Flyingbolt

Background

Racing career

Early career

Chasing career

The ground at Cheltenham had been very heavy when we arrived, but by the time of the race unceasing rain had turned it into a sea of mud. For Flyingbolt, with twelve-stone-six to carry, you just couldn't imagine anything worse...I had Flyingbolt settled down nicely in the middle of the field, relaxed, jumping superbly and biding his time.... Then, as planned, I made my first move going up the hill at the far end of the course and Flyingbolt, unleashed and free, began to fly through the field.... At the top of the hill only Solbina and Scottish Memories were still in front. Flyingbolt went past and away from them, a man running against boys. Rounding the final bend, he was going so easily that he found time to jump a path across the course. He stormed up the hill, increasing the distance between him and his pursuers with every stride, to win by fifteen lengths from Solbina with Scottish Memories third. It was the manner of his victory, rather than the victory itself, that caused the furore. Men remembered that Scottish Memories had met Arkle twice in the previous season and stretched him on both occasions. In this selfsame race, the Massey-Ferguson, there had been thirty-three pounds and two lengths between them. And in the Leopardstown Chase, thirty-five pounds and one length. Now Flyingbolt had given him twenty-six pounds and left him sixteen and a half lengths behind. Didn't this prove that Flyingbolt was now every bit as good as his more illustrious stable-mate?

Illness

Return

Assessment

Flyingbolt was hacking along with Paddy Woods on his back and a funny look in his eye. Upsides on Arkle, I was thinking to myself that I would never see a prouder horse than this. Then he turned his head and slowly looked us over. You could almost see the curl of the lip. This was the 'Who are these peasants?' look of his that I was to come to know so well and I suppose I should have been forewarned. Next thing I knew he's taken a strong hold and was away. Not to be outdone, Arkle took an equally strong hold and got up alongside. And so these two young chasers who were then potentially the best in the world staged their own private race during what was supposed to be a normal session of morning schooling. They took the next four fences, neck and neck, flat out as though their lives depended on the outcome, while Paddy and I held on to them for dear life and waited for the fires to die down. Well, they cleared them all right, but it was a bit too close for comfort and Mr. Dreaper never allowed them to be schooled together again. In character, they were the night and the day. A small child could walk into Arkle's box in absolute safety. No child, no man would ever willingly step into Flyingbolt's.... at least, not twice. He'd kick the eye out of your head. But over jumps and on the flat he was a superb machine and a brave one.... For him, the future was limitless. There were no mountains too high for this one to climb, not even Arkle's.... Certainly he was as good at seven as Arkle was at the same age.... If progress had been maintained, he would have been as good, if not better, than Arkle himself....And if illness hadn't ruined his career, Flyingbolt would have dominated chasing.

I would say that Flyingbolt was the best horse I ever saw. Arkle was super and a great horse, he rewrote the history books in terms of handicaps and all of that, but Flyingbolt did everything Arkle did and he did it better. He would carry the big weights and destroy horses. He beat two very good mares - Height O'Fashion and Flying Wild - giving them, not pounds but stones, forty-two pounds in weight, which is three stone. It was unheard of. Twelve-stone-seven he was carrying, and he was sailing away from them. In 1964, Arkle had beaten Height O'Fashion in the Irish National giving her thirty pounds but this fella gave her forty, and beat her more easily. He was a big chestnut horse but he was always in the shadow of Arkle because Arkle was 'The Man' and everyone thought he was unbeatable. It's a bit like a brilliant golfer being in the shadow of Tiger Woods. At that time, there were no conditions races, you had to run in handicaps when you went out of your novice races. In the sixties and seventies there were four big handicap races in Ireland: the Troytown at Navan, the Thyestes at Gowran Park, the Leopardstown Chase and the Irish National at Fairyhouse. Flyingbolt ran in the 1966 Thyestes and he won it in a canter. He won what we now call the Supreme Novices, then he won the Arkle Challenge in 1965. He was an aeroplane. Tom then sent him to the two-mile Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham and he bolted in. The very next day, he ran in the Champion Hurdle and finished third. If it was the other way around, he would have won both of them. He jumped the hurdles too big in the Hurdle, having run in the Chase the day before. He came back after that and the next time he ran was in the 1966 Irish National at Fairyhouse three weeks later, with twelve-stone-seven on his back over three miles two, and he beat Height O'Fashion. It was unbelievable. I remember thinking at that time there is no way he would beat her giving her three stone. Three stone! But he beat her again. At that time, they rated him one pound behind Arkle, because Arkle was a legend and they obviously couldn't put something above him in the ratings until the horses met - but they never did. I think if they both lined up, Flyingbolt would have won. For a period in his life, he was the best horse I'd ever seen. He achieved such great things as a National Hunt horse. To this day, when people ask me which was the best horse I ever saw run, I tell them that I saw Arkle and I saw Flyingbolt - and that Flyingbolt was the best.

Retirement