During the height of its power the stable of Dorset trainer Richard Barber reeled in no fewer than four Cheltenham Foxhunter Chase winners in seven seasons.
Rushing Wild brought up the first leg of Barber's four-timer in 1992 and Earthmover landed the final one in 1998. In between came two wins for Fantus, a physically huge and heavy-topped horse who was successful in 1995 and 1997, and like Rushing Wild was owned by John Keighley.
It speaks volumes of Barber's skills and those of head groom Jane Western that Fantus, whose legs were not fully-equipped to deal with such a vast frame, was made ready for three attempts on the Cheltenham Festival. When tuned up he was brilliant, although he benefited from the assistance of two outstanding riders in Polly Curling and Tim Mitchell, who shared the Cheltenham wins.
No horse has won the Festival's famous hunters' chase three times, although Fantus might have done had he not missed the 1996 race through tendon issues. Mitchell says of him: "He was massive. I've stood next to Denman, and Fantus was as big, if not bigger," while Western says: "[The measurement] From his wither to the bottom of his girth was longer than his leg – all that heart room meant he stayed very well. When he first arrived at Richard's stable he weighed 684 kilos, although we got that down to 584 kilos for racing. I would say the average racehorse is about 500 kilos. Another horse in the yard, Earl Boon, was chunky, and he weighed 525 kilos."
A squeeze and the turbo came on
Mitchell recalls the first time he rode Fantus in a race, saying: "He was Polly Curling's ride, but in order to qualify for Cheltenham he needed to win two open point-to-points and Richard entered him in a men's race at Larkhill. Going down the back straight I thought I'd better make up some ground, so gave him a squeeze and the turbo came on. That felt very good."
It was perhaps just as well Fantus did not run under Curling in the ladies' open race on that Army card in January 1995, for it was won by Cool Dawn, a future Gold Cup winner, yet Fantus's winning time was only five seconds slower and he carried 12st 7lb, compared to Cool Dawn's 11st.
Bred in Ireland, a son of Green Shoon and the mare Brave Dorney – who failed to produce another foal half as good – Fantus initially went into training with John Fowler in County Meath. At that point he was owned by Dick McElligot, whose son Ryan is today a pinhooker of young horses and a noted writer on racing and bloodstock sales.
In May 1992 five-year-old Fantus made his debut for Fowler in a 14-runner bumper at Navan and won narrowly, but when sent hurdling the following autumn he proved to be little better than average, running six times without success, although he did finish third in a Listed event at Fairyhouse.
At that point he was offered for sale, Paul Nicholls bought him and resold him to Keighley, whose interest in racehorse ownership was gathering pace. Keighley had been raised on the east side of Birmingham, but after meeting his future wife Marion, who lived on the west side, he had been introduced to point-to-pointing at Chaddesley Corbett.
Launched into ownership
He went on to make a career out of engineering parts for the motor trade, a job which took him to Bournemouth on England's south coast where his interest in racing gaining impetus initially through keeping horses with Toby Bulgin near Salisbury and then, after meeting leading racehorse owner Paul Barber, who he says, "launched me into more ownership", he was introduced to Paul's brother Richard.
Horses like Highland Chatter and And Theres More gave the new owner and trainer partnership some early success, although initially Fantus was trained by Nicholls. Carrying Keighley's colours he showed some ability in novices' chases and won a race at Stratford under Richard Dunwoody, but after finishing second at Kempton he moved stables.
Keighley says: "I had another horse called Straight Talk who had done rather well point-to-pointing [from Barber's yard] and, for whatever reason, decided he and Fantus should swap stables."
Fantus had 11 months off before making his debut for Barber, and Western says: "He would have come to us in the September [1994] and it was probably thought he would be in his comfort zone in point-to-points which would benefit his leg. He wouldn't be under the same pressure found in racing under Rules."
Barber's passion for hunting meant the new recruit was soon following hounds in order to qualify for the forthcoming point-to-point season. Western says: "He was lovely to hunt, and would jump hedges and tiger traps [timber jumps], but as the day went on he got stronger and stronger and I was usually glad when it was time to go home.
"On one occasion, having done something to my back, I had the option of not going hunting, but I didn't want anyone else to ride him. I managed to get on him off the ramp of a lorry, but I couldn't sit properly in the saddle and had to spend the day standing up in the stirrups. It was the one day he didn't pull at all, and when we got back to the lorry he backed up to it to let me slide off onto the ramp. It was extraordinary."
In this series of All-time Greats such unusual moments of empathy between horses and humans has been told on several occasions. Little wonder people become so bonded to horses, and in the case of Fantus and Western there was to be one more decisive sign of oneness at the end of his career.
