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I claimed Peterhof in July 1975 for 800 guineas after he had finished an eye catching third in the Jervaulx Selling Stakes at York. He’d run at a decent level as a two-year-old, including in the Acomb Stakes at York, but he was still a maiden and he was proving hard to win with so his owners had decided to let him go.
He was a bargain if ever I saw one. Physically he had the scope to grow into a decent three-year-old and I really wanted him for jumping. I sold Peterhof to Henry Gould, a timber merchant who lived near Leicester. We planned to run him in a few handicaps on the flat and then school him back end and send him over hurdles, which was the arena in which I believed his talents would come to the fore.
It didn't start well with Peterhof. A month after claiming the horse I ran him at Newcastle in the Greenhead Maiden Plate race and he finished a neck in front of Sam Hall's horse Nevertire ridden by Ernie Johnson. In third was Merette trained by Bill Elsey. After the race an objection was made to the winner by the second, and an objection made to the first and second horses by the third, which was thrown out. However, the initial objection was upheld and Peterhof was placed last.
The disqualification cost me a treble that day as Lochnager had won the Northern Sprint Trophy and Shukran, owned by Mrs Wild, had won the Morpeth Nursery. Geoff Baxter rode Shukran and she was winning her second race in a row. Shukran was another one that came out of a seller, having been bought at Doncaster in March, although I'd had to pay over three grand to get her compared to the £800 for Peterhof.
Peterhof was a very nervous horse who pulled a lot and was a devil to train. Brian Bivens rode him out at home and Spider looked after him. He had to be ridden gently but he had an engine and I had the 1976 Triumph Hurdle in mind for him.
Peterhof's jumping career began in December '75 with a successful debut at Teesside Park where he won the Wynyard Junior Novices Hurdle by six lengths ridden by Colin Tinker. I wanted to get some jumping experience into him and entered him in the Christmas Juvenile Hurdle at Wetherby which he also won. He then put in a performance that went into a lot of notebooks when he won at Newcastle by ten lengths ridden by Jonjo O’Neill.
Peterhof's owner Mr Gould was on holiday in Africa for three weeks and I had no means to getting in touch with him and so the definitive plans had to wait until he returned, although while he was away I was training the horse for the Triumph Hurdle at the 1976 Cheltenham Festival. The racing press considered Peterhof as a certainty at Cheltenham but I wanted to get a prep race into him and sent him to Kempton Park to contest the Yellow Pages Hurdle at the end of February. I was confident that day, especially after his Newcastle win, but the confidence was misplaced and Peterhof had his first taste of defeat over hurdles, beaten by Soldier Rose by a couple of lengths. He was shuffled down the betting after that.
March 18th arrived and Peterhof was as ready as he could be for the Festival where he would take his place in the Daily Express Triumph Hurdle, the championship race for four-year-old hurdlers. Jonjo O'Neill was booked to ride. In front of a huge Festival crowd Peterhof seemed to do everything he could to lose the race that day. As Peterhof jumped the last hurdle he was in front but what happened afterwards was inexplicable. Immediately after landing the horse changed his course and veered sharply to the left, with his nearest challenger, Tommy Kinane on Monksfield, going even more markedly left. This put paid to Monksfield's chances of reeling in Peterhof, and Peterhof crossed the line a length and a half clear.
I pushed through the crowd to the winners' enclosure to greet Jonjo and Peterhof, my first Cheltenham Festival winner, although in the back of my mind I knew this winner wasn't a certainty yet despite having crossed the line in front.
The celebrations didn't last long and the dreaded announcement came. An objection had been lodged by Monksfield's Irish trainer Des McDonagh. Tommy Kinane was protesting that Peterhof had crossed him all the way from the final flight and driven him to the left, and that Monksfield should have won.
I held my breath.
The deliberations went on and on. Surely they couldn’t throw out Peterhof.
The wait was tense but I would soon know our fate. Cheltenham fell silent.
"After an enquiry by the stewards into the second race…"
I held on.
"The placings remain unchanged."
Relief. Joy. And justice! Unlike at Newcastle this time the verdict had gone in our favour and when it really mattered.
Cheltenham 1976 would go down in Easterby folklore as it was at that same Festival that Peter won the first of Night Nurse's Champion Hurdles, a feat he repeated again in 1977, when he defeated Monksfield, whose time would come in 1978 and 1979.
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