{{Short description|British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse}}
{{Infobox racehorse | horsename = Red Rower | image_name = | caption = | sire = Rameses the Second | grandsire = [[Gainsborough (horse)|Gainsborough]] | dam = Red Maru | damsire = Kosciusko | sex = [[Gelding]] | foaled = 1934<ref name="pedigree">{{cite web|url=http://www.pedigreequery.com/red+rower|title=Red Rower pedigree |publisher=Pedigree Online |date=2016-03-19 |accessdate=2016-03-19}}</ref> | country = United Kingdom | colour = [[Bay (horse)|Bay]] | breeder = [[Baron Stalbridge|Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Baron Stalbridge]] | owner = Lord Stalbridge | trainer = [[Ivor Anthony]]<br>Lord Stalbridge | record = | earnings = | race = Lilley Brook Chase (1940)<br>[[Grand Annual Chase]] (1942)<br>[[Cheltenham Gold Cup]] (1945) |awards= |honours = |updated= }}
'''Red Rower''' (foaled 1934) was a British [[Thoroughbred]] racehorse who won the 1945 [[Cheltenham Gold Cup]]. He raced during the [[Second World War]] when opportunities for [[National Hunt]] horses were severely limited. After winning the Lilley Brook Chase in 1940 he finished third to stable companion [[Poet Prince]] in his first attempt at the Gold Cup in the following year. In 1942 he won the [[Grand Annual Chase]] and started favourite for the Gold Cup but was beaten into second place by [[Medoc II]]. On the resumption of National Hunt racing after a two-year break he finally won the Gold Cup at the age of eleven in 1945.
==Background== Red Rower was a bay gelding bred and owned by [[Baron Stalbridge|Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Baron Stalbridge]]. He was sired by Rameses the Second, a son of the [[World War I|wartime]] [[Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing#English Triple Crowns|Triple Crown]] winner [[Gainsborough (horse)|Gainsborough]]. Red Rower's dam Red Maru also produced Red April who won the [[County Hurdle]] and finished third in both the [[Champion Hurdle]] and the Cheltenham Gold Cup. She was a granddaughter of Fair Wind, a broodmare whose other descendants included Dark Japan ([[Goodwood Cup]]) and West Indies ([[Irish 1000 Guineas]]). This made Red Rower one of the few high-class racehorses to emerge from [[Thoroughbred#Foundation mares|Thoroughbred family]] 52.<ref name="tbl">{{cite web|url=http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Families/Family52.htm|title=Sir John Sebright's Arabian Mare - Family 52|publisher=Thoroughbred Bloodlines|access-date=2016-04-01|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304212333/http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Families/Family52.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Red Rower was initially sent into training with Ivor Anthony at [[Wroughton]] in [[Wiltshire]].
==Racing career== Red Rower showed early promise as a steeplechaser, winning three races over two miles before stepping up to three miles and winning the Lilley Brook Chase<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19400410&id=iXFAAAAAIBAJ&pg=6308,969956&hl=en|title=Fourth win in a row?|author=White and Gold|date=10 April 1940|publisher=[[Glasgow Herald]]}}</ref> as a six-year-old at Cheltenham in April 1940.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/62846454?searchTerm=%22Red%20Rower%22&searchLimits=l-decade=194|title=Home Front: Fine Lepper|date=1 May 1940|work=[[Townsville Bulletin]]}}</ref> The gelding made his first appearance in the Cheltenham Gold Cup as a seven-year-old in 1941 in which he was ridden by Danny Morgan and started at odds of 8/1. He led the field approaching the final fence where he was overtaken by his stablemate [[Poet Prince]] and lost second place by a short head to Savon in the final strides.<ref name="Harman"/>
Wartime restrictions meant that major sporting events were confined to the weekend and the 1942 Cheltenham Festival was run over successive Saturdays rather than consecutive days. On 14 March, Red Rower contested the [[Grand Annual Chase]] a race which attracted many of the leading contenders for the Gold Cup a week later. He took the lead at the final fence and won by a head from [[Medoc II]] with Broken Promise a [[Horse length|length]] away in third.<ref name="insane">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PH6cPa-SwycC&q=%22Poet+Prince%22+%22Cheltenham%22&pg=PA190|title=Insane and Unseemly: British Racing in World War II|year=2009|author=John Saville|publisher=Matador|isbn=9781848760349}}</ref> Medoc's more highly regarded stablemate Savon (runner-up in the 1941 Gold Cup) fell in the race and sustained a fatal injury.<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> In the Gold Cup Red Rower started [[Fractional odds|3/1]] favourite and was in the leading group until the last ditch fence when he was badly hampered by the fall of the leader Solarium. He came away from the fence well adrift of the new leader Medoc, and although he steadily reduced the margin he was beaten eight lengths into second place.<ref name="Harman"/> In the following September National Hunt racing was suspended in Britain and the next two Cheltenham festivals did not take place.
