Arkle
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Arkle (19 April 1957 - 31 May 1970) was a famous Irish race horse. A bay gelding by Archive out of Bright Cherry, Arkle was bred by Mary Baker at Ballymacoll stud near Naul, County Dublin
Owned by Anne Duchess of Westminster,trained by Tom Dreaper in Ireland and ridden by Pat Taafe, Arkle became the first racehorse in Britain to capture public attention outside racing circles. His legendary battles with English trained champion Mill House dominated the steeplechasing scene between 1963 and 1966. Besides winning three consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cups (1964,5,6) Arkle triumphed in a number of important handicap chases including the 1964 Hennessy Gold Cup, the 1965 Gallagher Gold Cup and the 1966 Massey Ferguson Gold Cup. So great was his dominance that the handicap system had to be extended to accommodate him. Often he would race under 12 stone 7 pounds whilst the nearest handicapped horse was given only 10 stone and others raced off 9 stone 7 pounds. Yet he still won more often than not. In December 1966 Arkle raced in the King George VI Gold Cup at Kempton but damaged a fetlock in the back straight and finished second with a terrible injury. All attempts to repair it failed and the horse was sadly retired.
Often credited as The greatest steeplechaser of all time, the main rival to the claim being Golden Miller who won the Gold Cup five times in the 1930s as well as the Grand National.
Arkle became a national legend in Ireland, his strength was laughingly claimed to come from drinking Guinness twice a day. At one point the slogan Arkle for President was written on a wall in Dublin. Today promising young Irish jump horses are often compared as 'the next Arkle'.