Welsh National Memories: Carvill's Hill

The field clear a fence in the 1992 Gold Cup, for which Carvill's Hill (left) was sent off a hot favourite

Keith Melrose looks back at the day achievement finally caught up with expectation for one of the most talented chasers of our time.

You need look only as far as the recently-ended career of Frankel to see that the concept of 'greatness' in racing is far from being universally agreed upon. There are those who think ability is the be all and end all, for others greatness is reflected in versatility and, if you're Laurie Williamson, it's whatever you can say to make your mate Brigadier Gerard the best. 

For the most part Timeform see ratings, specifically our own, as the best guide. After all, a horse can't control the ground, the way it's trained or the behaviour of connections; all it can control is the ability it shows. Still, there are understandably some who like hard credentials as well as the more esoteric notion of quality, who feel ever so slightly uneasy with relative one-hit wonders like Harbinger and Imperial Commander being rated higher than the likes of Reference Point and Denman.

It should be pointed out that Timeform ratings are, at their heart, meant merely as a reflection of a horse's ability under optimum conditions, and we wouldn't impress our own view of what constitutes 'greatness' upon anyone else. We can merely plead our case, and one of our best examples would be provided by 1991 Welsh National winner Carvill's Hill, who on our figures shares a plinth with such highly-decorated chasers as Best Mate, Azertyuiop and Kicking King.

Strictly speaking, Carvill's Hill never won a Grade 1, though he took the Irish Hennessy twice and the John Durkan before the introduction of the jumps pattern we recognise today. Still, few who saw him would deny his place among the greatest chasers of the last 30 years. He was a brute of a horse, an 'old-school' chaser before they were old school, but the fragility that dogged so many of a similar stature also kept Carvill's Hill from gathering the accolades to match his mighty ability.

Carvill's Hill first came to the attention of the wider racing public in the 1987/8 season, winning four of his five starts in novice hurdles and emerging as Timeform's leading novice hurdler of that season. The following season he won his first Irish Hennessy on just his fourth start over fences and played a bit part in one of the all-time great races, falling at the seventh when second-favourite (behind the winner) in Desert Orchid's Gold Cup. 

To say Carvill's Hill suffered problems off the track in the two seasons that followed would be a gross understatement. Reports of one setback or another from the Jim Dreaper yard were commonplace, injury forcing Carvill's Hill to miss the next two Gold Cups and restricting him to just six starts overall, which nevertheless brought three wins, including his John Durkan. If that wasn't enough, disputes between his owners also made the headlines, eventually resolved when Paul Green stepped in to buy a half share in Carvill's Hill at the end of the 1989/90 campaign, with part of the deal reportedly being that he could move the horse after a season. After a disappointing two-run campaign in 1990/1, Green took the decision to move Carvill's Hill to the all-conquering yard of Martin Pipe.

Although it spanned only four races, the season Carvill's Hill spent with Pipe was arguably crammed with more intrigue and controversy than all of what had gone before. His first start came in the Rehearsal Chase, in a small but select handicap field that contained the winners of the previous season's Martell Cup (Aquilifer, now the Bowl), Champion Chase (Katabatic), Midlands National (Bonanza Boy) and Welsh National (Cool Ground), as well as former Champion Hurdler and two-time Charlie Hall winner Celtic Shot. Despite an error-strewn round of jumping, which often drew gasps from the crowd, Carvill's Hill pulled away from Aquilifer after the last to win by 10 lengths; nothing else was sighted in the last half mile or so. 

Raised just 2 lb for that success (one couldn't imagine such generosity from a BHA handicapper in 2012!), Carvill's Hill was returned to Chepstow for the Welsh National rather than the King George and was sent off a well-fancied 9/4 in a strong field of 17. Second in the betting at 7/2 was Hennessy runner-up, the giant Party Politics, with Aquilifer next best at 8/1. Also in the upper half of the betting were the winners of the last three Welsh Nationals (Bonanza Boy twice and Cool Ground), the Haydock Park Gold Cup (Twin Oaks) and Sun Alliance Chase runner-up Esha Ness.

