Moifaa
Moifaa (* 1895 in Takapau , New Zealand ; † in the 20th century ) was a racehorse and allegedly the favorite horse of Edward VII. On March 25, 1904, he won the Grand National in Liverpool , in which 26 horses participated, eight lengths ahead in 9 : 59 minutes.
Life
The brown thoroughbred gelding was 173 cm tall. It was first ridden in New Zealand by Alfred Ellingham, a relative of the farrier who had bred the horse. In his first racing season, he won eleven of 16 races under Ellingham. Then he was bought by the wealthy businessman Spencer Gollan and should be ridden by his daughter. At first she refused to ride the rather unattractive horse, but then learned to appreciate its qualities. Allegedly, the Gollan family discovered the horse's unusual jumping talent during an earthquake. Moifaa, like other racehorses owned by Gollan, were shipped to England. After the race victory in 1904, Moifaa, who later never excelled in races, was bought for Edward VII, who was friends with Gollan.
Moifaa ran three more races in England before the Grand National without showing any particular performance. At the Grand National in 1904, however, it is said to have won so impressively under jockey Arthur Birch that the king decided to buy it. The following year Moifaa re-entered the race with another jockey in the royal colors but fell and was later given into the hands of Colonel Brocklehurst, who rode him on hunts in Leicestershire. Nothing seems to be known about the end of the horse.
Sometimes reference is made to the sad fate of several people who came into contact with Moifaa: Arthur Birch died in 1911 as a result of a racing accident which he did not suffer with Moifaa, his trainer Jim Hickey died in an asylum for the mentally ill in the same year, and Spencer Gollan was killed in a traffic accident in London: he stepped onto the lane without seeing an approaching bus. But apart from these coincidences, there are also various very media-effective stories in circulation about two episodes from the life of the horse itself.
Moifaa the castaway?
The report of a shipwreck that Moifaa is said to have survived is spectacular: it was supposed to be transported from New Zealand to England in 1904; However, the ship is said to have sunk in a storm off Cape Town . The then eight-year-old horse had - according to some evidence - rescued itself on an uninhabited island about 160 km away, on which it remained for two weeks until it was found and picked up, and shortly afterwards won the Grand National obstacle race .
In this version, the alleged adventure of the horse is represented in the Lexicon of Famous Animals by Karen Duve and Thies Völker. It will also be reported on an animated presentation for children on kids. britica.com.
In reality, however, the sea voyage for Moifaa was probably less spectacular, because according to other accounts - according to some sources at the same time - two ships were on their way from New Zealand to England transporting horses. Moifaa and other horses named Toriki, Opea and Norton are said to have been on one vehicle, the Thermopylae and two others named Chesney and Kiora on the other . Moifaa is said to have come to England unscathed; but the Thermopylae , on which Chesney and Kiora were, actually stranded in September 1899. Sources that state January 25, 1901 or January 12, 1901 as the date of the accident, at least cannot refer to the stranding of the Thermopylae . The horses on board the Thermopylae were able to save themselves; Kiora started against Moifaa in the Grand National in 1904.
Role in the funeral of the king?
The often rumored claim that Moifaa was the favorite horse of the king when he was buried in 1910 and brought with an empty saddle behind the coffin is questionable. The more likely version is that Moifaa was ridden by Colonel Brocklehurst, later Lord Ranksborough, and that another horse was wearing the empty saddle: pictures of the king's funeral show a dark horse with only small markings on its face. However, a photograph from July 26, 1901 by Louis John Daroux proves that Moifaa had a long, irregular blaze by which it would have been easy to recognize.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Moifaa: Tall Tale Winner of the Grand National , at www.horse-canada.com
- ↑ The figures give z. B. here ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. something off. In addition, under the photograph that LJ Daroux took in 1901, it can be read that it was not Ellingham but D. Watt who rode the horse in the races.
- ↑ Information on sporthorse-data.com ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Presentation on horse-adventures.com
- ^ Report in the New York Times
- ↑ Newspaper report on Moifaa's breathing problems from 1906
- ↑ a b illustration on horseracingphoto.co.uk
- ^ Seachange has some hard acts to follow on stuff.co.nz
- ↑ Information on the shipwreck on lookandlearn.com ; in other sources a far shorter distance the horse had to swim is given.
- ^ Karen Duve, Thies Völker, Lexicon of Famous Animals. From Alf and Donald Duck to Pooh the Bear and Leda's Swan , Munich (Piper) 1999, ISBN 3-492-22684-1 , p. 493 f.
- ^ List of participants in the Grand National 1904
- ↑ Animation on kids. britica.com ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( Flash ; 482 kB)
- ↑ a b Presentation on grand-national.net ( memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ This is proven by numerous newspaper reports, such as this from October 19, 1899 .
- ↑ Moifaa as the king's favorite horse on tbheritage.com
- ↑ This seems to be confirmed according to this source .
- ↑ Presentation on thefreelibrary.com
- ↑ Photo of the funeral on dailymail.co.uk
- ^ Moifaa portrait by L. Deroux from 1901
