City Boy obituary
March 1999
Champion hunter chaser City Boy was put down a few weeks short of his 24th birthday. He was ridden virtually to the end and kept in, clipped and fit apart from his summer break at grass. He enjoyed his life to the full and gave a great deal of pleasure to many people - a fan club when he was racing and countless novice riders who enjoyed the feel of an "armchair" ride on a racehorse with his younger stablemates in recent years.
His peak year was 1985, when he was the Horse & Hound Hunter Chaser of the Year, due to winning six hunter chases, which included the REA Bott Aintree Foxhunters, Land Rover John Corbett Cup at Stratford, Audi Champion at Cheltenham, plus wins at Huntingdon, Lingfield and Worcester.
In point-to-points he won on every appearance bar one, when he "missed" the downhill fence at Charing - his only fall. His five wins, all in opens, were at Heathfield, Charing, Cottenham, Higham and Bexhill, all with different riders - Clare Mair, Tim Thomson Jones, Simon Andrews, Paul Webber and Chris Gordon, who got his first win on City Boy’s last success.
In hunter chases, Tim Thomson Jones was on board for all seven wins, but a Mr R Dunwoody rode him to a close third in his first.
His racing career began unpromisingly with trainer Charlie Moore, breaking down in a 3-y-o hurdle. He had been bred by Edna Hollamby out of a point-to-pointer Young Rambler. His sire, the local stallion Ginger Boy by Colonist II, had won on the flat and over hurdles for his owner Vera Vanden Burgh, who also owned and bred Further Thought, who was the link in the story.
Anne and John Farrant had both ridden point-to-point winners for Mrs Vanden Burgh and when Further Thought broke down in training with Tim Forster, she had sent him to Anne to recover. So it seemed natural to ask her to find a home for City Boy. She bought him with little confidence for £500 in partnership with her sister Jo Mann. This weak and backward 4-y-o bucked when Anne got on him, proving quite difficult to sit on and she suspected that he had been shut in because his legs had given trouble again.
Fortunately, with some time at grass he became much more manageable and proved to be a superb hunter for Jo with the East Sussex & Romney Marsh and winning eventer for Anne’s daughter Jennie Underwood. He excelled in both spheres, but when Jennie went to university they decided to try racing when he was nine years old. He then ran 24 times, winning 50 per cent and finished with four sound legs, aged 14, when his wind no longer matched his enthusiasm.
By the time he took to the racecourse for a second time his legs had given no trouble for five years and he had filled out to earn the description "built like a battleship". He was also a very laid back character, who did not over exert himself at home unless there were jumps in front of him. He had done much of his work with Further Thought and the ease with which this giant left him on the home gallops had not encouraged Anne to run him.
This top rated hunter chaser also provided another link in the story as Tim Thomson Jones had been an assistant trainer with Tim Forster when this 18-hand gelding had been there in training, winning over hurdles and being rated a "Gold Cup" horse in the yard. He was also delicate and too excitable for a big yard, so he soon went hunter chasing in Anne’s individual care and when Tim heard she was looking for a rider, he lost no time in getting in touch. So it was natural that he should add City Boy to his rides. The two horses provided him with nine winners in hunter chases in 1985, doing much to help him secure the amateur championship.
But for Tim and all of City Boy’s fan club it was winning the Aintree Foxhunters in that year that was the biggest thrill, in only his fourth steeplechase. He made nothing of the fences, including jumping Bechers on the inside, before the ditch was filled in and obviously thoroughly enjoyed his day in the limelight. For the humans close to him it was a magic day to set foot inside that hallowed winner’s enclosure with such a brave horse.