Perhaps a sigther at the track less than a month previously had put Carvill's Hill right, or maybe there were some sort of cosmic forces at play (the Welsh National in those days was often run on the same day as the winter solstice), but for whatever reason the 21st of December 1991 was the day it all fell into place. Rushed up by Peter Scudamore to lead soon after the tape went up, Carvill's Hill was four lengths clear by the end of that long run to the first fence. The first circuit lacked fireworks, but those watching closely could see a greater enthusiasm and more sure-footed jumping from Carvill's Hill than had been witnessed on his previous outing. Still, there was no obvious indication of what was to come.

From the first time they entered the home straight until the first fence of the final circuit, Scudamore allowed Carvill's Hill some rope, his mount duly lifting an already brisk pace and having a number under the cosh by the time they started down the back again. A breather was sensibly allowed for, with Esha Ness closing to within a few lengths by the time they jumped the water towards the end of the back straight, leading commentator Peter O'Sullevan to declare that Carvill's Hill might be getting tired. Such an impression was all but put to bed six out, a bold leap from the leader and a mistake from Esha Ness soon restoring a clear lead that never looked like being breached. Carvill's Hill was bold and energetic up the straight, astounding given the pace he'd set throughout the race, and had matters in safe keeping when jumping awkwardly at the last, needing only nudged out by Scudamore. Officially 20 lengths behind (it could well have been more), Party Politics plugged on to nab second from Aquilifer close home, with Bonanza Boy coming home another 20 lengths back. Esha Ness was pulled up, never to be same again- apart from you know when.

Although obviously not known at the time, the runner-up would win the Grand National less than four months later from the exact same official mark of 152. Carvill's Hill had given him 20 lbs and a 20-length trouncing. It truly was a performance of rare quality and, following another easy all-the-way success in the Irish Hennessy, Carvill's Hill lined up for the 1992 Cheltenham Gold Cup an even-money favourite.

There was, however, to be a bitter end to this tale. Pressed for the lead by Golden Freeze (a stablemate of third-favourite Toby Tobias), Carvill's Hill clouted the first in the Gold Cup and could never regain his composure, blundering his way around and trailing home a sorry and distant fifth. It was later revealed that he had pulled several muscles, most likely at the first. As if connections or fans of Carvill's Hill needed any reminding of what might have been, the race was ultimately won by Cool Ground who, as you'll remember, had been pummelled twice by Carvill's Hill at Chepstow that winter.

Jenny Pitman, trainer of Toby Tobias and Golden Freeze, later came under fire for alleged spoiling tactics. Although it's not difficult to see where this theory would come from, the fact is that it was probably an early error which cost Carvill's Hill his chance and, as such, Golden Freeze's involvement would be largely incidental. Timeform's Chasers & Hurdlers 1991/2 was typically schoolmaster-like in its assertion that 'if Carvill's Hill had indeed been thrown out of his stride by being harried from the start by Golden Freeze then he didn't deserve to win a Gold Cup'!

I doubt that Messrs Green, Pipe and Scudamore (none of whom would ever win the Gold Cup) would agree, but the real tragedy to my eyes is that the Cheltenham controversy, rather than the Chepstow rout, often comes out as the main chapter in in the story of Carvill's Hill. It might not have required Best Mate's sure-footedness, Kicking King's battling qualities or Azertyuiop's effortless class, but in terms of a display of raw power his performance in the Welsh National surely trumps anything even Denman, the 21st-century model of the weight-carrying chaser, could manage.

Does the fact he pulled out a monstrous performance only once sully Carvill's Hill's place among the greats? Not really in my view. Ultimately, there have been few more able than Carvill's Hill this side of Arkle; it's just a shame that it needed the stars to align for him to prove it.

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