After Fantus's first run and win for Barber's stable in the aforementioned Larkhill men's open race – the next three across the line, but comfortably beaten, were Holland House, Mr Murdock and Slievenamon Mist who were all capable hunter chasers – he returned to the Wiltshire track for his first race under Curling, who was Barber's no.1 rider. They were sent off the odds-on favourite for the Coronation Cup, a mixed open race in which ten lined up.
A good bit of business for Curling
Holland House, who was trained by Patrick Chamings and ridden by Charlie Vigors, was again in opposition, but once again he came off second-best as Fantus strolled home by ten lengths. It proved to be a good day for Curling, who rode a four-timer that was completed on a Keighley-owned newcomer in a division of the maiden. Named See More Business he would go on to win two King George VI Chases and a Cheltenham Gold Cup for Nicholls.
Fantus had qualified for Cheltenham's Foxhunter Chase, but bookmakers and punters were unsure about the form of his wins, and he lined up as an 8/1 shot, while Holland House was allowed to start at 50/1. Such prices could in part be explained by the presence of Double Silk (11/4) who had won the Foxhunter for the previous two years, while Ireland's big hope Elegant Lord, who was ridden by Tony Martin in J P McManus's colours, was sent off the 13/8 favourite. Teaplanter, another from this series of All-time Greats, plus future Stratford Champion Hunters' Chase winner Celtic Abbey were also in the line-up for a vintage edition of the contest.
A day that never leaves you
Davy Blake who was no slouch himself made much of the running in company with Double Silk, while Elegant Lord and Fantus were held up, but Curling moved her mount closer to the leaders before going out onto the final circuit and by the top of the hill he was travelling best among the leaders, albeit with Elegant Lord acting as his stalker.
Yet the Irish horse did not have the finishing kick, and after taking up the running two fences out Fantus waltzed clear scoring by 20 lengths from the rallying Holland House. Elegant Lord was a further eight lengths adrift in third, Davy Blake fourth and Double Silk fifth.
Reflecting on that win Curling says: "When we lined up I really didn't know the horse that well and wasn't sure how good he was. I'd only ridden him once, and in all the years I was with Richard I only schooled his horses on about six occasions. I would get to the races and ride the horse, whether it was a first-time-out baby or an older horse.
"[In the Foxhunter] They went very fast up front for a mile and I decided not to go with them – I wasn't sure my horse would get home if I tried, although he was to prove an out-and-out stayer, but with gears.
"Turning down the hill I had a double handful and when I let him go on we went clear, only to get the final fence wrong. He did a cat jump. At the same fence on the previous circuit I asked for a long one and he put down – I should have learned from that."
Western says of the win: "It was unbelievable. It never leaves you when you have a day like that. Polly kept him out the back early, hunting away, and he stayed all day so there was plenty left at the end."
You can watch the race here.
A famous win achieved, but it came at a price, for Fantus was leg sore after the race and there was no option but to give him a season off before he returned to action as a ten-year-old in February 1997 with a first run back in the Coronation Cup. Mitchell and Curling were and remain the best of friends, both respectful of each other's abilities as riders, but during that season she lost the no.1 position at Barber's stable – a demotion whose reasons were kept largely within the stable – and was replaced by Mitchell, whose rides on Keighley and Barber's young horses now extended to Fantus.
Ironically the new pairing were defeated in that comeback Coronation Cup run by stablemate Brackenfield, ridden by Curling. "Polly gave me some [good-natured] stick for that," says Mitchell. Defeat in that race was followed by a fall at Didmarton in a race won by a very exciting seven-year-old called The Bounder, a schoolmaster for teenager Joe Tizzard, but who soon proved far better than a mere seat of learning. Fantus was sent off favourite, but he was still four lengths adrift of The Bounder when falling at the last.
A performance with deja vu
None the worse the big horse took his place in the Cheltenham line-up, and having failed to win for two years was sent off at 10/1 in a field of 18. Mary Reveley's former high-class hurdler/chaser Cab On Target was made the 4/1 favourite to win under Steve Swiers, but in a performance reminiscent of his win in 1995 Fantus was held up early and in full control on the final circuit.
Mitchell says: "He jumped right three out down the hill, which was the one fence Richard was worried about given the problems Fantus had with his legs, but he was something else at Cheltenham. He came alive there, and got into such a rhythm. I hardly did anything on him until asking him to get a bit closer at the top of the hill. He travelled and jumped so well.
"That win has to be the highlight of my career. I was p*****d off losing out in the men's championship [in 1998] when Umberleigh was called off [Andrew Dalton and Julian Pritchard shared the title, and Mitchell never took the top spot], but would I swap that Cheltenham win for a title? No, I wouldn't. I rode a Cheltenham Festival winner."
