ONE of our favourite horses Cyfor Malta passed away peacefully on October 27 at the grand old age of 31. He spent his retirement close to the yard with former head lad Dennis Dummet (who sadly passed away this year) and his partner Norma.
He lived for several years with Miinnehoma, It Takes Time and in recent years, his new best friend was Dynaste. Dad and I visited him not that long ago and he still looked magnificent but age just caught up with him quite recently.
Born in March 1993 he was by Cyborg out of a dam called Force Nine and he ran in the famous blue and green colours of owner David Johnson. He has a very impressive roll of honour for winning top class races and who knows it could have been even more impressive had injuries not have gotten in the way. He was the winner of nine of 24 career starts and he was placed on seven occasions winning over £308,000 in prize money. He was amazing and you wouldn’t find many more talented racehorses
Cyfor Malta was a high-class recruit from France that arrived at Pond House in December 1997 and had run four times at Auteuil with form figures of 3,2,1,1.
He made a winning British debut at Sandown in January 1998 in a novice chase over 2m4f with A P McCoy on board. He then finished second back at the track next time before going on to win the Cathcart handicap chase at the Cheltenham Festival that year. He then went on to Aintree and was one of the easiest winners seen over the Grand National fences in the John Hughes Chase when still just only a five year old. It was an extraordinary performance in a competitive race. He was quoted at 33/1 for the Gold Cup the following year after this.
The following season he only ran twice but he did win both of those races in good style.
His jumping was one of his biggest assets and he quickened away from some very good horses from four out. He followed up next time with a win in the Pillar Property Chase at Cheltenham in January, 1999, beating See More Business and Go Ballistic. Those two horses fought out the finish of the Gold Cup that year. Cyfor Malta unfortunately missed it through injury and we were left wondering what might have been.
Injuries unfortunately plagued the rest of Cyfor Malta’s career thereafter. He was off the track for two years before returning in the Pillar chase in 2001. He did not perform that day and then had further time off and was not seen again until December of that year. He did, however, make it another winning return in a handicap chase at Newbury off a mark of 145.
Things did not quite go to plan in his next two races and he finished eighth behind Best Mate in the 2002 Gold Cup. He returned to form at Aintree that year with a second to Florida Pearl in the Melling Chase.
After a summer at grass he returned for one more big success in the 2020 Thomas Pink handicap chase at Cheltenham in November 2002. It was a top class effort to defy a mark of 154. He was only seen on a racecourse seven times after this but sadly he could not live up to the high-class form he had once shown and he ran his final race in April 2004 at Cheltenham.
He was a remarkable horse both on and off the racecourse and leaves us all some very special memories.