Santa Claus The Racehorse

This is the story of Santa Claus. Not the cheery man with the bushy white beard – this is the story of Santa Claus the racehorse. This Santa Claus didn’t have a red suit, nor did he need reindeers, elves or presents to bring joy to thousands of people.

Cast your imagination back to the 3^rd of June 1964. To the Epsom Downs, when a horse named Santa Claus won The Derby. Santa Claus brought smiles to all but the book makers – who suffered the biggest losses on one race ever recorded to that date.

The tale of Santa Claus, the horse that is, began in Warwickshire where a dark bay colt was foaled. Santa Claus was offered at the sales in 1961 as a weanling, fetching a price of 800 guineas at auction. His buyer would later become so disappointed with his prospect, that he sent him back to the sales the following year.

This time around, standing at over 16hh, Santa Claus was sold for 1,200 guineas and put in training with Mick Rogers in Ireland. This was the beginning of the sleigh ride that in time would make Santa Claus a champion.

After a lack-lustre start in his debut appearance, Santa Claus made a second track appearance as a two-year-old in the National Stakes at the Curragh. His display of dominance and athleticism in the race was so impressive that upon winning the race, he was then fancied for the Irish and British Classics.

On his three-year-old track debut he won the Irish 2000 Guineas in superlative style. But it was his next challenge that would go down in the history books and put the star on the Christmas tree of this miraculous story.

Though his Derby feat was not without obstacles. Sentiments were circling that Santa Claus was inexperienced, with only three racecourse appearances to date. Would his stamina cope with the distance, and the camber of the track? There were even rumours that he might be kidnapped before the race, to prevent him from running.

But the whispers would not stop Mick Rogers and Santa Claus, who arrived a day later than planned to Epsom Downs, with a security campaign befitting of a celebrity or a royal. Seventeen horses lined up for the race, with Santa Claus leading the betting at this stage, despite the doubts and dramas.

As the horses rounded Tattenham Corner, Santa Claus looked surely beaten in tenth place. But at two furlongs out, the horse had been brought to life and was making forceful strides as he quickened away with explosive spirit and won the race by a length.

Christmas came early that year for jockey Scobie Breasley, for Mick, his mother who owned the horse and for the many punters who chose to believe in Santa Claus. By the end of his career, Santa Claus has been unplaced on only one occasion in seven starts – his racecourse appearance. He was named Horse Of The Year, and boasted earnings of the equivalent of £2 million today.

His progeny, aptly named Reindeer, would go on to win the Irish St Leger Stakes. How’s that for a Christmas fairytale?