Norton's Coin
| Norton's Coin | |
|---|---|
| Sire | Mount Cassino |
| Grandsire | Varano |
| Dam | Grove Chance |
| Damsire | St Columbus |
| Sex | Gelding |
| Foaled | 16 March 1981 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Colour | Chestnut |
| Breeder | Percy Thomas |
| Owner | Percy Thomas Sirrell Griffiths |
| Trainer | Sirrell Griffiths |
| Record | 33: 6-8-3 |
| Earnings | £138,990 |
| Major wins | |
|
Silver Trophy Chase (1989, 1991) Cheltenham Gold Cup (1990) |
|
Norton's Coin (16 March 1981 – 15 January 2001) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse, best known for his 100/1 win in the 1990 Cheltenham Gold Cup. He was an obscurely-bred gelding owned and trained in Wales by Sirrell Griffiths, a dairy farmer who had only two other horses in his stable.
After success on the amateur Point-to-point circuit and in hunter chases Norton's Coin graduated to professional competition as a seven-year-old in 1988. In his first season under National Hunt rules he showed promise and won the Silver Trophy Chase in April at Cheltenham Racecourse. He struggled to win in the following season, but left all his previous form well behind to record his most famous win over Toby Tobias and the favourite Desert Orchid in Britain's most important weight-for-age steeplechase.
Norton's Coin was injured in winning the Gold Cup and won only once (a repeat win in the Silver Trophy) in his remaining eighteen races. He developed breathing problems and was retired in 1993. He spent his retirement on Griffiths' farm before dying from a suspected heart attack in January 2001.
Norton's Coin was a gelding with a white blaze, described by his owner as an "ugly, plain chestnut". He was the only horse of any consequence sired by Mount Cassino, a fairly useful racehorse but not a top-class performer (rated 92 by Timeform), who recorded the better of his two wins in a handicap race at Sandown Park Racecourse in 1973. Norton's Coin was the only foal produced by his dam Grove Chance, an unraced mare who was descended from Bebe Grande, the leading British two-year-old filly of 1952. Bebe Grand's other descendants have included Lure and the Eclipse Stakes winner Pieces of Eight. At the time of Norton's Coin's conception, both his parents were owned by Sirrell Griffiths, a dairy farmer who kept a few horses at Rwyth Farm near the village of Nantgaredig in Carmarthenshire. He had bought the stallion and the mare for 700 guineas and £500 respectively. Griffiths sold the pregnant Grove Chance to Percy Thomas, who was officially Norton's Coin's breeder.
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