It will be a long time before we see his like again on the racecourse

From Racehorses of 1971

The Grey Sprinter Raffingora 

RAFFINGORA 5 gr.h. Grey Sovereign 128 §--Cameo 114 (Como 120) 130 [1968 5g* 5g4 5s6 6f2 610e 5fg4 5.7s 5v 5d 1969 6fg3 5f* 6d* Mg* 6fg3 5•9s* 5g4 5.9f2 5f5 5g2 5g5 5g* 5.6fg 51. 1970 5g3 5g5 5g3 5f* 5f* 5f* 5h 5fg* 5g* 5c1* 5v3 5fg* 5f* 5g3]

Raffingora's brilliant achievements over the past two seasons earned him a place among the immortals of the Turf. His tremendous record in that time — seventeen wins from twenty eight starts — is all the more impressive when one considers that the majority of his races were in handicaps in which he nearly always had 10-0 or more to carry. To the amazement of almost everyone, he kept on winning in the face of stiffer and stiffer treatment from the handicappers. Excepting the 1969 Portland Handicap, in which Raffingora had to concede 9lb to Mountain Call, one has to go back to June 1969 to find the last occasion on which the big grey was beaten in a handicap. The Portland was also the only occasion after May 1969 on which Raffingora ran when handicapped to carry less than 10-0.

In 1970 Raffingora's achievements were remarkable. He won more races than any other horse in training and put up the most spectacular handicap performance of the season when winning the Cherkley Sprint at Epsom, where he recorded the fastest five furlongs ever electrically timed. He also won two of the most important weight-for-age sprints of the season, the Temple Stakes at Sandown and the King George Stakes at Goodwood. It is not hard to see why he ranks as one of the most popular horses ever to race in this country.

By the time the Cherkley Sprint Handicap was run at the Epsom Derby meeting, Raffingora had already fulfilled the winter prediction of his trainer that he would be a better horse at five years than he had been at four. Wins in handicaps at Epsom in April and York in May were followed by a victory in the Temple Stakes. In this race Raffingora decisively turned the tables on The Brianstan who had finished in front of him in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket a month earlier. Here was a clear indication that Raffingora was better than ever and a real prospect for the sprint championship. Had the handicapper had the result of the Temple Stakes to hand when framing the weights for the Cherkley Sprint he would probably have given Raffingora a little more to do. Not that Raffingora had an easy task! The Brianstan, Tribal Chief and Decoy Boy were the best of the recognised sprinting three-year-olds at the time and all three took the field. The older horses were Mount Melody, Pals Passage, Duty Sheet, Trillium, Constans and Salan, and all received between 16 lb and 28 lb from Raffingora.

What a race the Cherkley Sprint turned out to be! Raffingora got some way behind in the first half of the race and as Duty Sheet led clear into the final furlong it looked impossible for her to be caught. Meanwhile Raffingora, after having been in an apparently hopeless position at least six lengths behind the leader two furlongs out, was making up ground on the outside.
With Piggott riding at his strongest and Raffingora responding magnificently, the gap was cut to three lengths with two hundred yards to go, two lengths with a hundred yards to go and about a length with fifty yards to go. At the post there was precious little in it, though few shared Piggott's opinion that Raffingora had got up. The photograph showed a short head in his favour. The electrically recorded time for Raffingora was 53.89 seconds, over a fifth of a second outside the world record time for five furlongs accredited to Indigenous when he carried 9-5 to victory in the Tadworth Handicap at the Derby meeting in 1960. The 53.60 seconds returned for Indigenous was hand timed. As a general rule, one can expect an electrically recorded time to be around half a second longer than a time taken by hand. Our two representatives clocked Raffingora at 53.38 seconds and 53.35 seconds. Back in 1960, we timed Indigenous at 53.59 seconds, so we can certainly say that Raffingora put up the fastest time for five furlongs that we have ever taken.

Raffingora was on the crest of a wave and he started a warm favourite for the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. Once again he got behind in the early stages, but this time it was not Duty Sheet that he had to catch but Amber Rama, Huntercombe and Balidar. He never looked like getting to the fighting line and at the finish was seventh, nine lengths behind the winner, Amber Rama. Later events showed that Raffingora was not up to beating Amber Rama, Huntercombe and Balidar, but he certainly ran below his best in the King's Stand Stakes, in which Pisces, Prince Tenderfoot and Cinerama Two also beat him home.

On his next outing, at Haydock in July, Raffingora gained a narrow victory over War Ace in the Great Central Handicap, in the process giving useful sprint handicappers such as Crescent Dart, Blatanro, and Slitheroe beatings of between three and four stones! The sight of Raffingora's name among the entries for a sprint handicap must have been an anathema to the Jockey Club handicappers. They handicapped him up to the hilt after each victory but still he kept on winning. In the John Banks Gold Cup at Lanark later in July the handicapper set Raffingora to carry the burden of 10-8. The next horse down the weights was the useful and consistent Sweet Thanks, who was set to receive no less than 32 lb. Eight tough races in under four months would have knocked the stuffing out of a lot of horses but Raffingora turned out at Lanark looking as fresh as paint and bigger than ever. With Piggott riding Balidar in France, stable-apprentice Jackson was given the mount on Raffingora. After bouncing Raffingora smartly out of the gate he kept him up with the leaders all the way. Two furlongs out Raffingora was a definite leader and he kept on gamely in the final furlong to hold off the three-year-old Swinging Again by half a length.

