A CASE, PERHAPS,OF QUANTITY OVER QUALITY.

​John Randall, the racing historian for the Racing Post, claims, quite rightly in my opinion, that quantity and quality are not necessarily bosom buddies. If 3 is the standard upon which all others must be assessed, then Best Mate was the equal of Arkle, at least at Cheltenham in the Gold Cup. An absurd assertion, I know, as virtually no one would place the gallant Best Mate in the top ten steeplechasers of all time, let alone in front of the immortal Arkle. It is the same with Golden Miller, winner of 5 consecutive Gold Cups in the mid-thirties, although at the time no one would have argued the case for any horse being better than The Miller in the whole history of steeplechasing up to the mid-thirties. And perhaps he hung on to the accolade right up to 1963 or 4.
Of course, no horse since has won 5 Gold Cups, consecutively or in broken sequence and he also achieved a remarkable victory in the 1934 Grand National, winning in a course record time on ground described as soft, giving away lumps of weight to most of the top chasers around at the time. It is his Liverpool success that sets him apart, even if in later years the kind and agreeable Miller took great exception to be faced with the big black fences year after year.
Golden Miller is in my mind as I have just finished reading a book written by the man who trained him to 4 of those Cheltenham victories, Basil Briscoe.
I had coveted this book since first becoming aware of its existence but baulked at the £45 price tag and only committed myself to buying it when the vendor kindly reduced the price to £30, the limit my lack of wealth imposes on my desire to acquire an impressive racing library.
Sadly, the book did not live up to my aspirations for it. This can often be the case. As is the opposite. I can buy a book for no other reason than it is there and can keep it unread on the shelf for years in the belief that it will make poor reading, only to be delighted to be proved wrong. ‘Passports to Life’, the autobiography of Harry Llewellyn, is a case in point, though technically it is not 100% a racing book as it takes in his war-time service in the army and his show-jumping career. But a good read, nonetheless. I also had no expectation of liking ‘The Sure Thing’ by Nick Townsend due to my prejudice against the subject matter, Barney Curley. Enjoyed the book immensely and had my opinion of Barney Curley has completely altered.
Anyway, to return to ‘The Life of Golden Miller’. It is poorly written, with many facts oft repeated, the great horse’s greatest victories scantily described and with too many references to the author’s adventures in the hunting field, although the book, in Briscoe’s defence, was written during the war years when life in this country was different to today in more ways than the general lack of tolerance for blood sports than was the case in Briscoe’s day.
During the period from the Gold Cup’s inception in 1924 to the years immediately after the 2nd World War the race was merely viewed as a trial for the Grand National and was not even the most important race run at the National Hunt Festival. It is somewhat of an eye-opener that the race everyone wanted to win outside of the Grand National was the National Hunt Chase, a 4-miler confined to amateur riders and maiden chasers.
In 1932, Golden Miller’s first Gold Cup triumph, only 5 ran and in the 4 subsequent years the field was comprised of horses better known for their exploits at Liverpool and who were for the best part only running in the Gold Cup as part of their preparation for Liverpool. It is against this background that Golden Miller must be judged, even if Arkle, once he had put Mill House in his place, won Gold Cups that were possibly less competitive than any of Golden Miller’s.
Great Horses scare off the best opposition. It is the case today as it was in the decades before. I doubt if any of the great steeplechasers past or present ever beat a horse as good as Mill House, though, a horse who would have had books written about him if Arkle had never been born. His trainer, Fulke Walwyn, a legend amongst trainers, unequivocally answered to the question ‘which was the best horse you ever trained’, and he trained many top-class jumpers during his long career, ‘Mill House. We thought him unbeatable until Arkle proved us wrong.’
In Golden Miller’s day the only race of importance over jumps was the Grand National. There was no Hennessey, King George, Betfair or any of the valuable sponsored chases that first came about when Arkle appeared on the scene, so Golden Miller had no opportunity to make his name anywhere but at Cheltenham and Liverpool. For all that, I think it very hard for anyone to make a case for Golden Miller being a better horse than Arkle or even Kauto Star, though I am quite certain he ranks higher in the pantheon than Best Mate, a winner of three substandard Gold Cups.
One thing I do know, because of him, because he elevated National Hunt to where it remains till this day, Golden Miller should not be allowed to become nothing but a faded memory and the race named after him at Cheltenham’s April meeting should be given greater status than a middle-of-the-road handicap.