National Hunt racing resumed at the end of 1944 although several leading jumpers including Medoc and [[Prince Regent (Irish horse)|Prince Regent]] were unable to compete owing to a decision of the National Hunt Committee not to accept entries on behalf of horses which had left the country after 1 June 1941.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17928771?searchTerm=Medoc%20Cheltenham&searchLimits=l-decade=194|title=English Racing Expands|date=22 Nov 1944|work=[[Sydney Morning Herald]]}}</ref> Red Rower, now officially trained by Lord Stalbridge, won at [[Windsor Racecourse]] in February<ref name="insane"/> 1945 before contesting the Cheltenham Gold Cup on 17 March in a record field of sixteen runners. The field included five horses who had never won over fences and five others who were aged thirteen or over.<ref name="insane"/> Red Rower, ridden the former [[flat racing|flat race]] jockey Davy Jones started the 11-4 favourite ahead of Paladin on 100/30<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> and Schubert on 11-2 whilst the other runners included the thirteen-year-old Poet Prince. Red Rower tracked the front-runners before going up to dispute the lead with Paladin and Schubert at the last fence and drew away on the run-in to win by three lengths.<ref name="Harman"/>
Red Rower's last major race was the [[1946 Grand National]] the first edition of the race for six years. Now a twelve-year-old he carried the third highest weight of 161 pounds and was pulled up in a race won by [[Lovely Cottage]].<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>
==Assessment and honours== In their book, ''A Century of Champions'', based on the [[Timeform]] rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Red Rower a "poor" 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> Red Rower is remembered in the name of Red Rower Close, a residential street in Cheltenham.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cheltenham4u.co.uk/swindonvillage_history.asp?area=Swindon+Village%2C+Wyman%27s+Brook|title=Cheltenham Areas: History of Swindon Village and Wyman's Brook|publisher=cheltenham4u.co.uk|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100218123647/http://www.cheltenham4u.co.uk/swindonvillage_history.asp?area=Swindon+Village%2C+Wyman%27s+Brook|archivedate=2010-02-18}}</ref>
==Pedigree== {{Pedigree |name = Red Rower (GB), bay gelding, 1934<ref name="pedigree"/> |inf = |f = Rameses the Second (GB)<br />1927 |m = Red Maru (GB)<br />1927 |ff = [[Gainsborough (horse)|Gainsborough]] (GB)<br />1915 |fm = Grand Rapide (GB) <br />1921 |mf = Kosciusko<br />1909 |mm = Red Light (GB)<br />1917 |fff = [[Bayardo (horse)|Bayardo]] |ffm = [[Rosedrop]] |fmf = [[Hurry On]] |fmm = Mademoiselle Pictet |mff = [[Melton (horse)|Melton]] |mfm = Simena |mmf = Minter |mmm = Fair Wind |ffff = [[Bay Ronald]] |fffm = Galicia |ffmf = '''[[St Frusquin]]*''' |ffmm = Rosaline |fmff = Marcovil |fmfm = Toute Suite |fmmf = Picton |fmmm = Morette |mfff = [[Master Kildare]] |mffm = Violet Melrose |mfmf = '''[[St Simon (horse)|St Simon]]*''' |mfmm = Flying Footsep |mmff =[[Minting (horse)|Minting]] |mmfm = Dissipation |mmmf = Succoth |mmmm = Windward (Family: 52)<ref name="tbl"/>}}
{{asterisk}} Red Rower is [[inbreeding|inbred]] 5S x 4D to the stallion [[St. Simon|St Simon]], meaning that he appears fifth generation (via [[St Frusquin]]) on the sire side of his pedigree, and fourth generation on the dam side of his pedigree.
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Cheltenham Gold Cup winners}}
[[Category:1934 racehorse births]] [[Category:Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Thoroughbred family 52]] [[Category:Cheltenham Gold Cup winners]] [[Category:Cheltenham Festival winners]] [[Category:National Hunt racehorses]]