In addition to his 5 Gold Cups, Tied Cottage ran for the final time at the Cheltenham Festival in the 1983 Foxhunters Chase, aged 15. Though the race is better remembered for Eliogarty's victory (first Irish winner, first ridden by a woman), Tied Cottage made much of the running, only to fade over the last 2 fences. (I think he finished 5th). Definately agree, the unluckiest horse never to 'win' a Gold Cup - the 1980 race was his on merit as the theobromine would not have had any major effect .
a 15 year old placed in the gold cup thats incredible , didnt know about tied cottage he won so easily and deserved to win after so many great efforts he fell in 78 national too at first bechers, luck was never on his side sadly
if anyone's interested (and I really hope no-one is!) the Mars Bar horse was one called No Bombs who gulped one down. No serious training outfit would deliberately feed a horse something like that - it's so obviously detectable.
I backed Tied Cottage that day - think he was 14/1 - and my recollection is that the stablelad admitted giving the horse a piece of his Mars Bar prior to the race. It was a minute trace of caffeine in the chocolate that showed on the dope test. Pathetic!
His starting price was 13/2 the cocoa found in the horses urine sample was from cocoa beans which had been transported in the same wagon as the horses feed, the trace was so minimal that in no way could it have improved the horses performance but rules are rules.. due to the fall of horses in this race Tied Cottage would always have won no matter what.
You do always wonder if the placed horses would have been ridden differently if the jockeys had known what would happen later. Tied Cottage obviously the best horse in the race by some margin.
Except this race was (somewhat unfairly in the opinion of many) awarded to Master Smudge some time later, with the 15-year-old Mac Vidi promoted to second.
He failed a dope test. As I remember it was something called "Theobromine" from a consignment of contaminated feed. The quanitities were tiny and could not have made much difference to performance but "rules are rules". The same issue resulted in the disqualification of Chinrullah in the Champion Case in the same year.
Ironically, Chinrullah was doubly disqualified, as he ran again in this Gold Cup and finished 5th. The contamination came from a consignment of cocoa shells transported in the same cargo ship as the raw feedstuff.
In addition to his 5 Gold Cups, Tied Cottage ran for the final time at the Cheltenham Festival in the 1983 Foxhunters Chase, aged 15. Though the race is better remembered for Eliogarty's victory (first Irish winner, first ridden by a woman), Tied Cottage made much of the running, only to fade over the last 2 fences. (I think he finished 5th). Definately agree, the unluckiest horse never to 'win' a Gold Cup - the 1980 race was his on merit as the theobromine would not have had any major effect .
fedlad 9 months ago
a 15 year old placed in the gold cup thats incredible , didnt know about tied cottage he won so easily and deserved to win after so many great efforts he fell in 78 national too at first bechers, luck was never on his side sadly
littlebay75 1 year ago
Areally good horse, probably the unluckiest not to have his name on the Gold Cup, should have won two,
liamg353 1 year ago
if anyone's interested (and I really hope no-one is!) the Mars Bar horse was one called No Bombs who gulped one down. No serious training outfit would deliberately feed a horse something like that - it's so obviously detectable.
ComteLafon 2 years ago
I backed Tied Cottage that day - think he was 14/1 - and my recollection is that the stablelad admitted giving the horse a piece of his Mars Bar prior to the race. It was a minute trace of caffeine in the chocolate that showed on the dope test. Pathetic!
quae5tor 2 years ago
His starting price was 13/2 the cocoa found in the horses urine sample was from cocoa beans which had been transported in the same wagon as the horses feed, the trace was so minimal that in no way could it have improved the horses performance but rules are rules.. due to the fall of horses in this race Tied Cottage would always have won no matter what.
Sonnyboyx2 2 years ago
You do always wonder if the placed horses would have been ridden differently if the jockeys had known what would happen later. Tied Cottage obviously the best horse in the race by some margin.
tigerboy1966 3 years ago
Except this race was (somewhat unfairly in the opinion of many) awarded to Master Smudge some time later, with the 15-year-old Mac Vidi promoted to second.
RobinCarmody 3 years ago
Any idea why that happened
sjc14031974 2 years ago
He failed a dope test. As I remember it was something called "Theobromine" from a consignment of contaminated feed. The quanitities were tiny and could not have made much difference to performance but "rules are rules". The same issue resulted in the disqualification of Chinrullah in the Champion Case in the same year.
tigerboy1966 2 years ago
Ok thanks for that,I was just curious
sjc14031974 2 years ago
Ironically, Chinrullah was doubly disqualified, as he ran again in this Gold Cup and finished 5th. The contamination came from a consignment of cocoa shells transported in the same cargo ship as the raw feedstuff.
helynsar 2 years ago