NIGHT NURSE

OWNER - Reg Spencer

TRAINER - Peter Easterby

JOCKEY - Paddy Broderick, Jonjo O'Neill, Ian Watkinson, Alan Brown

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS - 1975 Fighting Fifth Hurdle, Sweeps Hurdle 1976 Champion Hurdle, Scottish Champion Hurdle, Welsh Champion Hurdle, John Skeaping Hurdle 1977 Champion Hurdle, Templegate Hurdle(Dead-Heat), Welsh Champion Hurdle 1979 Sean Graham Trophy, Buchanan Whisky Gold Cup, 1982 Mandarin Chase. 2nd 1981 Cheltenham Gold Cup, 3rd 1978 Champion Hurdle.

I had the pleasure of meeting this fella, the very first time that I went racing with horses from Ginger McCains yard. Night Nurse had been a favourite of mine before I started working for Ginger and I had dreamed of seeing this horse in real life.

For nine seasons Night Nurse entertained his fans with an exhibition of bold front running and exhilarating jumping that carried him to victory 32 times. The victories included two Champion Hurdles, two Welsh Champion Hurdles and a Scottish Champion Hurdle. He completed a run of ten consecutive hurdling victories in the Autumn of 1976.

At Aintree 17 days after battling up Cheltenhams hill to beat Monksfield by two lenghs in the Champion Hurdle, Night Nurse put up the greatest single performance by any hurdler in the history of the sport. He conceded 6lb to Monksfeild and the pair gave their all in an epic duel which finished in a dead-heat. With Red Rum winning his third Grand National in the very next race, the young folk at Aintree that day really had something to tell their future offsprings.

Night Nurse never won a big steeplechase that his talents deserved but nearly became the first horse to bring off the Champion Hurdle - Cheltenham Gold Cup double. The 1981 Gold Cup saw Night Nurse make a lot of the running only to be caught close home by his stable companion Little Owl who beat him by a lengh and a half.