Koko (horse)

{{Infobox racehorse | horsename = Koko | image_name = | caption = | sire = Santoi | grandsire = Queen's Birthday | dam = Persister | damsire = [[Persimmon (horse)|Persimmon]] | sex = [[Gelding]] | foaled = 1918<ref name="pedigree">{{cite web|url=http://www.pedigreequery.com/koko3|title=Koko pedigree |publisher=Pedigree Online |date=2016-03-19 |accessdate=2016-03-19}}</ref> | country = Ireland | colour = [[Bay (horse)|Bay]] | breeder = | owner = Frank Barbour [[Frederick Guest]] | trainer = Alfred Bickley | record = | earnings = | race = [[Cheltenham Gold Cup]] (1926) |awards= |honours = |updated= }} '''Koko''' (foaled 1918) was an Irish racehorse who won the 1926 [[Cheltenham Gold Cup]]. He finished third in the race in 1928 when odds-on favourite and fell in 1929. He also ran twice without success in the [[Grand National]].

==Background== Koko was a bay gelding bred in Ireland. He was sired by Santoi a top-class [[flat racing|flat]] stayer who won the [[Ascot Gold Cup]] in 1901<ref name="century"/> before becoming a leading National Hunt sire.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tbheritage.com/HistoricSires/JumpSires/JSimag/koko.html|title=Koko|publisher=Thoroughbred Heritage}}</ref> Koko's dan Persister was a daughter of [[Epsom Derby|The Derby]] winner [[Persimmon (horse)|Persimmon]] and a half-sister to Fiona, an influential broodmare whose descendants included [[Native Dancer]].<ref name="tbl">{{cite web |url=http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Families/Family5f.htm |title=Bajazet Mare - Family 5-f |publisher=Thoroughbred Bloodlines |date= |accessdate=2013-11-23 |archive-date=16 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016005533/http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Families/Family5f.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Koko was owned by Frank Barbour a [[linen]] manufacturer whose horses where trained at Trimblestown in [[County Meath]] although they were moved to a base at [[Tarporley]] in [[Cheshire]] when competing in England. The training of the horse was managed by his owner although the day-to-day handling was done by his assistant Alfred Bickley who was the trainer of record.<ref name="Harman"/>

==Racing career== Koko was sent to England in the early part of 1926 with the Cheltenham Gold Cup as his objective but jumped poorly in his prep race at [[Sandown Park Racecourse]].<ref name="Harman"/> At Cheltenham on 9 March he was ridden by [[Tim Hamey]] and started a [[Fractional odds|10/1]] outsider<ref name="Breedon">{{cite book|last1=Abelson|first1=Edward|last2=Tyrrel|first2=John| title=The Breedon Book of Horse Racing Records|publisher=Breedon Books Publishing |year=1993|isbn=978-1-873626-15-3}}</ref> in an eight-runner field for the third running of the Gold Cup. Ruddyglow started the 6/5 favourite whilst the other runners included Old Tay Bridge (runner-up in the [[1925 Grand National]]) and Gerald L (third in the 1924 Gold Cup). Hamey allowed the gelding to set the pace from the start and Koko was never in any danger of defeat, winning easily by four [[Horse length|lengths]] from Old Tay Bridge, with Ruddyglow five lengths back in third place.<ref name="Harman">{{cite book | last = Harman | first = Bob | title = The Ultimate Dream: The History of the Cheltenham Gold Cup| publisher=Mainstream Publishing | year = 2000| isbn = 1-84018-381-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000325/19260309/054/0007 |title=1926 Gold Cup |date=9 March 1926|publisher=[[Gloucester Citizen]] |accessdate=15 November 2015}}{{subscription required|s}}</ref> Barbour was presented with a [[15 carat]] gold trophy cup, made by Edward Barnard & Sons Ltd.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/graham-budd-auctions-ltd/catalogue-id-srgrah10000/lot-566669d7-6feb-4576-803b-a3f7005e96ca|title=The 1926 Cheltenham Gold Cup presented to Mr Frank Barbour after the victory of his steeplechaser|date=10 November 2014 |publisher=the-saleroom.com}}</ref>

