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Mizzenhead was an impressive stamp of a horse, but beneath his good looks he concealed a spectacular array of faults. It was something I'd seen so many times before and I knew exactly what to do.
Mizzenhead made his debut over hurdles at Stockton in January 1980 where he gave a suggestion of ability by finishing 6th of 16 runners but he didn't see the two miles out properly. I decided to drop him back in trip on the flat and found a little race, again at Stockton, where he came in fifth. A few weeks later he showed a great deal of improvement and finished runner up at Hamilton Park under my marvellous stable jockey Terry Lucas. He was second favourite that day but was outpointed by a 29/1 outsider trained by Gordon Richards.
I knew that Mizzenhead had a race in him if we could find the right conditions. I gave him half a dozen entries in the space of about ten days in an attempt to find a bad race in bad ground. He was much fitter now and I really fancied him over hurdles and the 3.30 Charnwood Handicap Hurdle at Leicester was the best chance that this six-year-old maiden would ever have to win. It was a dire contest over two miles worth just £700.
We backed him from 7/2 into 2/1 and he landed the odds, winning eased down by eight lengths under Phil Tuck. It turned out that the horse wasn't as bad as we'd thought and he won again the following month at Hexham, this time at odds-on. Mizzenhead's win completed the second leg of a double as Bally-Go had won the first division of the race an hour previous. It was my 50th birthday that day and we did come celebrating!
Mizzenhead won for the third time a few weeks later on the flat at Beverley with Terry in the saddle, taking a very poor twelve furlong maiden race by a neck after slogging up the hill in tacky ground. He was favourite that day but it would be our final pay day and he wouldn't trouble the judge again.
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