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For jumping folk there is only one ghost of Christmas past. In the Allotted Span Stakes you will need to have racked up three score without the ten to have meaningful memories of the event, but it is 50 years since Arkle finished a stricken second to Dormant in Kempton’s King George on December 27, 1966.
And hardly anyone who was not on course that dank and misty afternoon saw it happen as the great race was, for once, not covered by the BBC.
Arkle scholars have searched in vain for footage of his final race. It would be a priceless – although painful to watch – addition to racing’s archive if it could be unearthed.
Arkle had closed out his 1965-66 season with a 30-length defeat of Dormant in the Cheltenham Gold Cup having been sent off at 1-10. That starting price tells you all you need to know about his superiority over his contemporaries.
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