the peoples' champion shows me up as a poor loser!

​Let me begin by congratulating all of those who voted for Frankel to top the Racing Post’s poll to find Britain’s favourite racehorse of all-time. I have no sour grapes to eat as I had no personal connection to the four beaten contestants and I never believed Denman would finish any higher than fourth. My all-time favourite, Spanish Steps didn’t get past the first round, which was to be expected given how long ago he graced the racecourse with his indomitable presence.
No sour grapes, even if I was knocked sideways by Frankel topping the poll. On reflection, though, it was inevitable and though I don’t recall the price he was chalked-up at to win, I suspect it was very good value as he had the most recent form. He is also still alive, which was another advantage in taking home the prize to Juddmonte.
Make no mistake, this was a win for recency over long experience or nostalgia. I believe if Racing Post journalists were to go on to the streets of their home towns or cities and ask members of the public to name a racehorse from the past, the greatest majority would name Red Rum or Desert Orchid. I doubt if many would come up with Frankel or indeed Kauto Star and Denman.
I am not bitter at the result of the poll and nowhere near as baffled or appalled as the result of ‘The Greatest Race of All-Time’ poll when voters somehow thought, if only by the narrowest of margins, that Dancing Brave’s Arc victory surpassed the 1973 Grand National won by Red Rum from Crisp, where the first four to finish broke the existing course record! With Spanish Steps in fourth.
Frankel edged the poll and in no way do I intend to distract from his brilliance as a racehorse and stallion. But more than a part of his allure with the public was affection for his charismatic trainer Sir Henry Cecil, who would be odds-on favourite to win any poll to determine Britain’s favourite all-time racehorse trainer. The other advantage Frankel had was that voters in their mid and late twenties could remember all his races, most likely accompanied their parents to the racecourse to watch him race, some might have had the privilege to have touched the great horse.
Frankel is, and will remain, great, a legend of the sport. But I have lived through not only his career but the careers of the four great, and sadly now deceased, racehorses he defeated in the poll and believe me young people, Red Rum and Desert Orchid were by far more popular with the racing public than Frankel. Even now the names of the two chasers remain part of the nation’s vocabulary. Desert Orchid was even the first animal to feature on Radio 4’s obituary programme. He was genuinely a celebrity, as was Red Rum, and I know this is unfair as Frankel being a colt when he raced and a now a stallion worth many millions and could never be risked in an uncontrolled environment, but Dessie and Red Rum were so well-known outside of the sport they were invited to open supermarkets, fetes and High Street betting shops. 
The fault-line in this perfectly worthwhile poll was the edge recency had with voters. I doubt if there is anyone alive who saw Brown Jack back in the period between 1927 and 1934 but he was the Desert Orchid of his age and was revered by everyone from champion jockey Steve Donoghue to the shilling each-way punter.
Subjectivity should have been factored into the poll. Perhaps handicapping in some way, so that the most recently raced horses needed a greater percentage of the votes to win. Yes, this was a poll conducted as much to support and promote National Racehorse Week as it was an attempt to determine the racing public’s favourite racehorse and shouldn’t be taken too seriously or on face value. Yet, the result of this poll is now in the public domain; other media outlets may take it up as a two-minute filler and Frankel will forever be cited as the greatest horse – you know how the media twists facts these days to fit official narratives – ever to have lived, which will remain the legend even if City of Troy or any other horse proves on the racehorse to be his superior, however unlikely that might be. Horse racing exists on hard fact and, in my heart, I doubt the result of this poll is representative of hard fact.
My head and heart believe Red Rum and Desert Orchid to be slighted by this poll, their contribution, gallantry and charisma lost in the mists of time, the will of the young overcoming the experience and memory of the old.