A son of the great Sea Bird II, Sea Pigeon was bred to win a Derby. In fact, trained by Jeremy Tree, he finished seventh to Morston in the Epsom Classic in 1973. He was also fourth in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot. Sea Pigeon, the dual Champion Hurdler and Chester Cup winner, died on Tuesday at the age of 30. Sea Pigeon was one of the greatest hurdlers in the post-war era He was also a high-class handicapper on the Flat. A son of the great Sea Bird II, Sea Pigeon was bred to win a Derby.

In fact, trained by Jeremy Tree, he finished seventh to Morston in the Epsom Classic in 1973. He was also fourth in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Sea Pigeon was purchased by Pat Muldoon, an Edinburgh wine and spirit merchant, and was initially sent into training with Gordon Richards before joining Peter Easterby. During the next five years, he developed into a top-class performer, winning 21 of his 40 races over jumps, and a career total of 16 of 45 starts on the Flat.A difficult horse, who had to be covered up and produced at the last possible moment and needed fast ground, Sea Pigeon won two Scottish Champion Hurdles (1977-78) but seemed to be destined never to win the Champion itself. Although he stayed two and a quarter miles on the Flat – he won two Chester Cups, and an Ebor Handicap when he put up an astonishing performance to beat Donegal Prince (who was receiving 35lb) by a short head – Sea Pigeon appeared not to stay the two miles and 200 yards of the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, especially in the mud.However, in 1980, the course and distance of the race was shortened to two miles and, at the age of 10, Sea Pigeon won the Champion Hurdle, inspiring one of Peter O’Sullevan’s many legendary race commentaries.

“It’s the old man Sea Pigeon, he’s won it at last,” O’Sullevan exclaimed as Sea Pigeon avenged his previous year’s defeat by Monksfield.The following year, ridden by John Francome with a confidence that transgressed the border on to arrogance, Sea Pigeon cantered past his rivals in the last 50 yards to record an effortless victory.. By this time next week Andrew Flintoff will be back in Lancashire watching the rain. The whole country would rather he was in Pakistan sweating buckets Most mothers-in-law would doubtless accompany him gladly. By this time next week Andrew Flintoff will be back in Lancashire watching the rain. The whole country would rather he was in Pakistan sweating buckets. Most mothers-in-law would doubtless accompany him gladly.
Everybody now wants to see the man popularly known as Freddie doing what he does best, which is hitting a cricket ball extremely hard an extremely long way.Flintoff and the rest of the England squad arrived in Lahore yesterday on a morning flight from Karachi, where the night before they had won a famous one-day victory.

It was a team effort par excellence, but more than anything it was Flintoff’s destructive hitting allied to a calm orthodoxy which took them to within sight of the 305 they needed to win the opening match of the series. “My whole aim was just to play straight, not to play big shots, just push the score along,” he said yesterday, having had a few hours to dwell on his highest score for England.”I’m not really aware of how it’s gone down at home. I rang the missus when I got back to the hotel and there were a few messages flashing on the phone but I don’t know how to retrieve them.”His innings of 84 from 60 balls would have been breathtaking in any circumstances. Given that the temperature was bordering on 100F (which actually made the process of taking breath difficult enough in itself), 35,000 fervent Pakistanis were urging their boys to win in a swirl of constant noise, and England had never successfully pursued such a target before, it is understandable that it captured the attention of a nation.The nation will have to wait, however, for more of Flintoff. His back condition, which prevents him from bowling, means that he will leave the squad after the remaining two one-dayers and miss the Test series. There was no re-think yesterday, England’s coach Duncan Fletcher confirmed.