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From Pistol Pete to Youcannotbeserious - horses with Wimbledon connections

Last Updated: Tue 5 Dec 2023

Racing fans who enjoy their tennis will be in paradise for the next fortnight with Wimbledon getting under way. Here are ten horses who were named with events at SW19 in mind.

By Andy Stephens

WIMBLEDON

Several thoroughbreds have carried the name of the tournament without being aces.

Perhaps the best known in recent years has been the Dermot Weld-trained version, who won four of his 34 races.

He made his debut four days after the 1999 tournament concluded with wins for Pete Sampras and Lindsay Davenport. By accident or design - surely it was the latter - he ran each time Wimbledon was staged during the next three years and twice finished a close third in competitive handicaps.

Wimbledon won three races on the Flat, each time ridden by Pat Smullen, and also won over hurdles.

YOUCANNOTBESERIOUS

It was one of the most celebrated sporting outbursts. John McEnroe was playing Tom Gullikson at Wimbledon in 1981 when he was unhappy with a decision made by umpire Edward James.

“You can’t be serious,” he said, then after a bit more reflection, a much louder and angrier “You Cannot Be Serious!”. James was serious and, unhappy at McEnroe’s verbal volley, docked him a point.

Hopefully, the equine Youcannotbeserious will be less prone to such temper tantrums

The five-year-old, a Presenting gelding owned by JP McManus, is in training with Enda Bolger and has run with credit in five maiden hurdles without getting his head in front.

On his latest start he was equipped with a tongue strap. Many umpires would have been grateful for such equipment when dealing with McEnroe.

Incidentally, the name Youcannotbeserious takes up the maximum 18 characters allowed when naming a horse.

CODE VIOLATION

Let’s face it, we all like to see players occasionally throw their toys out of the pram and being punished.

Arguing with umpires, smashing rackets, swearing - sometimes a combination of all three - can lead to those two joyous words: Code Violation.

Unfortunately, the equine Code Violation, a grey mare trained by Jean-Rene Auvray, never came close to troubling the judge in six starts.

(Watch what happened when tennis stars Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki went racing at Newbury)

ILIE NASTASE

The Romanian, 71 this month, was one of the world's top players of the 1970s and is one of only five in the history of the sport who have won more than 100 ATP professional titles (58 singles and 45 in doubles).

In 1973, when ranked No1 in the world, he became the first male player to win the French Open without dropping a set.

The equine Ile Nastase never threatened to rise to the very top but he featured plenty of times between 2006 and 2011, when winning six of his 67 races (for various trainers) and winning almost £80,000 in prize money.

One of those victories came during Wimbledon 2007. In 2011, he also ran when Wimbledon was being staged and finished third. The winner? Fault. You can imagine plenty of Exacta bets were lost that day.

PISTOL PETE

There have been several horses christened Pistol Pete, which was the nickname of seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras.

Pistol Pete, so named because of his precise serving, was ranked No 1 between 1993 and 1998. During that time, an equine Pistol Pete was bred in South Africa.

He won on his debut and on his third start but, from then on, ran out of ammunition. At least he fared better than the versions of Pistol Pete bred in Argentina and New Zealand. Neither of that pair managed a win.

ACE

Smart performer between 2004 and 2007 trained in the first instance by Aidan O’Brien.

Unraced at two, he won his first three races as a three-year-old (by aggregate of more than 12 lengths) and subsequently ran well in several Group One contests.

He was placed at the highest level three times, including when second to Azamour in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes when it was run at York in 2005.

The highest speed of Ace was never recorded, but you would imagine it was somewhere near 45mph.

Samuel Groth, of Australia, achieved a world record fastest serve of 163.7 mph at the Busan Open 2012 Challenger.

DOUBLE FAULT

Tennis is not all about aces. At the other end of the scale, there are double faults.

Christening a horse Double Fault is inviting frustration and the horse certainly lived up to her name on and off the track.

During her 25-race career between 1999 and 2001, Double Fault never managed a success on the Flat or over hurdles. Rated 59 at one time, she had slipped to 30 by the time her connections decided on a second vocation for her as a broodmare.

She produced two foals who made the racetrack but, perhaps inevitably, neither of them managed a win.

GAME SET AND MATCH

The gelding was around between 1987 and 1992, with his biggest claim to fame being that he once ran in a race won by Henman Hill. Henman Hill? Strike that, I meant Carvill’s Hill.

Game Set And Match got to within 27 lengths of Carvill’s Hill that day and later that year won a 2m contest at Laytown when ridden by Tony Martin.

Martin has gone on to be an extremely successful trainer but Game Set And Match never hit the heights again.

HENMAN

On the subject of Henman Hill, no horse has been given that moniker.

Perhaps that is wise because the exploits of Henman, trained by Henry De Bromhead in 2007 and 2008, were extremely underwhelming.

He was pulled up in his first two races and things did not get much better in seven subsequent starts.

Henman never did win. Then again, when it came to Wimbledon, neither did Tim, who played in four semi-finals without reaching the decider.

FOOT FAULT

Is it my imagination, or do we hear less of these than in days of old?

Regardless, it would come as no surprise if the horse that carried this name failed to ring any bells.

After making little impact for Mick Channon in two starts in 2003, she was switched to Neville Callaghan and ran six more times without losing her maiden tag. She had the distinction of finishing fourth on four occasions.

Best of the rest

Serve And Volley, sired by Swiss Ace, proved a smash when winning a 6f handicap at Canterbury Park in Australia last summer.

She also ran well on her latest start, in September of 2016, but has not been sighted since.

Deuce was a consistent mare for Lawney Hill but only won once - a 2m handicap under Robert Winston at Nottingham in the summer of 2009. She was runner-up on four occasions.

Tennis Cap was a smart hurdler/chaser for Willie Mullins who has won seven races and almost £100,000 in prize money.

His best effort came in defeat at the Cheltenham Festival, in 2013, when runner-up to Ted Veale in the County Hurdle.