The Tatling wins East Coast Truckers Handicap 2011 - 14 year old still going strong
Milton Bradley trained, The Tatling, has come a long way since he made his first start at Newmarket, where he finished third out of 11 horses in the Class D Maiden Stakes.
It took the 14-year old bay gelding 3 races to register his first win and that too in the Summer Season Maiden Stakes.
The Tatling’s first win came 12 years back on 30 June and he showed that there is still fire in his belly at the age of fourteen when he won the East Coast Truckers Charity Handicap at Yarmouth on 30 June.
Under Haley Turner, who became the thirty-sixth jockey, to have ridden the fourteen-year old gelding, The Tatling approached the winner’s enclosure for the seventeenth time and got a standing ovation with a round of heartfelt applause.
At his peak The Tatling finished second three times in a row in the Nunthorpe Stakes and in the Prix de l’Abbaye he filled the same position. The gelding named the 2004 King’s Stand Stakes at the Royal Ascot and has now become the legend.
Pure dead brilliant this horse is, even after so many years he does not lack the enthusiasm at all and wants more each time he gets on the field. His last win came in 2009 when he won the Blackmore Building Contractors Handicap and defeated his rival Kingswinford
by a neck.
After countless attempts of trainer, Milton Bradley, to retire The Tatling, he keeps coming back for more and will probably continue to race. According to Bradley the horse does not like to do anything and as long as he has that kind of attitude towards
racing, he will pop out at race tracks to challenge the lot.
The Darren Hudson Wood owned gelding is still in outstanding condition. Being paired up with Haley Turner, who gave the gelding a super ride, made it quite easy in the end and cruised home without a care.
Another memorable win was the Group 3 Dubai International Airport World Trophy at Newbury where he bolted home in the 5 furlongs 3 yards event from an impossible position and edged out rival Majestic Missile by a neck.
The win at the Yarmouth was the gelding’s 170th start, sent out as a 7-to-2 favourite. On flat turf The Tatling landed 15 races out of 141 starts with 22 runners-up positions and 19 third places.
In the Rules Races, The Tetling managed 17 wins out of 170 starts with 27 second places and 25 third place finishes.
The race was much anticipated by those, who have known, and, followed the gelding for years, and the cheer after his win was fitting for a big Derby win.
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