More compelling evidence - Vakil-Ul-Mulk

Yet more compelling evidence that Vakil-Ul-Mulk just had to be the greatest racehorse that ever lived…

February 8^th 1968 - And the one and only Vakil-Ul-Mulk having taken on the very best three year olds in Europe some five years before in the Epsom Derby was now a busy eight year old campaigning over hurdles. No longer with John Meacock, Vakil-Ul-Mulk had presumably been head-hunted for his services by “Lieutenant-Colonel Guy Richardson Aymer Vallance” or “G. R. A. Vallance” for short… or even “Ricky Vallance” to his mates.

And get this… Vakil-Ul-Mulk wasn’t running in some selling hurdle at Fakenham or Buckfasteligh or even the little greyhound track for horses at Wye… he was in a hurdle race at classy Ascot no less! And furthermore the great horse was tackling an inmate of the powerful all conquering Fulke Walwyn stable, none other than the mighty Kirriemuir who had won the 1965 Champion hurdle!

Okay, before you say it… I know - Vakil-Ul-Mulk was receiving 18lbs from Kirriemuir… and so he should too as Kirriemuir was trained by one of the best NH trainers in the history of racing whilst poor old Vakil was lumped with Ricky Vallance as his trainer. I don’t know what it was with the great horse but he did seem to have crafted a very fine art of attracting eccentric trainers… Vallance was known to have stepped out in his underpants and slippers at six o'clock on a frosty morning and wash his hair in a tank of rainwater in the yard, and then later, he might dip his nine Maltese terriers in a washing machine! Furthermore his marital disputes with Mrs Vallance were apparently the stuff of local legend such as one row beginning with an oil-filled radiator flying out of a bedroom window… Vakil-Ul-Mulk must have been thinking "Come back John Meacock - all is forgiven”!

So for me the great horse was in a way covertly handicapped by the trainer and also it’s worth mentioning perhaps by the jockey too as Kirriemuir was to be ridden by the great Stan Mellor whilst poor old Vakil-Ul-Mulk had to make do with none other than Ben Hanbury. For all intents and purposes, and in the interests of fair play we really should assume that the two horses were meeting on level terms to be fair to both of them. Kirriemuir was probably expecting to jog round with poor old Vakil-Ul-Mulk seeing nothing more of him during the race other than his almighty backside but he hadn’t bargained for our horse’s tenacity or adaptability… and I say “our horse” because Vakil-Ul-Mulk was the people’s horse, the darling of the adoring public! Anyway to cut to the mustard Vakil-Ul-Mulk didn’t quite win the race but he did come near, finishing in a very respectable third place. And what of Kirriemuir? Well the nearest he got to being in front of Vakil-Ul-Mulk was in the betting and going around the paddock. Kirriemuir was sent off as favourite whilst Vakil-Ul-Mulk was an outsider sent off at 20/1… but of course Vakil-Ul-Mulk’s class shone through and he beat him easily as Kirriemuir was unplaced!