Most Number of Starts

[PWJ]

Some discussion in the media today about the pedigree of Avantage, whose 5th dam is Storm Cloud, an unraced full sister to Southern iron horse General Simm, who won 11 races over 11 seasons of racing (from 3 years to 13 years) in the late 60s-early 70s.

A chestnut gelding, he was trained by part owner T.F. Forde. He won a lot of open handicaps, mostly sprints and miles. I remember him vaguely from form guides of the time. The amazing fact about General Simm was that he endured 231 starts !

Does anyone recall a NZ galloper having more starts than this ?

(pedigree enclosed)

[mardigras]

Certainly nothing in the last 20 years in NZ/OZ/UK based on my data.

The most in that period I know of in Oz is Foreign Monarch, a 201 start, 38 race winner, that raced from 1994 to 2004.

And the most I have in the UK is Outlaw Torn, a 202 start horse, 19 race winner that raced as recently as September last year.

[Hesi]

The closest I can recall is Sir Slick, who had 151

Grey Way had 164

[mardigras]

1 minute ago, Hesi said:

The closest I can recall is Sir Slick, who had 151

Grey Way had 164

Our Genes had 162 this century.

[LookingForValue]

Not a thoroughbred but check this out. Article 2012:

As the New York Times profiles, the 14-year-old is scheduled to make the final start of his career Thursday night at Monticello Raceway.  Tattler's Jet has won 120 races from 460 starts in a 12-year career, racing every week, at 53 tracks across seven states and Canada.  Tonight's race is restricted to 14-year-olds, who all must retire by the end of the year.

https://www.paulickreport.com/news/thoroughbred-racing/460-career-starts-proper-nutrition-kept-war-horse-standardbred-sound/

[Rusty]

On 4/20/2021 at 6:38 PM, mardigras said:

And the most I have in the UK is Outlaw Torn, a 202 start horse, 19 race winner that raced as recently as September last year.

Bit of a UK battler called General Tufto had 218 starts.

Won 17 races and retired at 13 years old, a few years back. 

[mardigras]

42 minutes ago, Rusty said:

Bit of a UK battler called General Tufto had 218 starts.

Won 17 races and retired at 13 years old, a few years back. 

Cool, I only have 200 starts for him, so some of my UK data back that far may not be complete.

Could be a few others with 200+ starts as well that I don't have all races for.

Sharp Hat and Dvinski a couple of others with high start numbers. Dvinski with 231 starts from what I've read.

Edited April 21, 2021 by mardigras

[Rusty]

6 minutes ago, mardigras said:

Cool, I only have 200 starts for him, so some of my UK data back that far may not be complete.

Could be a few others with 200+ starts as well that I don't have all races for.

Just looked up his record, as my memory isn't all that great. But his first race was in 2007, and his last in 2018. Bloody good effort. 

[Rusty]

Sharp Hat was trained by David Chapman and regularly trained horses for 100 plus starts for mulitiple wins. Soba a highlight, but Chaplins Club won 7 races in 19 days once. Just think about that for a second; 7 wins in 19 days! Ended up with 24 wins from 160 starts. Won 9 in a season twice and lived to almost 27 years old. Tough old buggers some of them back in the day.