Arkle (19 April 1957 - 31 May 1970) was a famous Irish race horse. A bay gelding by Archive out of Bright Cherry, Arkle was bred by Mary Baker at Ballymacoll stud near Naul, County Dublin. April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 31 is the 151st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (152nd in leap years), with 214 days remaining, as the last day of May. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Dublin (Irish Áth Cliath) is the area that contains the City of Dublin, the capital and largest city of the Republic of Ireland; and the counties of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. ...

Owned by Anne Duchess of Westminster,trained by Tom Dreaper in Ireland and ridden by Pat Taafe, Arkle became the first racehorse in Britain to capture public attention outside racing circles. His legendary battles with English trained champion Mill House dominated the steeplechasing scene between 1963 and 1966. Besides winning three consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cups (1964,5,6) Arkle triumphed in a number of important handicap chases including the 1964 Hennessy Gold Cup, the 1965 Gallagher Gold Cup and the 1966 Massey Ferguson Gold Cup. So great was his dominance that the handicap system had to be extended to accommodate him. Often he would race under 12 stone 7 pounds whilst the nearest handicapped horse was given only 10 stone and others raced off 9 stone 7 pounds. Yet he still won more often than not. In December 1966 Arkle raced in the King George VI Chase at Kempton but damaged a fetlock in the back straight and finished second with a terrible injury. All attempts to repair it failed and the horse was sadly retired. 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1965 was a common year starting on Friday (link goes to calendar). ...

Often credited as The greatest steeplechaser of all time, the main rival to the claim being Golden Miller who won the Gold Cup five times in the 1930s as well as the Grand National. The race horse Golden Miller is the only horse to have won both of the United Kingdoms premier steeplechase races, the Grand National and Cheltenham Gold Cup, in the same year (1934). ... // Events and trends The 1930s were spent struggling for a solution to the global depression. ... The Grand National is the premier horse race over fences in the United Kingdom. ...

Arkle became a national legend in Ireland, his strength was laughingly claimed to come from drinking Guinness twice a day. At one point the slogan Arkle for President was written on a wall in Dublin. Today promising young Irish jump horses are often compared as 'the next Arkle'. See also Guinness Book of Records. ...