Knock Hard
| Knock Hard | |
|---|---|
| Sire | Domaha |
| Grandsire | Vatout |
| Dam | Knocksouna |
| Damsire | Beresford |
| Sex | Gelding |
| Foaled | 1944 |
| Country | Ireland |
| Colour | Chestnut |
| Owner | Moya & Harry Keogh Francis More O'Ferrall |
| Trainer | Vincent O'Brien |
| Major wins | |
|
Great Yorkshire Chase (1953) Cheltenham Gold Cup (1953) |
|
Knock Hard (foaled 1944) was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1953 Cheltenham Gold Cup. He showed good form on the flat, winning the Irish Lincoln Handicap and finished second in the Irish Cesarewitch and the November Handicap. As a steeplechaser he was a fast but unreliable jumper who fell when well fancied in both the King George VI Chase and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the 1951/52 National Hunt season. In the following year his early form was inconsistent but he then won the Great Yorkshire Chase before defeating a strong field in the Gold Cup. His subsequent form deteriorated and he was retired to become a hunter in England.
Knock Hard was a chestnut gelding with a narrow white blaze and white socks on his hind legs bred in Ireland. His sire Domaha was a successful National Hunt stallion whose other offspring included Dormant who won the Whitbread Gold Cup and the King George VI Chase as well as finishing second to Arkle in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Knock Hard's dam Knocksouna was half-sister to Florrie, the dam of the Irish Derby winner Thirteen of Diamonds. She was also a great-granddaughter of Princess Dorrie who won the 1000 Guineas and the Oaks Stakes 1914 and was a half-sister to Sunstar.
The wartime market for yearlings was depressed and Knock Hard fetched only 75 guineas when put up for auction in 1945. During his racing career, the gelding was owned by Moya and Harry Keogh and trained by Vincent O'Brien in County Cork before moving to Ballydoyle from 1951. O'Brien made a major impact on British jump racing in the decade after World War II sending out Cottage Rake to win three Gold Cups and Hatton's Grace to win three Champion Hurdles before training three consecutive Grand National winners in Early Mist, Royal Tan and Quare Times.
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