Flyingbolt

Flyingbolt (1959 - 1983) was a famous racehorse. Officially he is the second best steeplechaser of all time, behind only Arkle, who was ironically stabled just a few boxes away in the same yard at Kilsallaghan, Co. Dublin where both were trained by Tom Dreaper. A comparison of their merits is probably best illustrated by the Official Handicapper, who at the end of the 1965-1966 season rated Arkle the superior by only 1 lb (0.5 kg). Timeform, the highly respected racing publication, had a difference of 2 lbs between them. However, whereas Arkle is feted and remembered as the greatest steeplechaser of all time, Flyingbolt has been all but forgotten. As a hurdler, he was the best Tom Dreaper ever trained. His wins included the Gloucestershire Hurdle at Cheltenham (now the Supreme Novices' Hurdle) and the Scalp Hurdle at Leopardstown (now the Irish Champion Hurdle). He also finished third in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. Flyingbolt and Arkle never met on the race track, mainly because they were trained by the same man, and he preferred to keep them apart. 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, including 5 minor winners, but having failed to conceive in 1955, 1956 and 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. 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.