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Which all-weather horse is your favourite?

Let’s talk about… all-weather superstars | We want your feedback too

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Sat April 11, 2020 · 5y ago

It should be All-Weather Championship Finals day today – so our team are talking about their favourite all-weather horses. We want yours, too.

Our team reveal their favourite all-weather horses - now we want your feedback! Who are your favourite kings and queens of the sand? Check out details of how to contact us towards the foot of the article.

Ben Linfoot – Luv U Whatever

There have been some winning machines on the all-weather.

Stand Guard and La Estrella, the record breakers, racked up 55 victories between them and there have been others like Kylkenny, Loyalty, Almaty Express, Desert Strike and China Castle who won again and again at Southwell, Wolverhampton, Lingfield and beyond.

But we all have our favourites and mine was LUV U WHATEVER.

The gelding stormed to 13 victories on the all-weather from 67 goes, a win strike-rate of 19.4 per cent and he was second 11 times as well, underlining the fact that he loved the artificial game.

He won for all of his trainers; Jo Hughes, Mick Appleby, Michael Attwater and Marjorie Fife and he won at a variety of all-weather tracks, too, namely Southwell, which he loved, Chelmsford, Lingfield and Wolverhampton.

Luv U Whatever didn’t love Kempton so much, he was zero from nine there, but he often found it difficult to assume his usual front-running role at the track for some reason.

At Southwell, he almost always led. Nine times he didn’t see another rival. A mile-and-a-half horse, there wasn’t much he had in common with his sprinting sire, Needwood Blade, but early pace was a vital asset on the fibresand.

His best win at Southwell was from a mark of 89 in the January of 2015, but his career highlight arguably came a year later at Chelmsford when he landed the Scoop6Soccer £1 Million Football Bet Handicap off a rating of 95, giving 8lb to the useful dual-purpose mare, Intense Tango, who won a couple of decent pots on turf later that year.

The short comments were as you’d expect; made all, ridden and quickened just over 2f out, driven and held on gamely inside final furlong, all out. That was Luv U Whatever. An all-weather hero.

Coming up next week...

Stable Tours coming up on Sporting Life

Mark Johnston Stable Tour
Richard Fahey Stable Tour
Kevin Ryan Stable Tour
Karl Burke Stable Tour
Jedd O'Keeffe Stable Tour
Brian Ellison Stable Tour
John Quinn Stable Tour
Phil Makin Stable Tour
Michael Dods Stable Tour
Tim Easterby Stable Tour
Ben Haslam Stable Tour

Richard Mann - Mr Willis

Death, taxes, and MR WILLIS winning at Lingfield.

Between New Year's Eve 2008 and December 1 2009, Mr Willis was unstoppable at Lingfield Park, winning five times as John Best plotted a path through the ranks for the Desert Son offspring that had offered another powerful reminder as to why the Kent-based trainer was, at the time, rapidly becoming one of the hottest properties in racing.

That things haven't quite worked out for Best is a crying shame, for this Royal Ascot-winning trainer is evidently a gifted handler and one who continues to grind out a living from the sport despite not enjoying the level of support afforded to many far less qualified than himself.

Nevertheless, Best didn't need to be a master of his craft to realise he had a well-handicapped horse on his hands by the end of 2008 and after Martin Dwyer had endured a day to forget as Mr Willis finished only fifth on his handicap debut at Lingfield in November of that year, Steve Drowne made no mistake when taking over in the saddle just over a month later.

It was to become the start of a wonderful partnership; the ice cool Drowne invariably happy to play his hand late as long as he could get Mr Willis rolling into that big, long, irresistible stride turning for home, and time and time again the pair were up in time.

The winning run started off a mark of just 58 - the first three victories coming over seven furlongs - before a switch to Kempton saw his winning sequence broken, temporarily at least, until he returned to his beloved Lingfield to score twice more, this time over a mile, the last success coming from a mark of 84 in Class 4 company.

In essence, Mr Willis is the template for the perfect 'handicap plot' as it were; start off from a basement mark in the lowest grade possible and cherry pick some ordinary races, landing sizeable bets in the process, until rising through the ranks in pursuit of better prize money.

Having reached an official rating of 91 at his peak, Mr Willis had improved 33lb and with his ceiling reached, Best was happy to sell him on in early 2011 with the job most certainly done.

For me and colleagues of mine working on the Racing Pages desk at the Press Association at the time, a boost to our salary was always welcome and Mr Willis holds a special place in our hearts; one of those rare occasions when the old line 'I've heard this one is well-handicapped' actually bore fruit, and despite spending a month cursing Dwyer after Mr Willis' expensive handicap debut, the next year certainly made up for it.

In times of trouble, Mr Willis proved to be that reliable best friend, the Mum you couldn't be without, the one who never let you down.

While every time his task, and his mark, looked stiffer than the time before, Mr Willis would deliver when it was needed most.

The big bay who really should have hated the tight turns of Lingfield zooming down that home straight, roared on by a few over-zealous young journalists with too much money down and too little sense to know better.

Send us your views

Send your favourite all-weather heroes and other contributions to racingfeedback@sportinglife.com and if you’ve any ideas for more topics you want covering over the coming days and weeks please let us know.

Feedback from readers

James Day: Sorry but I disagree with both, my first thought is surely MATTERHORN is in the list, especially when he downed Wissahickon with relative ease last year, won on turf but on the aw you knew he would give you a race for your money.

Doug: Sorry Richard but I'm not sure a one season wonder can count as an all weather superstar! Alben Star was the first name that sprung to my mind. A dual AW sprint championship final winner in 2014 and 2016 (was 2nd in 2015) he loved the fast pace and an artificial surface. Lingfield was his best venue but he did also win at Wolves. I think he'd always been well regarded by the Fahey yard but missed his 3yo season and most of his 5yo season too. So it was as a 6yo he won his first AW sprint championship and evidently that was his home pitch. That said he wasn't just an AW horse, placed efforts in the wokingham and stewards cup the evidence of that.

Dave Youngman: BY far my favourite all weather horse has to be TRANQUIL TIGER trained by Henry Cecil at Warren Place here in Newmarket, he was a son of Selkirk out of a Distant View mare named Serene View, he was a saint whenever I went into his box whenever I was at the yard visiting Henry, what lovely memories I have of those days. HAPPY EASTER everyone. God Bless.