GRUNDY

OWNER - Carlo Vittadini

TRAINER - Peter Walwyn

JOCKEY - Pat Eddery

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS - 1974 Champagne Stakes, Dewhurst Stakes, 1975 Irish 2,000 Guineas, Derby, Irish Derby, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes

Grundy is one of my all time favourite horses. One of the bravest and gutsiest horses you'd ever set eyes on.

Grundy was trained by Peter Walwyn in Lambourn, as a two year old he ran 4 times and remained unbeaten. The next season started with an injury after being kicked in the face by a stable companion, this delayed the preparation for the 1975 2000 Guineas in which he eventually finished 2nd, beaten half a length by Bolkonski.

After winning the Irish 2000 Guineas Grundy romped home to win the Epsom Derby, two weeks later he completed the Epsom-Irish Derby double by winning the Irish Derby by 2 lengths from King Pellimore.

Grundy's most memorable race is also sometimes know as the race of the century.

It was July 1975 and the race was the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Three-year-old Grundy had won the Derby, followed by the Irish Derby. Four-year-old Bustino had won the 1974 St Leger and, at Epsom the day after Grundy's Derby, broke the record when winning the Coronation Cup. Also in the field were Dahlia, now five and bidding for her third successive win, and Star Appeal, another five-year-old, who had won the Eclipse Stakes. Together they gave the prospect of one of the best contests for years.

In the end it was an epic two-horse struggle. Bustino's pacemakers set a furious pace, but possibly faded earlier than he would have liked. Nevertheless, the four-year-old gamely took up the running about four furlongs out. It was a long way out to be striking for home, which Bustino now did with the advantage of a lead of some lengths over Grundy.

Driven on relentlessly by his jockey, Pat Eddery, Grundy made up the ground until he was on level terms, at which point the two horses raced stride for stride while the crowd became de-lirious with excitement. Fifty yards from the line Bustino could not keep up the pressure and Eddery just forced enough out of Grundy for him to get up and win by half a length. The quality of their duel was such that Dahlia, the third horse, was five lengths away and the course record was broken by over two seconds.

Both horses had been forced to the limits of their endurance and ability, as was clearly shown when Grundy came out within the month for the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup at York. It was a very tall order and not surprisingly he could manage only a tired fourth. Thereafter he was re-tired to stud. Bustino did not run after the Ascot race following an injury in training. It was perhaps divine justice that his career as a stallion was far more successful than that of Grundy who, after some years at the National Stud, was exported to Japan in 1984. In the space of just over two and a half minutes the two horses had earned a lifetime's retirement.