Blue Refrain - won 3 races at Royal Ascot in 3 years 1978-1980 (Windsor Castle Stakes, Jersey Stakes & Queen Anne Stakes) a considerable achievement for the small Epsom yard of John Benstead.
One of my favourite trainers and listed as C.J. Benstead. I can also remember, I think it was Clive Benstead who may have been John's dad and hence referring to your "John" to distinguish him from C. Benstead. There was also an I. (Ian,) Benstead who may have been John's brother, who though I didn't know, I knew his reputation as a pigeon fancier racing what was known as the "South Road" from the some of the same points to which I had raced pigeons not many years before, well down into France and even Barcelona.
And before I forget, L. (Syd) Dale another shrewd Epsom trainer from the sixties and the first trainer to handle the mighty Mill House.
G. (Buster) Fenningworth....northern trainer tragically killed in a motoring accident on his way to the races. If I remember rightly, also killed in the accident was his apprentice W. Blenkinsopp.
Lucky Number Slevin - pretty good revenge thriller with Josh Hartnett, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley & Bruce Willis.
Lucky Number Slevin is the name of a horse that fails to win for the protagonist's father who is killed by crime lords because he cannot pay his debts (or something like that).
TNT who sponsor today's July Stakes. Established in 1786 it is the oldest surviving 2yo race in the UK and originally stipulated that horses sired by Eclipse and Highflyer carried an extra 3 pounds.
Michael Oliver trained West Tip to win a Grand National.
Von Trappe - also trained by Michael Oliver to win the Pertemps Final (then the Coral Golden Hurdle Final) in 1985.
(If this horse was named for Captain Georg von Trapp from The Sound of Music it's a spelling mistake. If it wasn't then please ignore the previous sentence.)
TNT who sponsor today's July Stakes. Established in 1786 it is the oldest surviving 2yo race in the UK and originally stipulated that horses sired by Eclipse and Highflyer carried an extra 3 pounds.
Shhhhhhhhh, they'll get ideas about the offspring of Frankel. 3 pounds and pulling a cart.
Comments
One of my favourite trainers and listed as C.J. Benstead. I can also remember, I think it was Clive Benstead who may have been John's dad and hence referring to your "John" to distinguish him from C. Benstead. There was also an I. (Ian,) Benstead who may have been John's brother, who though I didn't know, I knew his reputation as a pigeon fancier racing what was known as the "South Road" from the some of the same points to which I had raced pigeons not many years before, well down into France and even Barcelona.
And before I forget, L. (Syd) Dale another shrewd Epsom trainer from the sixties and the first trainer to handle the mighty Mill House.
Lucky Number Slevin is the name of a horse that fails to win for the protagonist's father who is killed by crime lords because he cannot pay his debts (or something like that).
(If this horse was named for Captain Georg von Trapp from The Sound of Music it's a spelling mistake. If it wasn't then please ignore the previous sentence.)
Shhhhhhhhh, they'll get ideas about the offspring of Frankel. 3 pounds and pulling a cart.
M.al Zarooni.....no relation to Mickey.