Big Race History: Pierse Hurdle

General / Malcolm Pannett / 07 January 2009 / 1 Comments

Malcolm Pannett continues his history of high profile races in the run-up to this year's Cheltenham Festival.

The race now run as the Pierse Hurdle was one of the great Champion Hurdle trials in the early 1970s. Persian War, Comedy of Errors and Night Nurse, who between them won seven Champion Hurdles, were lured across the Irish Sea to plunder the rich purse on offer in what was then known as the Irish Sweeps Hurdle.

In the late 1930s the Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake was set up to help fund investment in Ireland's health service. Thousands of tickets were sold and then a draw was made to allocate horses in competitive races such as The Derby or Grand National, with the ticket corresponding to the winning horse paying a huge dividend. Tickets were made available outside Ireland, despite lotteries being illegal in several of the jurisdictions, and this in turn brought in valuable external revenue. The Irish Sweeps Hurdle, first run in 1969, was part of the scheme.

Fred Rimell trained Normandy to win the inaugural running which, like the second, took place at Fairyhouse. The race found a permanent home at Leopardstown the following year.

After the golden period in the 1970s, which also included success for future Cheltenham Gold Cup-winner Captain Christy, the conditions of the race were altered and it became a handicap resulting in larger fields with lighter-weighted improving sorts coming to the fore. However the Cheltenham clues are still there although they are not quite so obvious. Silver Jaro for example finished third last year before winning the County Hurdle.

Other notable winners over the years include Chinrullah who went on to win the two-mile champion Chase and finish fifth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup before being disqualified from both after returning a positive sample due to contaminated food stuffs.

Dual-Champion Chase-winner Barnbrook Again won in 1987 the first year that the race was run as The Ladbroke, Pierse took over sponsorship in 2001.

The Illiad landed a massive gamble in 1991, when catching pacesetter Bawnmore Boy in the closing stages, on his reappearance after nearly a year on the sidelines. The Illiad was supported on many occasions with equal measures of success and failure. The other side of the coin was demonstrated in the Champion Hurdle when he was sent off second favourite after being shortened from double figures only to lose all chance with a mistake at the fourth from home in Morley Street's race.

More recent winners include Graphic Equaliser, Adamant Approach and Essex.

25 years ago: Arthur Moore produced Fredcoteri to win for second year in a row. Twelve months previously he had just prevailed by a short head over For Auction who went on to finish third in the Champion Hurdle behind Gaye Brief. This time he showed good tactical speed and resolution, under a stirring ride by Tom Taaffe, to deny Miller Hill by a neck.

10 years ago: Archive Footage, who had been fifth in the previous season's Supreme Novices' Hurdle, relished the fast pace and testing ground to record a decisive nine length win over Daraheen Chief and in the process give Dermot Weld his first success in the race.

5 years ago: Dromlease Express arrived on the scene having landed a gamble at Naas in November. Relatively unexposed but fancied by connections he was sent off joint favourite and benefited from a patient ride from Johnny Allen who at the time claimed a very useful 7lb. Runner-up Mac's Joy developed in to a top notch hurdler winning the AIG and finishing second to Brave Inca in the Champion Hurdle. Dromlease Express, though, went on to finish stone last in the County Hurdle.

Last Year: Timmy Murphy timed it to perfection on Barker to beat Brave Right and Silver Jaro. The seven-year-old had improved dramatically during the preceding two months winning at Clonmel and Fairyhouse and continued the trend of improvers doing particularly well in this contest. Two months later Silver Jaro got the better of the favourite Psycho to land the County Hurdle at the rewarding odds of 50-1.

Comments (1)

1. john Verdensky | 02 February 2010

   I have an Irish Hospital sweepsteake ticket on the Licoln to be run at Doncaster England 1969 closing date 2/24/1969.To be drawn under the supervision of the commissioner of police in Dublin.We are woundering if it is worth anything to a collector. the tickets is in mint condition like the day it was bought. Thank You