Katchit (23 February 2003 – 9 January 2013) was an
Irish-bred, British-trained
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...
racehorse
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 pr ...
, the peak of whose
flat racing and
hurdling
Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...
career came in 2008 when, against the odds, he won the
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 ...
at the
Cheltenham Festival
The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Rac ...
. Katchit was a moderate flat racer, winning only once in sixteen races. In his first two seasons as a hurdler however, he showed great improvement, winning ten times between September 2006 and March 2008. He won the
Triumph Hurdle in 2007 and the Championship a year later. No Triumph Hurdle winner had gone on to win the Champion Hurdle since Kribensis in 1990, and 73 five-year-olds had been beaten in the race since See You Then registered the last five-year-old success in 1985. His later career was affected by injury and he never won again.
Background
Katchit was a small
bay horse with an irregular white
star
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
, bred in Ireland by the Whitley Stud. He was sired by the
Breeders' Cup Turf
The Breeders' Cup Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for three-year-olds and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The race's current ...
winner
Kalanisi
Kalanisi (foaled March 27, 1996 in Ireland) is a Thoroughbred racehorse who won European Champion and American Champion honors in 2000.
Background
Bred and raced by H.H. Aga Khan IV, Kalanisi was out of the mare Kalamba, a daughter of Green ...
out of a mare named Miracle. As a
yearling
Yearling may refer to:
*Yearling (horse), a horse between one and two years old
*''The Yearling
''The Yearling'' is a novel by American writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, published in March 1938. It was the main selection of the Book of the Mo ...
, the colt was sent by the Irish-based Corduff Stud to the
Tattersalls sales at
Newmarket in October. He was bought for 15,500
guineas by the bloodstock agents Equine Services and entered into the ownership of Tim Corby. He was sent to be trained as a flat racer by
Mick Channon.
Racing career
2005–2006: Flat racing
As a two-year-old in 2005, Katchit ran four times without winning, although he did finish second in a
maiden race
In horse racing a maiden race is an event for horses that have not won a race. Horses that have not won a race are referred to as maidens. Maiden horse races are held over a variety of distances and under conditions with eligibility based on the se ...
at
Brighton Racecourse. In 2006, Katchit lost his first nine races, finishing second on four occasions. In July he won at the fourteenth attempt when taking a minor handicap race at
Salisbury Racecourse
Salisbury Racecourse is a flat racecourse in the United Kingdom featuring thoroughbred horse racing, southwest of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. Fifteen race meetings a year are held there between early May and mid-October.
History
Racing at t ...
. In a bar at the racecourse, Channon agreed the sale of Katchit to his fellow trainer
Alan King
Alan King (born Irwin Alan Kniberg; December 26, 1927 – May 9, 2004) was an American actor and comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. King became well known as a Jewish comedian and satirist. He was also a serious ac ...
for £30,000.
King passed the horse on to the D S J P Syndicate and took him back to his stable at
Barbury Castle
Barbury Castle is a scheduled hillfort in Wiltshire, England. It is one of several such forts found along the ancient Ridgeway route. The site, which lies within the Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, has been managed as a count ...
in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
to be trained as a jumper. Before embarking on his hurdling career he had two more unsuccessful runs on the flat.
2006–2011: Hurdle racing
2006–2007: Novice Hurdle racing
In his first season under
National Hunt rules, Katchit competed against horses of his own age in
novice hurdle races for three and four-year-olds (sometimes called Juvenile Hurdles). He was the dominant horse in his division, winning seven of his eight races. After winning minor races at
Market Rasen and
Chepstow he was beaten by Degas Art in the Wensleydale Hurdle, but then recorded his first important success when taking the Grade II
Ryman Hurdle at
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 Chel ...
in November. He further races at Cheltenham in both January and February (the
Finesse Juvenile Novices' Hurdle
The Finesse Juvenile Novices' Hurdle is a Grade 2 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years. It is run on the New Course at Cheltenham over a distance of about 2 ...
) before returning for the
Festival meeting where he contested the Grade I Triumph Hurdle. Ridden as usual by
Robert "Choc" Thornton he started the
11/2 favourite in a field of twenty-three four-year-olds. Katchit tracked the leaders before taking the lead approaching the final hurdle, and pulled clear in the closing stages to win by nine
lengths
Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Intern ...
. Thornton was able to ease the horse down in the final strides and crossed the line waving his
whip
A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...
to the crowd.
