Gold Cup, at

in the

Agfa Diamond Chase The Gainsborough Chase is a National Hunt handicap steeplechase in England which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Sandown Park over a distance of 3 miles (3 miles and 37 yard ...

, was rather an anti-climax as he was pulled up before 3 out. However, ignoring that run, in which it turned out that he had pulled some muscles in his back, he went to

with a good outsider’s chance of a place at least. Cool Dawn returned to

to the same course and distance as his second in the Foxhunter two years earlier and put up the best performance of his career. There was early drama at the seventh fence when

Cyborgo Cyborgo (1990 – March 2001) was a French-bred, British-trained AQPS racehorse. A full-brother to Hors La Loi III he began his racing career in his native country before being transferred to England to compete in National Hunt racing. In ...

was pulled up lame and carried out

See More Business See More Business (26 April 1990 – 24 July 2014) was a top-class National Hunt chaser in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He won the 1999 Cheltenham Gold Cup as well as the 1997 and 1999 King George VI Chase. Background See More Business ...

, the 1997 King George winner, and Indian Tracker. However, Cool Dawn (a 25/1 outsider) was never troubled by this as he led from start to finish being briefly challenged by Strong Promise at the final fence before storming up the hill to win by 1¾l from Strong Promise with the favourite

Dorans Pride Dorans Pride (27 May 1989 – 13 March 2003) was an Irish thoroughbred racehorse. Racing career Dorans Pride joined Michael Hourigan's yard in 1992 and was sold by the trainer to Tom Doran in February 1993, who gave the then nicknamed Pad ...

a further head behind. As the weights for the

Whitbread Gold Cup Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742, and had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s. Its largest division ...

had already been published by the time of his Gold Cup win, he was well in at the weights and it seemed too good a chance to miss. However, after being sent off the 5/1f and leading for the first couple of miles, it was case of going to the well once too often and he was pulled up 2 out when well behind.

1998/99 season

In his first outing of the season at

he was pulled up. However, before the race he had reared over in the paddock falling over onto his jockey, this time his owner-rider, and was probably feeling the effects of this. It is probable that he actually injured himself slightly more seriously than thought as Cool Dawn never fully recovered his form. His final two races were at the two tracks where he had shown his best form. At Ascot he finished third of four and in his final start at

he was pulled up.

Post race career

Following his retirement from racing, Cool Dawn continued to hunt regularly with the Weston and Banwell Harriers, and also paraded at a large number of events as a former Gold Cup winner. After spending retirement hunting and grazing in Winscombe at Dido Harding’s family home Cool Dawn was

euthanised Animal euthanasia (euthanasia from el, εὐθανασία; "good death") is the act of killing an animal or allowing it to die by withholding extreme medical measures. Reasons for euthanasia include incurable (and especially painful) conditio ...

on 25 March 2018.

References

External links

Cool Dawn's race record
Racing Post {{Authority control Cheltenham Gold Cup winners Byerley Turk sire line 1988 racehorse births 2018 racehorse deaths