Seventeen days later Koko started the 100/8 fourth favourite for the [[1926 Grand National]] but fell at [[Becher's Brook]] on the first circuit.<ref name="Green">{{cite book|last=Green|first=Reg | title=The History of the Grand National: A Race Apart| publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|year=1993|isbn = 0-340-58515-3}}</ref> Tim Hamey reportedly sustained a [[concussion]] in the fall.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19260329.2.36.7&srpos=1&e=01-01-1923-19-12-1930--10--1----0Koko+Grand+National--|title=The Grand National|date=29 March 1926|publisher=[[Evening Post (New Zealand)]]}}</ref>

Koko returned to Cheltenham in 1928 and started 4/5 favourite for the Gold Cup. He led for most of the way and looked the likely winner even when joined at the last by [[Patron Saint (horse)|Patron Saint]] but [[EIPH|broke a blood vessel]] on the run-in and dropped back to finish third. After the race Koko was sold by Barbour to [[Frederick Guest]]. In the [[1928 Grand National|Grand National]] he again fell at Becher's Brook and landed in the ditch on the landing side of the fence where he became wedged. His jockey W. Gurney said "Koko hit the fence just above the bar and turned clean over into the ditch. I thought he had broken his back but he was all right. He had to be pulled out with ropes."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19280507.2.86&srpos=3&e=01-01-1923-19-12-1930--10--1----0Koko+Grand+National--|title=The Grand National|date=7 May 1928|publisher=[[Evening Post (New Zealand)]]}}</ref>

The gelding returned to Cheltenham for a third attempt at the Gold Cup in 1929 but jumped poorly before falling at the water jump. He continued to compete in minor National Hunt meetings but never contested another top class race.<ref name="Harman"/>

==Assessment and honours== In their book, ''A Century of Champions'', based on the [[Timeform]] rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Koko an "inferior" Gold Cup winner.<ref name="century">{{cite book|last1=Morris| first1=Tony|last2=Randall|first2=John|title=A Century of Champions|publisher= Portway Press|year=1999|isbn=9781901570151}}</ref>

==Pedigree== {{Pedigree |name = Koko (IRE), bay gelding, 1918<ref name="pedigree"/> |f = [[Santoi]] (GB) 1897 |m = Persister (GB) 1903 |ff = [[Queen's Birthday (horse)|Queen's Birthday]] (GB) 1887 |fm = Merry Wife (GB) 1891 |mf = [[Persimmon (horse)|Persimmon]] (GB) 1893 |mm = Sister Ann (GB) 1888 |fff = [[Hagioscope (horse)|Hagioscope]] |ffm = Matilda |fmf = [[Merry Hampton]] |fmm = Connie |mff = [[St. Simon (horse)|St Simon]] |mfm = Perdita |mmf = Edward the Confessor |mmm = Anlace |ffff = [[Speculum (horse)|Speculum]] |fffm = Sophia |ffmf = Beauclerc |ffmm = Simony |fmff = '''[[Hampton (horse)|Hampton]]*''' |fmfm = Doll Tearsheet |fmmf = [[Pero Gomez]] |fmmm = Hilarity |mfff = [[Galopin]] |mffm = St Angela |mfmf = '''Hampton*''' |mfmm = Hermione |mmff = [[Hermit (horse)|Hermit]] |mmfm = The Princess of Wales |mmmf = Tomahawk |mmmm = Annette (Family 5-f)<ref name="tbl"/> }}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Koko is [[inbreeding|inbred]] 4S x 4D to the stallion [[Hampton (horse)|Hampton]], meaning that he appears fourth generation on the sire side of his pedigree and fourth generation on the dam side of his pedigree.

== References == {{Reflist}}

[[Category:1918 racehorse births]] [[Category:Racehorses bred in Ireland]] [[Category:Racehorses trained in Ireland]] [[Category:Thoroughbred family 5-f]] [[Category:Cheltenham Gold Cup winners]] [[Category:Cheltenham Festival winners]] [[Category:National Hunt racehorses]]