On his final start of the season he was sent to
Aintree Racecourse
Aintree Racecourse is a horse racing, racecourse in Aintree, Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, bordering the city of Liverpool. The racecourse is the venue for the Grand National steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase, whi ...
for the Grade I
Anniversary 4-Y-O Novices' Hurdle
The Anniversary 4-Y-O Novices' Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt racing, National Hunt Hurdling (horse race), hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to Horse racing, horses aged four years. It is ...
and won by four lengths from
Punjabi
Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan
* Punjabi language
* Punjabi people
* Punjabi dialects and languages
Punjabi may also refer to:
* Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
and Degas Art. Commenting on the performance, Thornton said, "He's obviously got ability, but a lot of it is attitude – he just loves the game."
2007–2008: Championship
In the 2007/2008 season, Katchit moved into open competition, with the Champion Hurdle as his objective. In December he sustained his first defeat in over a year when third to
Harchibald in the
Fighting Fifth Hurdle
The Fighting Fifth 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 at Newcastle over a distance of about 2 miles and half a ...
at
Newcastle and then finished second to Osana at Cheltenham two weeks later. On his final start before the 2008 Cheltenham Festival he won the
Kingwell Hurdle at
Wincanton Racecourse
Wincanton Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Wincanton, Somerset, England.
The steeplechase fences are large, making it a good test of a chaser. Three fences in quick succession in the second half of the home-straight mak ...
, beating the high-class flat racer Blythe Knight (
Diomed Stakes
The Diomed Stakes is a Group races, Group 3 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Epsom Downs Racecourse, Epsom Downs over ...
). The win established Katchit as a championship contender and was described by the ''
Daily Telegraph
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
's'' correspondent as "battling" and "
terrier-like". In the Champion Hurdle on 11 March he was the 10/1 fifth choice in the betting behind
Sizing Europe
Sizing Europe (24 March 2002) is an Irish National Hunt horse, best known for winning the 2011 Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham. He won the Irish Champion Hurdle in 2008 before switching to chasing, where he has won six Grade 1s over f ...
, Osana, Harchibald and
Sublimity
In aesthetics, the sublime (from the Latin '' sublīmis'') is the quality of greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical, aesthetic, spiritual, or artistic. The term especially refers to a greatness beyond all possibility ...
. Thornton positioned Katchit among the leaders from the start before moving up to take the lead two hurdles from the finish. He was challenged by Osana at the last, but stayed on under strong pressure to win by a length, with Punjabi five lengths back in third. King admitted that he had not expected the gelding to win but said that Katchit had "amazed him all the way through" his jumping career. Thornton was penalised by the racecourse stewards for using his whip with "excessive frequency" on the winner.
2008–2011: Later career
Katchit never recaptured his championship form and failed to win in his last eleven races. In 2008/2009 he ran five times, finishing sixth behind Punjabi in the Champion Hurdle. Alan King later stated that he had "made a mess" of the horse's season by running him under a big weight in a competitive
handicap race on his debut. In the following season Katchit was moved up to longer distances and showed some promise when third to
Tidal Bay
Tidal Bay is an Irish bred Bay gelding Thoroughbred race horse foaled on 12 May 2001. He was the winner of three Grade 1 jumps races, the Arkle Challenge Trophy and the Maghull Novices' Chase in 2008 as well as the Lexus Chase in 2012. Train ...
in the
Cleeve Hurdle, but in the
World Hurdle
The Stayers' Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain. It is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run on the New Course at Cheltenham over a distance of about 3 miles ...
at the Cheltenham Festival he was beaten more than forty lengths when unplaced behind
Big Buck's
Big Buck's (foaled 16 April 2003) is a retired National Hunt racehorse trained in Britain by Paul Nicholls. He is owned by businessman Andy Stewart and specialised in racing over hurdles. At the 2012 Cheltenham Festival, Big Buck's made histo ...
. On his first start of the 2010/2011 season he finished second at Kempton in October, but sustained a leg injury and was off the course for over a year. In November 2011 he returned to finish a distant third behind Overturn in the
Ascot Hurdle before his injury problems returned.
Death
Katchit died at Barbury Castle after unsuccessful surgery for
colic
Colic or cholic () is a form of pain that starts and stops abruptly. It occurs due to muscular contractions of a hollow tube ( small and large intestine, gall bladder, ureter, etc.) in an attempt to relieve an obstruction by forcing content out ...
in January 2013.
Pedigree
References
{{Champion Hurdle winners
2003 racehorse births
2013 racehorse deaths
Champion Hurdle winners
Cheltenham Festival winners
Racehorses bred in Ireland
Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom
Thoroughbred family 8-i