One had almost come to expect the impossible from Raffingora by this time, but his performance in his next race, the King George Stakes at Goodwood, left even his most ardent admirers speechless. Set the apparently impossible task of giving 15 lb more than weight for age to those very smart three-year-olds The Brianstan and Realm, Raffingora not only won but won easily! He was moving particularly well at halfway, where he was tucked in behind Realm, The Brianstan and the only other runner, Pisces.
He did not challenge until well inside the final furlong where Piggott let out a little rein and Raffingora burst past The Brianstan in a few strides. On paper this was not only the finest performance of Raffingora's career, but also the best performance by any sprinter in this country for many years. The Brianstan received an 18 lb beating, Realm a 19 lb beating and the filly Pisces a 29 lb beating. We say on paper because we believe that Raffingora's chance was helped by the way in which the race was run. After racing each other hell for leather from the start, The Brianstan and Realm were 'pumped out' as they entered the final furlong and had nothing left to resist Raffingora in the closing stages. This is not to detract in any way from the magnificence of Raffingora's victory. It was, for us, one of the highlights of the season.

The going at Goodwood had been on the easy side and Raffingora's connections decided to let him take his chance in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York, in spite of the heavy ground. All Raffingora's best performances before Goodwood had been on a sound surface, although he had 'won on soft. Evidently fears were entertained about the ability of Raffingora's main rival, Huntercombe, to handle the ground for Raffingora started favourite. He was clearly ill at ease from the start and was beaten at halfway. Huntercombe and The Brianstan had a brief set-to inside the final furlong before Huntercombe got on top to win by a length. Raffingora, who was eased in the closing stages, finished four lengths further behind, last of the three runners.

Raffingora was given one more chance to prove himself champion sprinter. His supporters had explained, at least to their own satisfaction, Raffingora's defeats in the King's Stand Stakes and the Nunthorpe Stakes. It was announced that Raffingora would take on Huntercombe and Balidar in the Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp October. But Raffingora wasn't allowed to rest in the meantime. He picked up minor events at Chepstow and Beverley, and in neither did he have to exert himself overmuch. So to Longchamp... The Prix de l'Abbaye was Raffingora's fourteenth race of the season. Balidar and Huntercombe had each had only half that number. Raffingora looked as well as ever; he had the most favoured starting position; the ground was good. There could be no excuses this time. Piggott chose to ride Balidar and Lindley took the mount on Raffingora. The French betting public made Balidar favourite, fractionally in front of Huntercombe. Apparently Raffingora's exploits in England were not familiar to them and he stood at around 11/1 in the betting until a few minutes before the start. Raffingora broke well from the stalls and was soon in the lead but Balidar kept close company on the outside. Raffingora could hang on to the lead only for three furlongs and he was two and a half lengths behind Balidar and Huntercombe at the line. A further two lengths behind came The Brianstan. Here was conclusive evidence that Raffingora was not up to beating Balidar and Huntercombe on level terms. And through these colts it could be reasoned that Amber Rama was his superior too.

Where then does Raffingora rank among the sprinters of our experience? Certainly there have been better ones, though it should be said that Raffingora was good enough to have been champion sprinter in an average year, but he was racing in a year when there were three outstanding sprinters on the scene. If Raffingora wasn't quite the best sprinter around in 1970, who can deny that he was one of the toughest to race here for many years ? He ran fourteen times in all, the same number as in 1969, on courses as far apart as Lanark and Longchamp, and how well he stood up to his racing. Bill Marshall produced him looking a picture every time he ran and the exacting programme set for him never sapped his enthusiasm for the game.

If ever a horse was built to 'carry big weights, it was Raffingora. A strong, lengthy, deep-bodied individual of immense size and power, Raffingora lacks the quality one hopes to see in a top-class performer, but he possesses enough sterling characteristics to make him a good stallion prospect. Tough and genuine, with a cast-iron constitution, Raffingora showed as a four-year-old that he stayed six furlongs, though he raced exclusively at five in 1970. Raffingora's sire, Grey Sovereign, has sired the winners of over 800 races in England and abroad. His winners include Zeddaan, Don II, Young Emperor, Sovereign Path, Matatina, La Tendresse, Merry Madcap, Sovereign Lord, Gustav, Lanark and Silver King. Not a bad haul by any standards! Raffingora's dam, Cameo, was a very useful five-furlong sprinter. To Sing Sing she produced Reprise, a useful winner at two years in 1966, and Solo Performance, winner of two of her three races in 1970. Raffingora has been partially syndicated at £5,000 a share, his owner retaining the right to hold up to twenty-five of the forty shares. Raffingora will stand at the Lucknam Park Stud, Chippenham, Wiltshire, in 1971. It will be a long time before we see his like again on the racecourse. Trained by W. C. Marshall.