The hunter-'chaser.

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Champion had almost died of the disease two years earlier and so victory on Aldaniti, a horse who had been written off after breaking down, gave his cancer trust a springboard for decades of valuable fund raising. It was gained despite his rider's stirrup leather breaking at the fence before Becher's Brook when the pin in the buckle snapped.

His daughter and son-in-law, Caroline and Gerald Bailey, remain familiar faces on the Jump racing and point-to-point circuits. The family went to Haydock yesterday, including the bride and groom from the wedding, and we got well looked after. He was a hell of a character, but so balanced and such a beautiful mover and with a wonderful mouth. In common with many top racehorses the tale of Spartan Missile's life is so much richer than merely horse eats, horse sleeps, horse is trained, wins races, is retired.

Cousin Pascal: won the Walrus Hunters' Chase at Haydock on Saturday Credit: John Grossick (racingpost. Libby says: "After Grittar won there was a scramble to reach the winner's enclosure, and in the packed crowds Pete went missing. A hunter usually goes out and shoots animals, while a trapper sets traps, then comes back later to see if any animals got caught in them. The three-year winning streak of On The Fringe was brought to a halt in 2017, with the arrival on the Hunter Chase scene of Foxrock.

The sound instruction and information given in this book make it a particularly valuable one for the amateur owner and would-be trainer, for whom primarily it is designed. Pacha Du Polder and Noble Prince managed to get closer to him at Aintree and Punchestown respectively, however neither could deny him a historic first triple crown of the top spring hunter chases at the big festivals. Few have better memories of the man and his famous horse than Gilman's daughter-in-law Libby Gilman, who married Frank's son Egerton.

When he was being broken in he did like bucking, and so we backed him in a stable to give ourselves a bit more control.

At Cheltenham he beat Honourable Man (Geordie Dun) and Sun Lion (Robert Waley-Cohen) by 12l and 20l in a time only five seconds slower than it took Little Owl to defeat legends Night Nurse and Silver Buck in the Gold Cup, while at Aintree Grittar was in a different league, cantering home by 20 lengths and one and a half lengths from Sydney Quinn (Paul Webber) and Flexibility (Martin Bosley). He completed the season with a hat-trick of hunters' chase triumphs plus a fall, and the following year he emerged as an outstanding six-year-old when recording five hunters' chase wins and second place in the 1978 Whitbread (now Bet365) Gold Cup at Sandown behind the Tommy Stack-ridden Strombolus.After two outstanding performances at Cheltenham and Aintree the logical step for Grittar as a nine-year-old was the 1982 Gold Cup and Grand National. His only reservation was one other horse in the race – at a time when there were few restrictions on which horses ran – had not even won a point-to-point, and he said, 'If that horse brings me down I'll shoot its owner'. One day the string was hack cantering around in a circle to warm up, and Nicky was shouting instructions from the back of Spartan Missile, who you could see eyeing up this rail.

After four uninspiring efforts – the best of which was a third place at Garthorpe under Peter Greenall, now Lord Daresbury – Gilman offered the ride to Dick Saunders' daughter Caroline. Born in the midst of the Great Depression, the theme of the 1939 World’s Fair was “The World of Tomorrow” - a theme that captured the hearts of a generation. As a five-year-old Spartan Missile's education continued and he was twice pulled up before enormous ability overcame his youth, size and inexperience. His life, and that of the Thorne family who bred, owned and trained him, embraces amazing performances, historic achievements and, almost inevitably, tragedy, too. Yet his Aintree victory in 1982 is not remembered for being the most recent occasion when a hunter chaser won 'the National'.

Mullins has transformed Its On The Line from a maiden hunter chase winner at five to reach the top of the tree at six. Lots of them are listed in my book, btw, as more of them used to run in the NH Chase, including probably the best mare of them all, Pucka Belle in 1936. Chaser generally refers to someone or something pursuing or following another, often without the implication of catching or killing.