You can watch the race here and note that Mitchell and Fantus did not appear to be helped by a loose horse in the final half mile. However, that was his stablemate, Still In Business, who had unseated Curling at the first fence.
Mitchell says: "I spotted Polly standing on the rail between the final two fences," and Western says: "I think Still In Business helped him [Fantus] get up the hill. I was worried before the race because it's hard for horses to come back to that level after a season off, and there are so many variables such as the ground. Whether Fantus knew it was his stablemate running loose ahead of him we'll never know, but he might have done."
That was to be Fantus's final win, although the following season he featured in a remarkable men's open race at Larkhill where he was just 'beaten' by top-class Proud Sun, a chaser/hunter chaser trained in Devon by Stuart Pike, and who two years earlier had finished a close second in the Whitbread Gold Cup at Sandown (now bet365 Gold Cup) and then won Stratford's Champion Hunters' Chase.
The judge said Proud Sun had won, others saw it as a dead heat or win for Fantus, but with Holland House just a neck behind in third it was a rare and special race for spectators.
Fantus's prep run for a third attempt on Cheltenham's Foxhunter Chase came at Wincanton in February 1998 in a three-runner race, although it was effectively a match against The Bounder, who at eight was three years his junior and in receipt of 8lb. Reflecting on that absorbing contest, Mitchell says: "I did everything right to beat The Bounder [who made the running]. I had my horse in a perfect position, and three out pulled wide because I didn't want The Bounder to pick up, but I couldn't even get upsides him. We met The Bounder twice, and I wouldn't have beaten him on either occasion."
The emergence of Earthmover
The two were set to meet again at Cheltenham in the Foxhunter Chase, but The Bounder broke down in a racecourse gallop – and could never regain the aura of potential greatness after resuming racing 18 months later – and his rider, Joe Tizzard, switched to another Barber contender in Earthmover. Elegant Lord was sent off the 5/4 favourite with Earthmover at 3/1 and Fantus a 5/1 shot.
The market proved correct in making seven-year-old Earthmover a shorter price than his stablemate, but Fantus, given a similar ride to those that had achieved victory twice in the past, was in contention as they turned to race down the hill to the third-last. Head-on cameras show him tracking Earthmover on the inside until Mitchell stands up in the stirrups, looks over his shoulder and pulls his horse to the outside.
Fantus had broken down again, and on the downhill run which had been Barber's concern. Mitchell says: "I still think we would have finished second or third, but I doubt we would have beaten Earthmover," but Western is not so sure, saying: "There was still the uphill finish to come, and Fantus loved it."
While Earthmover and the teenage-talent Tizzard were being feted Western ran down the course where vets were attending to Fantus. She says: "They were trying to get him into a trailer [horse ambulance] and he wouldn't go in, but as soon as I got there he walked straight in behind me."
Happy retirement at Keighley's home
Mitchell's quick thinking in pulling Fantus up and narrowly avoiding jumping the third-last fence may have saved Fantus's life, for his tendon was holed, but not ruptured, and he lived out a happy retirement with another of Keighley's pensioned racehorses at his owner's home near Sherborne in Dorset.
Barber, who would have been Britain's champion trainer multiple times had there been such an award during his career – he won the inaugural award in 2012/13 – continued training until the summer of 2014. He died last year at the age of 77 and is buried at the top of his gallops.
John Keighley's wife Marion died in 2017, and her widowed husband downsized to a smaller home near Poole in Dorset where he remains fit and well at the age of 82. Tim Mitchell retired from riding and took a job as a race-reader at meetings under Rules. That work was halted when Coronavirus closed racing in March, but he has subsequently been busier than ever in his secondary role running a gardening business. He lives in Dorset, while Western, who trains a few pointers, also lives in that county and runs a landscape gardening business with her husband George.
Polly Curling was Britain's three-time champion woman rider while holding the no.1 position at Barber's stable, and went on to ride 220 winners before hanging up her saddle in 2000. Married to vet Simon White and with two children aged 17 and 19 she lives near Minehead in Somerset and continues to work with horses. She trained pointers when first retiring, but now focuses on educating young jumpers for top trainer Philip Hobbs.
She says: "I loved pointing – it was a great game for me and I often think about moments from my time in the saddle. Horses who you could ask to come up outside the wings were always a thrill and it was wonderful to train and ride Pastoral Pride to win at Cheltenham [evening meeting], but I suppose that win on Fantus was the highlight. You never forget it."
All-time Greats - published each Friday! Do you have any recollections or fond memories of any point-to-pointers or hunter chasers? If so, we would love to hear them (email: [email protected]). The best may feature on this website in coming weeks.