Arkle's saddle a racing cert to impress at auction

A UNIQUE memento from Ireland’s sporting history will be sold in London next month when Arkle’s racing saddle goes under the hammer at an auction in Mayfair.

The saddle, used by the late jockey Pat Taaffe for all his victories on Arkle, carries an estimate of £8,000-£12,000 (€9,000-€13,500).

In the mid-1960s, Arkle (1957-1970) captivated racegoers and the wider public in Ireland and Britain and became the world’s most famous racehorse.

The champion steeplechaser created a sensation by winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup three years running in 1964, 1965 and 1966. In all, Arkle won 27 of his 35 starts. The bay gelding, bred by Mary Baker at Ballymacoll Stud, Co Meath was owned by Anne, Duchess of Westminster.

So great was Arkle’s fame and popularity, it is reputed that “fan mail” addressed simply to: “Himself, Ireland” arrived at the stables of his trainer Tom Dreaper at Kilsallaghan, Co Dublin.

Arkle’s career ended prematurely following an injury sustained in the 1966 King George VI Chase at Kempton Park. The horse recovered but never ran again and was put down, aged 13, in 1970. Arkle’s skeleton is on permanent display at the Irish National Stud’s museum in Co Kildare.

The saddle will be sold by Graham Budd Auctions, which specialises in the field of sporting memorabilia, on the morning of November 9th. It is being sold by an Englishwoman who inherited it from her late father, Arthur Pownall, who acquired it for “a few hundred pounds” 40 years ago at a charity dinner auction organised by the Anglo-American Sporting Club.

Auctioneer Graham Budd said he “would be extremely happy if the saddle goes back to Ireland where Arkle was an absolute sporting icon”. He explained that the saddle’s provenance was assured as it bears a metal plaque engraved with the signature of Pat Taaffe and the inscription “This is the saddle I used when I rode ‘Arkle’ to win all his races” and is accompanied by a letter of authentication signed by Neil Durden-Smith, then secretary of the Anglo-American Sporting Club.

Pat Taaffe died, aged 62 in July 1992. The front page of The Irish Times the following day published his photograph beneath the simple headline: “A Racing Great” and noted that he would be “remembered as superb partner of Arkle”. His son, Tom Taaffe is one of Ireland’s leading national hunt trainers.

The London auction will also feature a lock of hair snipped from the horse – part of “an album containing the locks of tail or mane hair from famous racehorses” also including Red Rum, Nijinsky, Desert Orchid, and Dawn Run (estimate £1,000 to £1,500). The two-day sale, on November 8th and 9th, includes more than 1,200 items of sporting memorabilia.

Some 50 lots “from the personal collection” of former champion jockey Lester Piggott include Waterford Crystal trophies and a gold-mounted whip he received for his victory, on Saas Fee, in the Singapore Derby 1979.

Other items of Irish interest in the sale include jerseys worn by soccer stars Roy Keane and Denis Irwin from their days with Manchester United, and the programme for an England v Ireland international game played at Everton on March 2nd, 1889. It is believed to be the earliest England “home programme” to have been offered at auction and is estimated at £6,000-£8,000.