Success in equestrian businesses requires encyclopaedic knowledge of horse breeding, training and racing, as well as a deep compassion for horses, an eye for talent and the right horse box trailer to suit their needs.
The latter is important for all horse-related businesses but is especially critical for horse racing, where every component of preparation could give a particular racer the edge over the other runners and riders.
It is rare for a horse to win a race, let alone go undefeated the same way Eclipse did. However, what is perhaps even rarer is for a racehorse to continue to pursue that maiden win for months, years, even decades in some cases.
However, whilst many horses are judged by their record on the course, there are plenty of other ways to succeed that do not necessarily require a horse to win. In fact, it is possible for a horse to be successful without consistently placing.
Whilst the Japanese racehorse Haru Urara is perhaps one of the most famous maiden horses, she is far from the only one. In fact, one Japanese horse has lost twice as many races as her.
Who Is The Maiden of Maidens?
A maiden horse is simply a horse that has not won a race and typically competes in maiden races with other non-winners.
Typically, the career of a maiden is relatively short; great horses step down from the ramp of the trailer, demolish the competition and graduate before they step back into the trailer. Horses that do not have the potential to win tend to be retired fairly quickly. Not every horse needs to be a champion.
However, there are some horses that are good enough to win a race but are not lucky enough to, and these serial losers and long-running maidens lose for so long that they become a rarer breed than a lot of consistent winners, and can sometimes end up becoming folk heroes.
Haru Urara was credited for saving Japanese horse racing following the Lost Decade, even though she famously did not win a race until she was 18 years old, a race that did not even count on her official records.
However, whilst she was a famously lovable loser who came awfully close, the true maiden of maidens is the far more obscure Dance Saber, who lost a total of 229 races between 2013 and 2021, an average of well over 20 losses a year with just three runner-up places.
This sheer number of races is typically explained by the regional nature of Japanese horse racing. As the Japanese racing scene is relatively smaller than Australia, the United States or the United Kingdom, there are some local horses who have the opportunity to keep trying again and again before finally retiring.
Alongside Dance Saber, there was Namino Hana (198 starts without a win), Meine Attrice (192 starts), Speed Over (189 starts), Kammuri Holder (179 starts), Osan Tsuyoshi (164 starts) and
Hakuho Queen (161 starts), all of which are Japanese horses who would regularly compete, show promise but ultimately fail to get that first win.
However, whilst Japan has perhaps the most prolific maiden horses in terms of starts, one of the first horses to get the same level of mystique was originally bred in Yorkshire.
Who Was Britain’s Lovable Loser?
Named rather ironically after the speedy footballer Albert Quixall, Quixall Crossett is typically considered to be the single worst racehorse in British history, with a total of 103 starts without a single win.
This was briefly no longer the case when the Irish horse Celerity reached 105 starts without a win, only to finally graduate with her maiden win on the 106th time of asking.
Quixall Crossart rarely even seemed to come close, with his two second-place finishes still multiple lengths behind the winner.
Whilst described rather cruelly as lacking any racing ability, Quixall was a very good jumper and a safe horse to ride, even if his running speed left a lot to be desired.
What made Quixall Crossett a success was far beyond the track. He was treated as much as a pet and a therapy animal as a serious racehorse, and his sheer joy at racing was infectious.
He also had a fan club, run by assistant trainer Geoff Sanderson, who also remarked that the horse often did not realise he had lost, given the crowd’s cheers.
According to Geoff Sanderson in a 2001 BBC Article, Quixall Crossett has covered his costs through prize money, and he continued to race up until injuries started to sap his joy of racing in 2001.
To this day, Quixall Crossett is often mentioned when it comes to alternative ways to be successful as a racehorse, even if you do not win. Try your hardest and live for the joy of life.