Martha's Son
| Martha's Son | |
|---|---|
| Sire | Idiot's Delight |
| Grandsire | Silly Season |
| Dam | Lady Martha |
| Damsire | Sidon |
| Sex | Gelding |
| Foaled | 7 May 1987 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Colour | Bay |
| Breeder | Michael Ward-Thomas |
| Owner | Michael Ward-Thomas & Paddy Hartigan |
| Trainer | Tim Forster |
| Record | 26: 15-3-2 |
| Earnings | £257,635 |
| Major wins | |
|
Peterborough Chase (1994) Victor Chandler Chase (1995) Comet Chase (1995) Queen Mother Champion Chase (1997) Melling Chase (1997) |
|
Martha's Son (7 May 1987 – May 1999) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who competed under National Hunt rules. After competing in minor hurdle events for the first two years of his racing career, he demonstrated dramatic improvement when switched to steeplechasing, winning nine consecutive races including the Peterborough Chase, Victor Chandler Chase and Comet Chase. He returned after a long injury lay-off to produce his best form as a ten-year-old in the spring of 1997, defeating strong fields in both the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the Melling Chase. His veteran trainer Tim Forster regarded him as the best horse he had ever trained. Martha's Son was retired from racing after failing to recover from serious muscular injuries in a race in November 1997. He died in May 1999.
Martha's Son was a bay gelding with a small white star bred in the United Kingdom by Michael Ward-Thomas. He was sired by Idiot's Delight a successful National Hunt stallion whose other progeny included Cavvie's Clown (three-time winner of the Jim Ford Chase and runner up in the Cheltenham Gold Cup), Clever Folly (winner of twenty eight races including the December Gold Cup) and Ida's Delight (Castleford Chase). Martha's Son's dam, Lady Martha was a descendant of Loch Cash, the dam of the King George VI Chase winner Lochroe.
During his racing career, Martha's Son was owned by Ward-Thomas in partnership with Paddy Hartigan, a civil engineer and antique dealer. The gelding was sent into training with Captain Tim Forster (trainer of three Grand National winners) at Letcombe Bassett in Oxfordshire. Forster moved his string of horses, including Martha's Son, to his new base at Downton Hall near Ludlow, in Shropshire in the summer of 1994. Forster was well known for his pessimism; before the 1980 Grand National his instructions to the rider of Ben Nevis, the eventual winner, were "keep remounting".
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