Pat Taaffe Grand National Jockey
Posted: Sunday, February 13, 2011
by Gen Wright
http://www.fastsubmitarticles.com
Arkle was never allowed; thanks to the love of his owner, the Duchess of Westminister; to be subjected to the rough and tumble of the Aintree steeplechase. This didn't stop Taaffe taking part in the National, who rode in the race seventeen times. The first time he ever raced in the National in 1955, he won on Quare Times by twelve lengths and beautifully won again in his last entry to the race in 1970 on Gay Trip.
His first two attempts at the National saw him fall, the first time in 1951 on Irish Lizard, when a disastrous false start saw only three of the thirty six starters get home. The second attempt, on Early Mist he was brought down as the first fence where there were ten fallers in total. Gutting for Taaffe, Early Mist went on to win the 1953 National, but without him as jockey.
His introduction to Quare Times in 1955 gave him the lift he needed. A strong jumper, and good on stamina Quare Times outpaced all rivals on the run-in to easily win from Tudor Line, with his younger brother Tosse Taffe coming in third on Carey's Cottage. The legendary trainer Vincent O'Brien credited Taaffe and fellow jockey Bryan Marshall with much of his Grand National success (O'Brien won the National three years consecutively with different horses).
Serious injury meant that Taaffe was unable to ride in the 1956 National after a fall at Kilbeggan, where he didn't regain consciousness until he got to a Dublin hospital. He suffered a badly fractured skull, but returned to the saddle even though expectation would have asserted otherwise.
Despite his success in the National, Taaffe's glory was with Arkle, a horse that when he first clapped eyes on he didn't hold in the highest regard, having said at the time: 'He moves so terribly you could drive a wheelbarrow between his hind legs'. However he was wrong about Arkle - he may have had his own distinctive running style, but together they made an incredible team, winning three Gold Cups, the King George VI Chase, the Whitbread Gold Cup, and two Hennessy Cognac Gold Cups. In total Taaffe won six Irish Grand Nationals, and notched up his fourth Gold Cup win for Tom Dreaper on Fort Leney. At the age of forty he decided that this would be his final year of racing, and a run of good luck (for him) meant that Terry Biddlecombe suffered an injury which made him unable to ride Gay Trip in the National. Terry put Taaffe's name forward to trainer Fred Rimell to replace him, and he agreed given the fact that it had been Taaffe who had suggested that he buy Gay Trip in the first place! All horses in that National were carrying less than eleven stone, with the exception of Gay Trip who weighed in at eleven stone five pounds. He was therefore the top weight and had never previously won beyond two and a half miles - not looking like good odds so far. But Taaffe pulled it off, winning by twenty lengths, giving him the unique achievement of winning two Nationals fifteen years apart - the perfect end to an extremely successful riding career.
Taaffe went on to become a successful trainer, winning the 1972 Irish Sweeps Hurdle, the 1973 Scottish Champion Hurdle, the 1974 Cheltenham Gold Cup and the King George VI Chase in 1974 and 1975 with Captain Christy. His second career was tragically cut short after suffering from ill-health, dying a year after a heart-transplant operation in 1992 at the age of sixty-two. Before he left us he passed on the family tradition to his son Tom.
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