By the end of his novice chase season in the spring of 2012, Sprinter Sacre had captured the hearts and minds of the racing world. The promise and scope that many of us had seen in his third place finish in the 2011 Supreme Novices Hurdle had been confirmed by a stroll to victory on chase debut at Doncaster, followed by a demolition of Peddlers Cross at Kempton over Christmas and then the step up to open company in Newbury's Game Spirit Chase, where he thrashed seasoned chasers on the snaff and set a new course record. He subsequently cruised to victory in the Arkle (by 7 lengths from Cue Card) and Maghull Novices Chase (by 12 lengths from Toubab) and was made a short-priced favourite for the 2013 Queen Mother Champion Chase. Just about a year before Sprinter Sacre finished 3rd in the Supreme, Paul Nicholls' Sanctuaire had taken the Fred Winter at the 2010 festival and managed to win the following year's Scottish Champion Hurdle off 144. Later that year he was well beaten in the Greatwood, International and Christmas Hurdles and the master of DItcheat turned his mind to chasing. Sanctuaire won on chase debut at Taunton in a hack canter by 16 lengths, then followed up at Sandown in March by half the track and in April 2012 he returned to the Esher track for the Grade 2, open company Celebration Chase and put in a tremendous front-running display under Darryl Jacob to smash Somersby by 17 lengths. He jumped from fence to fence, never saw a rival and it was quite simply jaw-dropping. Fast forward to the 8th of December 2012. Sprinter Sacre (officially rated 169) and Sanctuaire (officially rated 166) would make their seasonal debuts in the Tingle Creek chase at Sandown. Four of the other 5 horses in the race were rated in the 145-150 band but this was billed as a clash of the titans, a face off between the best 2 mile chasers in training. To this day I find it extraordinary to watch this race, how it evolved, how decent horses were just left trailing in the wake of these 2 extraordinary talents. And then, the final chapter from Sprinter Sacre who did something which made Nick Luck declare "Well, well. What kind of ridiculous, unthinkable monster is this". This is the greatest 2 mile chase performance EVER in my view. Absolutely stunning. Enjoy
When I read or see something related to Sprinter Sacre, apart from remembering how wonderful he was, it is inevitable that I remember a friend of mine. At the 2013 Festival he had a very serious special bet (5/2) on "Sprinter Sacre to win Rolling Star to place". Naturally SS won the QMCC with absolute comfort. Rolling Star came from France and had won in his UK debut at Cheltenham a couple of months before giving a very good impression and it seemed that the bet was sure but two days later he could only be sixth in the Triumph. He was very disappointed and we spent several months singing "Sprinter Sacre to win Rolling Star to place" when we wanted to make him angry.
Sanctuaire is one horse who was never as good as his official mark, he got it for that Celebration Chase romp, but that was the only run in the book that suggests he was anything other than a 150 horse. That race had Somersby in second (giving weight) and Dan Breen of Pipe's back in third. It can be argued that Somersby ran well below his mark that day, and that Sanctuaire was massively flattered. He was then found out big style by Sprinter and more importantly Sire De Grugy. It really does show that in jumps racing we have very few graded stakes races outside of the festival that can be truly used to judge horses ability, because of how poor the fields are. In the UK, racing over jumps has been pretty weak for a good time in terms of depth of quality. All that said, Sprinter was a one of a kind and an awesome horse. So lucky to be at the course to see him win those big races. The return to form after time off was special, one of the top moments of mine at a racecourse.
I love this race At 2:57 SS makes a mistake and still makes up a length on the leaders. At 3:05 he just barges through them. At 3:24 what a jump. At 3:50 the emotion...he regains his title.
That jump two out is awesome. That is the race I was talking about as one of my best on a racecourse.
Actually looking back through his performances in his pomp, I’d probably have to say his victory at Aintree in the Melling Chase was his finest. Stepping up to 2m4f for the first time and doing that to Cue Card, Flemenstar and Riverside Theatre was extraordinarily good.
I think the Arkle win was the best in terms of the field, he turned it around with Al Ferof from the year previous and to beat Cue Card, Menorah and Al Ferof so easily was so impressive
