Before Rachael Blackmore, which female jockey achieved the best placing in the Grand National?

On April 10, 2021, 44 years after Charlotte Budd (née Brew) made sporting history by becoming the first female jockey to ride in the Grand National, Rachael Blackmore did so again by becoming the first female jockey to win the world famous steeplechase. Blackmore expertly guided the 8-year-old Minella Times, trained by Henry de Bromhead, to a 6½-length victory over stable companion Balko Des Flos, thereby shattering another glass ceiling in the sporting world.

In the interim, several female jockeys, including Rosemary Henderson, Carrie Ford and Bryony Frost – who all finished fifth, in 1994, 2005 and 2018, respectively – have successfully completed the Grand National Course. However, before Rachael Blackmore, who also rode Valseur Lido into tenth position in 2019, the female jockey who had achieved the best placing in the Grand National was another Irishwoman, the now-retired Katie Walsh.

Katie Walsh is, of course, the son of trainer Ted Walsh and the brother of Rupert ‘Ruby’ Walsh, who teamed up to win the Grand National with Papillon in 2000. However, she carved her own slice of Grand National history when partnering Seabass, trained by her father, into third place behind Neptune Collonges and Sunnyhillboy in the 2012 Grand National. All told, Katie Walsh rode in the Grand National half a dozen times between 2012 and 2018 and, with the exception of Ballycasey, from whom she was unseated after a mistake at the second-last fence, completed the course of each of her mounts.

 

Why is £500 known as a ‘monkey’ in betting slang?

Why is £500 known as a 'monkey' in betting slang? An excellent question, but one to which there appears to be no definitive answer. In common with other colloquial betting terms, ‘monkey’ is believed to be derived from Cockney slang, rhyming or otherwise, but more than that is difficult to say. Still anyone interested in horse tips, or betting should try to get familar with the meaning racing terminology.

One hypothesis suggests that during the days of the British Raj – that is, British colonial rule of India between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries – the 500-rupee banknote bore a depiction of a monkey. Thus, ‘monkey’ was adopted as a slang term for 500 rupees and, hence, for £500 when occupying soldiers returned to Britain.

However, the term was known to be in use in Britain several decades before the British Raj and, while coins bearing religious motifs – possibly including Hanuman, the monkey commander of Hindu mythology – were minted in the pre-colonial era, no legitimate coins or banknotes from the suggested period really fit the bill. So-called ‘temple tokens’ did exist, but they were not legal tender and, more often than not, were devoid of any denomination.

More likely, perhaps, is that ‘monkey’ is derived from the phrase ‘to have a monkey up the chimney’ which, in late-nineteenth century Britain, was a slang term for having a mortgage. At the turn of the twentieth century, the vast majority of properties in Britain were rented rather than bought, but a three-bedroom terraced house in London could be bought for around £300; £500 would, at least, be in the right ball park as the amount required to buy a house of some distinction. In either case, even today if the end results of a race was winning a ‘monkey’ you’d not be too unhappy with your day!

When did Lester Piggott ride his first Royal Ascot winner?

In a riding career spanning six decades, Lester Piggott rode 4,493 winners, including 30 English Classic winners and won the Flat Jockeys’ Championship eleven times, including eight years running between 1964 and 1971. Coincidentally, eleven was also the number of times Piggott won the highlight of Royal Ascot, the historic and coveted Gold Cup, including a notable hat-trick on Sagaro in 1975, 1976 and 1977.

Piggott not only remains the most successful jockey in the history of the Gold Cup but, by the proverbial ‘country mile’, the most successful jockey in the history of Royal Ascot. Of course, at various points during his career, Piggott enjoyed profitable associations with such luminaries of the training profession as Sir Noel Murless, Vincent O’Brien and Sir Henry Cecil. Nevertheless, his astonishing record of 116 winners, achieved long before the extension of Royal Ascot to five days in 2005, is unlikely to be beaten.

Piggott rode his first Royal Ascot winner, Malka’s Boy, trained by Walter Nightingall, in the Wokingham Stakes on June 20, 1952, as a 16-year-old, making all the running to win by 3 lengths. For the record, he rode his last Royal Ascot winner, College Chapel, trained by Vincent O’Brien, in the Cork and Orrery Stakes, now the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, on June 17, 1993, at the age of 58. The ‘Long Fella’ retired for the second, and final, time two years later.

Where, and when, did Stradivarius make his racecourse debut?

Now a 7-year-old, Stradivarius has been a fixture of the major staying races of the season since winning the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot, as a 3-year-old, in 2017. Indeed, he has won the Goodwood Cup, over 2 miles, a record four times and his three wins, so far, in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, over 2 miles 4 furlongs, has been bettered only by Yeats. Following discussions with owner Bjorn Nielsen, trainer John Gosden recently announced that Stradivarius will stay in training, as an 8-year-old, in 2022, with the Goodwood Cup and Gold Cup pencilled in as likely targets.

Already the winner of 19 of his 32 starts, including seven at Group 1 level and eight at Group 2 level, Stradivarius has amassed just shy of £3.2 million in prize money in his illustrious career, so far. However, even superstar stayers have to start somewhere and Stradivarius made a low-key racecourse debut, as a 2-year-old, in a modest maiden stakes race, over an extended mile, at Nottingham on October 5, 2016. He finished fifth of nine, beaten 4½ lengths, on that occasion and, after another unplaced run behind stable companion Cracksman in a similar race at Newmarket two weeks later, opened his account when dropped still further in class on the Tapeta surface at Newcastle in early November. From those modest beginnings, he improved 40lb throughout his 3-year-old campaign and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

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