Racing Career
Sea Pigeon's won once as a two-year-old in October 1972, when he was ridden to victory by Lester Piggott in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes at Ascot. In early 1973 he was considered a serious contender for the Classics but failed to live up to expectations. He ran in the 1973 Epsom Derby, but only finished seventh behind Morston. By the end of 1973, Sea Pigeon's indifferent form led to him being thought "ungenuine, highly-strung and difficult to handle." He was subsequently gelded and was sold for £8,000 to Pat Muldoon who sent the horse to the National Hunt trainer Gordon W. Richards.
After showing modest form on the flat in 1974, he was switched to hurdles. In his first two seasons as a hurdler, Sea Pigeon showed steadily improving form, winning several races and finishing placed behind notable hurdlers including Lanzarote and Birds Nest. In late 1976, after a defeat at Kempton, Sea Pigeon joined Peter (M.H.) Easterby's stable at Habton Grange near Malton, North Yorkshire. In the second half of the 1976-7 National Hunt season, he became a top class performer in hurdle races, finishing fourth to his stable companion Night Nurse in the Champion Hurdle and winning the Scottish Champion Hurdle at Ayr.
His flat career also started to blossom with a succession of wins in top handicaps - he won the Chester Cup in 1977 and 1978, and the Ebor Handicap carrying 10 stone, which is still a record, in 1979. Sea Pigeon was ridden to his Ebor win by his regular hurdles partner Jonjo O'Neill – unfortunately due to the long ITV strike of that year, only those who were present at York that day saw it.
He missed the early part of the 1977/1978 jumps season after being injured in the Colonial Cup but returned in spring to finish runner-up to Monksfield in the Champion Hurdle. He won a second Scottish Champion Hurdle, taking advantage of the fatal fall of Golden Cygnet at the final flight. In the following season, his best performances came when beating Birds Nest in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and finishing second again to Monksfield in the Champion Hurdle. Sea Pigeon suffered from injury problems in the autumn of 1979 but returned to form in spring 1980. He won the Champion Hurdle at his fourth attempt beating Monksfield by seven lengths. Before the end of the season he added a victory in the Welsh Champion Hurdle. A year later he won a second Fighting Fifth Hurdle and a second Champion Hurdle in March, becoming the oldest ever winner of the race. In the Champion Hurdle the performance of his jockey John Francome, who replaced the injured O'Neill, has been described as one of the best in Cheltenham history.
Having contracted a virus, shortly before the 1981 Aintree Festival, he never recovered fully, and ran poorly in two races in the autumn of 1981. He was retired just before the 1982 Cheltenham Festival. He had won 21 races from 40 starts over jumps and 16 races from 45 starts on the flat.
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