Flyingbolt

Background

Flyingbolt was born in 1959 in unusual circumstances. His sire Airborne, the 1946 Derby winner, had become almost totally impotent by 1958 having only managed to get 3 mares in foal in each of his previous 2 seasons at stud. As a result, he was of little interest to breeders, so local man Robert Way gave him a home on his small stud farm where he housed a few mares of his own. Aware of his near non-existent reproductive history in recent years, Way put him into a paddock as a companion for the 19-year-old mare Eastlock, which he had purchased for 50 guineas at a dispersal sale in 1941. Eastlock, who was unraced, delivered 10 foals in 11 years for her new owner, but at 18 years-of-age and having failed to conceive in 1957, she was retired from breeding. However, her natural-born union with Airborne in 1958 resulted in the birth of a chestnut colt foal the following spring when she was 20 years-of-age. There was little to recommend the newborn in terms of his pedigree, with his sire being deemed a failure at stud and none of his immediate female line having ever set foot on a racecourse. Way sold him as a foal at the Newmarket December Sales for 210 guineas to Larry Ryan from Co. Clare in Ireland. After winning in the show ring as a yearling, he was offered for sale that autumn at Goffs Ballsbridge sales in Dublin through the Rathmore Stud owned by six-time Irish champion jockey Martin Molony, and was bought by George Ponsonby for 490 guineas. Ponsonby had already purchased a number of horses which went into training with Tom Dreaper. This one did likewise and was passed on to Mrs. Jean Wilkinson, who combined the names of his sire (Airborne) and dam (Eastlock) to give him the name Flyingbolt.

Racing career

Early career

Flyingbolt made his racecourse debut on 13 May 1963 in a flat race over 12 furlongs at Leopardstown with Liam McLoughlin on board. Starting at 20/1, he finished down the field. He was still immature and needed more time to fill into his massive frame, so he was turned out into a field for the summer. His run at Leopardstown would be his only defeat for the next two-and-a-half years.

Flyingbolt re-appeared at Navan on 9 October 1963 when winning a national hunt flat race by 7 lengths at odds of 8/11 in the hands of top amateur Alan Lillingston. Coincidentally, Arkle won his only flat race ever on the same card half an hour earlier. Lillingston would later recall; "The lads in the yard told me he could really go. Halfway down the back not much was happening, so I gave him one crack down the shoulder and he took off like a jet plane."

After winning his next start on the flat at Leopardstown by 4 lengths with Liam McLoughlin in the saddle, Flyingbolt was switched to hurdles the following month, easily winning his maiden at the Leopardstown Christmas meeting where he was ridden in public for the first time by stable jockey Pat Taaffe, who was to ride him in all of his jump races whilst in the care of Dreaper. He then won the Killester Hurdle at Baldoyle, winning in such effortless fashion that he was allowed to take his chance in the Scalp Hurdle (now the Irish Champion Hurdle) at Leopardstown just 7 days later. He won eased down, defeating amongst others the previous year's Champion Hurdle winner, Winning Fair. The race was described by author and journalist Ivor Herbert;

"Flyingbolt, two years Arkle's junior, won the Scalp Hurdle in a canter. What made this astonishing was that the five-year-old was beating older experienced high-class hurdlers on worse terms than in a handicap. It was suddenly evident that Dreaper had not only Ireland's top three mile chaser, but, in the two years younger horse, the best novice hurdler either side of the Irish Sea."

From there, Flyingbolt headed to Cheltenham, where he easily won his division of the Gloucestershire Hurdle (now the Supreme Novices' Hurdle), consolidating his position as the top novice hurdler in Britain and Ireland. Later that week, Arkle beat Mill House to win the first of his three consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cups.

Chasing career

Flyingbolt was sent chasing in the autumn of 1964. He won all five of his starts, including the 2-mile Champion Novice Chase at Cheltenham (formerly the Cotswold Chase, now the Arkle Challenge Trophy) and his final start at Fairyhouse, where he carried 12 st 2 lbs to victory, giving the second horse 37 lbs. In doing so, he recorded his eleventh consecutive victory from twelve career starts.

Flyingbolt made his seasonal re-appearance in a handicap hurdle at the Phoenix Park on 2 October 1965, where he finished 4th when conceding 28 lbs and upwards to his rivals. Although he was beaten for the first time in more than two years, the race was primarily a warm-up event prior to the resumption of his chasing career, a sphere in which he remained unbeaten. That season, Flyingbolt won all six of his chases, ranging in distance from 2 miles to 3 and a quarter miles. He began with a victory in the Carey's Cottage Handicap Chase at Gowran Park, winning by 5 lengths, carrying 12 st 2 lbs and giving 32 lbs to the second horse. This was followed by a trip to Ascot in November, where he won the prestigious Black & White Whisky Gold Cup in a canter by 15 lengths (Chaseform: waited with, took lead 3 out, drew clear, impressive).

For the first time in 8 starts over fences, he started at odds-against for the Massey Ferguson Gold Cup at Cheltenham in December. This was his stiffest task to date as he had been allotted 12 st 6 lbs in the race and had to give 25 lbs and more in weight to his 10 rivals, most of whom were top-class handicappers. However, backed in from 5/1 to 5/2 favourite, Flyingbolt took the lead with 3 to jump before drawing away to win by 15 lengths. (Chaseform: took lead 3 out, drew clear, impressive). The Irish Field reported after the race: "There are many who thought that before the big race Flyingbolt was a little behind Arkle; while after his resounding victory they are in no doubt that he is as good." Pat Taaffe described the race in his autobiography My Life and Arkle's:

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

Flyingbolt was turned out on grass for the summer along with a few other horses and a number of cattle, which had been the policy throughout his racing career to date. During this period, rumours began to surface of the Wilkinsons' eagerness to take on Arkle in the following year's Cheltenham Gold Cup despite their trainer's preference to keep them apart.

