50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

This is the story of a horse that was blessed – and did a Catholic jockey out of a wonderful “double” at Cheltenham last week.
Just before Christmas five years ago the late Mr Mark Burt, of Silverlake Farm, Sherborne, Dorset, an exemplary Catholic, telephoned Canon Power and asked him if he would bless a racehorse he had recently bought. Mr Burt was that sort of man; every year, for instance, he would get the parish priest to go round his large farm reciting the Rogation litanies.
“Bring the horse along,” said Canon Power.
The horse was Gay Donald, and when Canon Power saw him he was so full of admiration that he hurried back to the presbytery and put on his canon’s robes for the ceremony.
It happened that it was recreation time at the convent, and in no time Gay Donald was holding court surrounded by excited girls and nuns. When the holy water was sprinkled on him, Gay Donald gave first a shiver and then a smart jump.
The day after Christmas Gay Donald ran his first race, at Wincanton. Alas, he fell at the first fence.
And last week at Cheltenham he was an outsider in the race for the Gold Cup. But he won – and won easily, leaving Halloween lengths behind.
And who was riding Halloween? Fred Winter, champion rider over the sticks – a man who is, like the late Mr Burt, an exemplary Catholic.
This was pretty hard luck, for only the previous day Fred Winter had won the Champion Hurdle, and was expected to complete the double by winning the Gold Cup. Instead of which, that blessed horse Gay Donald won.
From The Catholic Herald, March 18, 1955