Monksfield & Night Nurse dead-heat in 1977 Templegate Hurdle

[alipitogen]

Was there a photo finish facility at Aintree this year?Was this actually the first year they installed a photo finish?I have a feeling it coincided with a Red Rum National win. It was installed in the 70s because I remember watching racing there those years and hearing the usual refrain in a close finish "It's too close to call and of course there is no photo finish here".Does anyone recall?

[Jadervason]

Night Nurse was faster than Monksfield but Monksfield....infinite determination, never gave up on a race

[seanofafrica]

This has to go down as the greatest meeting ever, in my book. A dead heat between two of the greatest rivals ever, and of course Red Rum's third victory. Wow.

[lifesgamble1]

Night Nurse won easily what a fix !!!

[alipitogen]

Who did you want to win, Julian?

[brindleyffc]

I got great odds on Epileptic Fridge-Boy.

[SymonGatos]

Where did Smalltown gypsy massacre place? 

[john131349]

Night Nurse was giving 6lb to Monksfield in this race, i think he was the best out of the golden era for hurdlers only istabraq would compare in recent years

[foriamonlyahorse1]

@john131349 Monksfield had handed out heavy defeats to Night Nurse, far in excess of 6lb. This speedy flat track suited Night Nurse better. Both equally as great as each other & both would have eaten Istabraq!

[alipitogen]

@foriamonlyahorse1 Ooh, not sure about your Istabraq comment.There wasn't enough supremacy shown by any of those three horses to be sure who would win.Night Nurse and Monksfield came along in a time of great hurdlers while Istabraq had no adequate rivals, and was bad on soft. It's not, however, like those silly arguments about Arkle against Best Mate or Kauto Star which are a bit like talking about sitting Elton John and Johann Sebastian Bach down at keyboards and wondering who'd play better!

[mrbigshot1986]

@alipitogen how was istabraq bad on soft ground??? he destroyed french holly in ireland on soft easier than he destroyed him at cheltenham on good ground! istabraq was a very verstaile horse who could win over a variety of trips on different ground! was he the greatest i cant say if he was but he dominated his divsion and the only time he was allowed to actually put a stamp on the race was his first champion hurdle the other two he won as easily as charlie swan could do!

[mrbigshot1986]

@alipitogen my personal favourite 2 mile hurdle horse was golden cygnet he surely would of been a future great if he had not passed away so early in his career! won the supreme so easily and tanked his way through the whole race! at aintree he might night nurse and sea pigeon and as a novice he was only getting 2 pound from sea pigeon and was poised to strike before he fell at the last! my belief is he would of won quite cosy which only shows his potential even more

[foriamonlyahorse2]

Monksfield...the king of the big three in the 70's. Tiny little thing with huge heart!

[ibanez777vbk]

night nurse was some horse so was monksfeild.racing was way better 1977-1985

[raborian]

yes.. they always took each other on, never ducked a fight, and they all contested the major handicaps like the ladbroke and the tote gold trophy or the schweppes as it was known then

[seattlerob7]

thank you for posting these great races. wonderfull athletes these horses and monks field was a small horse.

[plasseybitter]

Tremendous field, racing aint like it used to be anymore.

[tfol888]

What an incredible race. There would have been hefty suspensions for both jockeys today riding like that. This race and the following race being Red Rum's 3rd National, has to go down as the greatest day in jump racing ever. Hurdle races today come nowhere near the quality experienced in the Night Nurse, Monksfield & Sea Pigeon era.

[Cheesebody]

i am a huge night nurse fan but i think monksfield would have got that had there been a photo finish camera

[protarget1]

Mmmm. Peter O'sulliven in his comentry said It's a PHOTO FINISH.

Night Nures the best ever.

[Cheesebody]

i think if i remember the photo finish machine was out of order

2 great horses deserved a dead heat

[december2364]

If two jockeys fought out a finish like that nowadays, they'd be stood down forever. Whatever, it's a fantastic race from the Golden Age of hurdling.

[tigerboy1966]

It wasn't a level weights race in those days, Monksfield was receiving a few pounds from NN. That's why NN recorded the highest ever rating.

[arkle73]

Incredible post JJ . You really are the Indiana Jones of Racing . Next you'll be showing us Pigeon winning the Ebor !

[Cheesebody]

its a pity on ebor day

the tv cameras were on strike that day so i think the only film must have been with racecourse technical services

[foriamonlyahorse]

two of the greats....

[MikeandJayne1]

Absolutely fantastic. The greatest ever hurdle race. Night Nurse put in the highest ever rated performance by a hurdler. Paddy Broderick looks like he is playing the violin! One hour later, Red Rum won his third Grand National.

[INGRIDSUZANNE]

the greatest hurdle race ever,night nurse achieved the highest rating ever after this race thanks for posting.

[seattlerob7]

thank you for this race with two legends.

[elitemagpie]

Great to see the finish of this race again, the greatest hurdle race ever ran. As I recall Night Nurse was conceding 4 or 5 pounds so he has to be the best hurdler ever seen. Have to say that if the jockeys rode a finish like that today the stewards would have given them a long holiday!