Montelado - won two consecutive races at the Festival taking the last race of the meeting in 1992 (Champion Bumper) and the first race in 1993 (Supreme Novices' Hurdle).

Nassau Stakes

Oaklawn Park, Hot Springs

Pall Mall - property handily located between the Electric Company & people just visiting other people in jail.

Also a 2,000 Guineas winner for HM The Queen in 1958.

Question Mark - appears on the Chance squares

Also a horse that ran mainly on the all-weather at Lingfield

Royston.....one time training HQ of Willie Stephenson, Arthur's brother, whose jump jockey was Michael Scudamore and on the flat, Denis Ryan, father of Willie Ryan.

Spanking Roger - 1732 colt by Flying Childers.

The origin of the name is doubtlessly interesting but regrettably unknown.

Not to be confused with Rogering Roger.

Trampolene....19c proof of the importance of the female line so frequently ignored by breeders in the past.

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Visored again

Flying Childers' dam's great grandsire was Spanker and her grand dam was Spanker Mare sired by Spanker. Spanking Roger's dam was out of Spanker Mare. Spanker was sired by Yellow Turk the rather forgotten sire I posted about the other day.

There is a lot of spanking in that pedigree but no idea where Roger comes from.

Anyway thankfully there isn't a horse with a W in all that.

^ Indeed. A W somewhere in there might have produced frowns of disapproval even in the somewhat louche times of the early 18th century.

Thank you.

XVIII - races won by Eclipse over II seasons (including VIII walkovers) for total prize money of MMCL guineas.

Yellow Ribbon

unbeaten (eclipse)

one of 3 stallions that all modern racehorses can trace back to. (i mentioned above under a for arabian)

Zimmer - 2006 colt by Empire Builder with a very stiff action.

Contested 12 races during his career (6 of them in the frame).

Alcibiade the first 5yo to win the National in 1865, which remains the youngest age of any winner and probably always will.

Brabazon, Aubrey - one of two jockeys I'm aware of who has won a race at the Cheltenham Festival and ridden a Classic winner in the same year.

Brabazon achieved this twice, firstly with Cottage Rake (Gold Cup) and Masaka (Irish Oaks) in 1948 and secondly with Cottage Rake (Gold Cup) Hattons Grace (Champion Hurdle) and Mighty Ocean (Irish 2,000 Guineas) in 1950.

Charley Smirke

won 11 classics, incl 4 derbies

surprisingly warned off for 5 years early in his career, for not trying (on a horse subsequently shown to be a regular non-trier)

Digitalis derivatives used to treat heart problems in horses.

ESB, the horse that prevailed in the '56 National when Devon Loch stumbled.

Facile winner.

Grimthorpe Chase

Hills Richard who hung up his saddle at the age of 49 on Saturday.

Ian Cox....you have to go back a long way to recognise this NH jockey who rode for A.J.(Arthur)Pitt an Epsom trainer. Arthur got down to one horse whose name I don't really remember other than it ended in "del Mar".....Lion del Mar or something similar. The horse won a fair number of races and knowing Arthur, he knew when to get on. I don't recall Ian riding for anyone else and when the horse was retired, Arthur and Ian also sailed into the sunset. I think they'd made enough money.