11 March 2021

Champion Chase success for Klairon Davis will never be forgotten

11 March 2021

Arthur Moore remembers with fondness and pride Klairon Davis, who overcame serious lameness to deny Viking Flagship a third successive victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase 25 years ago.

Just six weeks before his epic triumph at Cheltenham Klairon Davis could hardly walk. Yet, thanks to tender care and attention by Moore, together with his wife and daughter, they got the horse to the Festival to run the race of his life.

Winner of the Arkle Trophy in 1995, Klairon Davis was sent off the 9-1 third-favourite behind fellow Irish raider Sound Man and dual winner Viking Flagship for the two-mile showpiece.

Moore recalled the build-up to Cheltenham and how the assistance of a neighbour was instrumental in winning the race against time to get Klairon Davis fit for the big day.

Within 10 minutes of the race he started to go lame in the stables. He got lamer, so we asked our vet to meet us at our yard and the horse came off the lorry on three legs

“He didn’t have a perfect preparation because six weeks before he injured himself in a handicap chase in Punchestown,” said the Naas handler.

“He was carrying a lot of weight and hit a fence very hard and still ran a good race to finish second.

“Within 10 minutes of the race he started to go lame in the stables. He got lamer, so we asked our vet to meet us at our yard and the horse came off the lorry on three legs.

“We were worried he had a fracture, but our neighbour had a thruster laser which he lent us. My daughter Anna, my wife and myself took it in turns to treat him with the laser. After a few days he started to get sounder and within a week he was sound and started trotting.

Klairon Davis (noseband) jumps into the lead at the final fence to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham (PA Archive)

“After 10 days to a fortnight he had graduated into stronger training and from there we had a good run with him.

“He did a very good school in Leopardstown the Monday week before the race and we were happy then that he was back to himself, so we were quite hopeful in the race.”

In the race itself, a mistake at the fourth-last fence at the top of the hill cost Klairon Davis ground on his two main rivals – but Moore felt it actually helped him as Viking Flagship and Sound Man got racing too early for their own good.

“That did him no harm as it left the other two boys to take each other on and so it may have worked out for the best,” he said.

Leading at the final fence, Klairon Davis powered up the hill to beat Viking Flagship by five lengths in the hands of Franny Woods.

Klairon Davis (left) gets the better of Viking Flagship (centr)e and Sound Man to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase (PA Archive)

Klairon Davis could not quite match those heroics but was able to finish a creditable fourth in the two subsequent runnings of the Champion Chase.

He missed out in 1999 due to a fibrillating heart and made his final appearance at the Festival in 2000. But there was no fairytale ending as he was unplaced in the Grand Annual Handicap Chase.

Moore had him as a very young horse and for all of his career from April 1993 until he retired in May 2001.

“He came to me in the January as he became a yearling so we had him all his life practically. He was a lovely horse to have around the place. He was a very kind horse,” said Moore.

“He had a long career, but sadly when he was being prepared for Cheltenham one year, he fibrillated in a bit of work close to the race and he was never the same horse after that.

“It might have affected him previously as well. Anyway he had two great days there and had two in Punchestown as well, in the BMW Chase.

“He was unbeaten in his first season over hurdles, winning at the Fairyhouse and Punchestown Festivals. He won 20 races in all.”

Klairon Davis spent a happy retirement and lived to the age of 29.

“He only died in the last two or three years. He was very well looked after by the Jones family (won owned him). He had a lovely retirement,” Moore said.

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