THE TWO NATIONALS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 29, 3 August 1939, Page 13

THE TWO NATIONALS

DIFFICULT DOUBLE

FIVE MAY TRY THIS YEAR

The Great Northern double has been won by the one horse in the same year on a number of occasions, but no horse has ever yet taken the big jumping double at either Trentham or Riccar- j ton in the winter. It has not been j for want of trying, but that steeple- j chase-prior-to-hurdles sequence, even j With several days in between, as at j Trentham, has so far been an obstacle that even the best jumpers have been unable to surmount. It is therefore of interest to observe that no less than five horses remain in the two Grand Nationals next week —Erination, Padishah, Survoy, Silver Sight, and Cottingham—and that three at least of them may be set on the double attempt. The record of the races is of course completely against any horse's winning the two races in the one year, but it is not a wholly impossible feat. That gallant mare Aurora Borealis just failed to create the precedent nine years ago, and only last year Clarion Call won the Steeples and was third in the Hurdles. Actually only two horses (Dummy and Haydn) have yet won the two events in different years, but Clarion Call was just a bit unlucky not to do so, as he was twice second and then third in three successive attempts on the Hurdles. Since the Grand National Hurdles was first added to the programme for the C.J.C. Grand National Meeting in 1890 there have been many attempts to capture the double. Padishah, Erination, and Cottingham are three who may make a further attempt this year,. though of course only one of them (unless there were a dead heat in the Steeples) could be left as such a prospect after the decision of the first "leg" next Tuesday. SOME EARLY ATTEMPTS.. J In the first two years (1890 and; 1891) the races were run on the same ] day, and, as would be expected, no horse then contested, the two events. In 1917 and 1918 the races were again decided- on the same day, but the next year the club reverted to its general practice of holding the Steeples on the first day and the Hurdles on the second day (after a day's interval), and there has been no change since. There will again be' a day's interval between the two events this year. In 1892, the first occasion on which the races were run on different days,' two horses (Kaimanawa and Couranto) I stepped out in both, but they were un- j placed in each. Couranto had won the Hurdles the previous year. A year later Mutiny, who was destined to win the Steeples in 1895 and 1896, ran third over the country, and was unplaced in the Hurdles. Empire, Despised, and Victrix also ran in both events that year. In 1894 no horse contested the double, but Liberator and Despised unsuccessfully made the attempt in 1895. The next year Liberator, who had won thej Hurdles in 1893 and 1894, ran unplaced j in the Steeples and finished third in I the Hurdles. Narrate was another dual mnner that year. The first Grand National Steeplechase winner to be saddled up as well for the Hurdles two days later was] Levanter in 1897, but he failed to figure in the places. Flirt and Ulster also ran in the two events that year. In 1898 there was no dual essay, but in the next four years Dummy, Dundee, Kaimate, Moifaa, Cavaliero, and Huku all failed to gain places in either event when attempting the double. In 1903 Awahuri won the Steeples, but w#s unplaced in the Hurdles, and a year later Slow Tom registered the same performance. In the following four years the only horses to run in the two races were Catherine Gordon and Ranana, both without gaining places. Then in 1911, after a lapse of four years in which no horse had turned but in the two races, Paritutu repeated the feat previously achieved by Levanter, Awahuri, and Slow Tom, and two years later Bercola was similarly partially SUCCGSSf U.l. After 1913 the next horse to try for the elusive double honours was Lochella in 1920, but, although he was favourite in the Steeples and second favourite in the Hurdles, he failed to run into a place in either event. Lochella had won the Steeples the previous year. MORE RECENT ESSAYS. Another interval followed, broken only by futile ventures from Omahu (1923) and Sir Rbseberry (1925). Then in 1927, Beau Cavalier, who had won the Great Northern Steeplechase and the Wellington Steeplechase during the preceding two months, and was destined to win the Great Northern Hurdles the next year, followed in the steps of fairly well-established precedent by winning the Grand National Steeplechase, and running unplaced in the Hurdles. Kawini also contested both i;aces that year. The next year Pouri ran second in the Steeples and nowhere in the Hurdles, and Beau Cavalier was unplaced in both. King's Guard was a dual runner in 1929. Then came Aurora Borealis's best accomplishment to date, for, after winning the 1930 Grand National Steeplechase, she was beaten only a length and a half by Corinthia in the Grand National Hurdles. That same year Omeo ran third in the Steeples and was unplaced in the Hurdles. In 1931 Wiltshire (who had won the cross-country event in 1928 and 1929) and Wako King both failed to gain a place in either race, and so did High Pitch the next year. In 1933 Billy Boy, who had won the Steeples the previous year, went a point better than his immediate predecessors by finishing third in the Steeples though otit of the money in the Hurdles. There were no dual attempts in 1935 and 1936. The two horses who ran in both races in 1937, Irish Comet and Brigadore, each gained a place in one of ihe '•legs/ the former being third in the Steeples and the latter third in the Hurdles. Last year Clarion Call ran his first and third, and Erination, after falling in the Steeples, finished fourth in the Hurdles. From this survey of the records it will be seen that no fewer than eight horses who have aimed at earning double honours in the one year nave won the Steeples, but have then missed j in the Hurdles. The eight are Levanter Awahuri, Slow Tom, Paritutu, Bercola Beau Cavalier, Aurora Borealis, and' Clarion Call. The last pair however were placed m the Hurdles, so that'the swing might appear to be towards some horse's very shortly achieving the double distinction. Another point of note is that no horse that has failed in the Steeples has ever gone on to win the Hurdles two days later. Indeed only two of such horses have filled a place in the Hurdles, those being Liberator, who rail third in the 1896 Hurdles, alter completing the course and being unJSed in the Steeples, and Brigadore, who ran third in the. Hurdles two years a<*o after falling m the Steeples. It will therefore be seen that the path in front of any horse who essays the' double this year is one that none has ever yet successfully trodden. Still Aurora Borealis just failed to do so in her year, and there are many prepared to concede that Padishah is at least one horse who might go the one necessary point better in this year's double. It is generally believed that Padishah will contest the two races, unless he should cut up after the Steeplechase next Tuesday, and that announcement has already been made by his owner.