Poker And Horse Racing

Author: Simon Dexter

Poker, gambling and horse racing have always been closely linked and it is no surprise there are plenty of poker-related horses over the past few years but giving a horse a poker-related name is not always a sure-fire route to owning a successful racehorse.

Poker (2001 chestnut gelding)

The Poker Players partnership must have been overwhelmed when they found out the name Poker was available to name their first horse.

The chestnut ran three unimpressive races before being gelded by trainer Willie Haggas and sent to a maiden handicap at Southwell. Slower than most horses but faster than his opponents, the three-year-old scooped the pot for his connections scoring by just under two lengths from Jomus.

That, however was the last decent hand the horse would play and the son of Hector Protector never managed to reach the final table again let alone scoop a major prize. Great name but very disappointing racehorse.

Career record of Poker – 8 runs 1 win.

Texas Holdem (1999 bay gelding)

Born in 1999, Texas Holdem failed miserably to live up to its illustrious name. The gelding began life in an Irish bumper but failed to impress either its trainer Margaret Mullins or its owners by finishing 6th of 16 at Roscommon.

The Irish-bred remained potless until wining a Thurles maiden hurdle on his seventh career outing.

More disappointing runs followed and the six-year-old was bought by owner/trainer Michael Smith to race in England. The gelding fared a little better winning two races at Catterick and Hexham before being outclassed at Aintree on his final start and was never seen again.

Career record of Texas Holdem – 19 runs 3 wins

Chip Leader (2004 chestnut gelding)

Although Richard Hannon’s three-year-old has ‘led’ in some of his races, the gelding never quite managed to lead at the important part of the race – the finishing line.

Despite coming from a distinguished family which included Lammtarra and Bosra Sham, Chip Leader proved a dismal failure on the racetrack, managing to finish stone last in three of his eight starts and beaten by double figure lengths on more than half of his starts.

The presence of leading jockeys Ryan Moore and Richard Hughes did not help the cause of the hapless Chip Leader who was ’folded’ by his trainer at the end of his three-year-old career.

Career record of Chip Leader – 7 runs 0 wins.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 11th, 2007 at 2:46 pm and is filed under General Poker.

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