Owned by JP McManaus and formally trained by Enda Bolger, the 30 year-old former star hunter chaser, Elegant Lord has died having enjoyed a long retirement at Martinstown Stud, with his companion Time For A Run who at 31 also died recently.
Elegant Lord began his career when taking a Nenagh maiden as a four-year-old in 1992. The Lord Ha Ha gelding went on to win a further seven point-to-points and thirteen hunter chases. Ridden by Enda Bolger to all bar two of his victories, the chestnut was crowned Champion Hunter Chaser on four occasions.
He won both the Cheltenham Foxhunters in 1996 and the Aintree Foxhunters in 1999. Credited by Bolger as the best horse he ever rode, Elegant Lord provided Enda with his only Cheltenham Festival success in the saddle when he beat subsequent Gold Cup winner Cool Dawn in the 1996 Foxhunters.
Equally successful on home soil, Bolger steered the virtually unbeaten gelding to win the Punchestown Champion Hunter Chase three years on the bounce in 1994, 1995, 1996, while he also won three renewals of both the Josephy O’Reilly Hunter Chase at Fairyhouse and the Leopardstown Hunter Chase.
Many will remember a number of good battles which ensued and between Elegant Lord and another smart hunter-chaser of the era, Kerry Orchid during this period.
Retired at the age of eleven, in 1999 Elegant Lord went out on a high having won what was to be his last start in the Aintree Foxhunters when steered to victory by Philip Fenton.
Speaking to the Racing Post on Wednesday racing manager Frank Berry referred to the two stalwarts, stating ‘They were two wonderful servants and spent their long retirements at Martinstown where they were great pals. They gave us many great days but the years simply caught up with them’.