In the Autumn of 1966, the British Handicapper released the weights for the 3 big early-season handicaps, namely the Gallaher, Mackeson and Massey-Ferguson Gold Cups in which both Arkle and Flyingbolt were entered. Arkle was set to carry just one pound more than Flyingbolt in all three races with a gap of more than 2 stone (28lbs) to the next horse in the weights.

As the 1966/67 season got under way, Flyingbolt was first on to the stage. The race was the National Hunt Centenary Chase at Cheltenham on 29 October 1966, where he carried 12 st 7 lbs. Although he was giving 21 lbs in weight to the other 4 runners, it was expected to be no more than an exercise canter for Flyingbolt. Starting favourite at 2–7, he appeared to be on his way to victory until suddenly weakening 2 out before finishing 9 lengths third. There was no obvious reason for his surprise defeat but eventually exhaustive tests revealed that he was suffering from Brucellosis, a seriously infectious bacterial disease, more associated with cattle than horses. It was suspected that Flyingbolt may have picked it up during the summer whilst out grazing with the cattle, one or more of which may have been infected. It is routine for cattle which are diagnosed with the disease to be removed from the herd and slaughtered, as their meat cannot be allowed to enter the human food chain.

In terms of the equine, Brucellosis is a debilitating disease which causes inflammation of the joints along with severe muscle soreness, a serious handicap in the training of racehorses. The bacteria causing this disease, Brucella, function as facultative intracellular parasites, causing chronic disease which usually persists for life. In Flyingbolt's case, the only means of tackling the problem back then was through a prolonged period of medical treatment and plenty of rest, after which there was little or no chance of a full recovery. However, Flyingbolt was still a young horse and the hope was that he could recover sufficiently in order to return and win a Cheltenham Gold Cup. Within 2 months of Flyingbolt's setback, Arkle fractured a pedal bone in the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park and never raced again.

Return

Flyingbolt returned to action a year later but took part in only two races within the space of a month. Carrying 12 st 7 lbs in both, he finished 3rd on his first start at Punchestown (giving 42 lbs to all of the other runners) before finishing a well-beaten 7th in the Mackeson Gold Cup at Cheltenham. After he was subsequently found to be suffering from a recurrence of his illness, Dreaper expressed the wish to retire the horse rather than watch him deteriorate any further as a result of his debilitating condition. However, the owners decided to keep him in training, and when he returned to the track after a further year on the sidelines, he was in the care of Ken Oliver in Scotland. Flyingbolt again ran in only 2 races that season, although he did win one of them when carrying 12 st 7 lbs to victory under Barry Brogan in a handicap chase at Haydock on 3 January 1969 (Chaseform: made all, comfortably). Subsequently ruled out of action for another year, he returned to race sparingly for another 2 seasons without ever achieving the same level of form he had shown prior to his illness. In all, he only appeared on the racecourse 5 times between his win in the Irish National in April 1966 and his seasonal debut at Cheltenham in December 1969, almost 4 years later. Other than that, his most notable finish was a second in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on the eve of his 11th birthday, one of the few races in the calendar where he did not have to give lumps of weight away to the opposition. To put this into context, it was the first time in 9 starts that he carried less than 12–7 in a race. His final start, for his latest trainer, Roddy Armytage, came as a twelve-year-old in the Topham Trophy Handicap Chase at Aintree on 1 April 1971 where he carried top-weight but fell for the only time in his career. Despite not being the horse he once was, Flyingbolt left a deep impression on Armytage, as he explained to the Racing Post:

"I rode him work one morning and just for a couple of furlongs you could feel what an astonishing machine he must have been. But after he worked, his joints used to swell up – there was nothing you could do about it."

Jockey Barry Brogan, who rode him to his final victory at Haydock, was Tom Dreaper's assistant and stable amateur during the 1965–1966 season and had ridden both Arkle and Flyingbolt in their work. In his autobiography, he says:

"In my view Flyingbolt was probably the best horse I ever rode – even better than Arkle. I honestly believe that he would have beaten Arkle in the 1966 Gold Cup if Tom Dreaper had allowed him to run."

Assessment

In the end, Arkle and Flyingbolt never met on the racecourse but they did so at home as Pat Taaffe recounted in his book My Life & Arkle's.

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. He had a competitive spirit every bit the equal of Arkle's and be it over jumps or 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.

Jim Dreaper, Tom's son, was a schoolboy at the time and he recounted his thoughts on both Arkle and Flyingbolt to Hugh McIlvanney 30 years later. "It is foolish to say there can never be another steeplechaser as great as Arkle. There may have been one in the yard along with him. It is impossible to tell how fantastic Flyingbolt might have been if he had not contracted brucellosis."

In an interview with Donn McClean on the Irish Field Podcast, “Leading The Field” in February 2024, Jim Dreaper revealed that “The Handicapper told my father that he could not bring himself to call Flyingbolt the equal of Arkle, he had him one pound below him, but he said that in all honesty he could not split them. And Pat Taaffe said that if it was a 3-mile race on heavy ground he wasn’t sure which he would have ridden, by which I think he meant he would probably have chosen Flyingbolt.”

Retirement

Flyingbolt was retired in 1971 and spent the latter days of his life on a farm in Oxfordshire in the company of former stablemate Fort Leney, a winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1968.

Flyingbolt died in 1983 at the age of 24.