General Wolfe

General Wolfe is one of my favourite staying chasers, and I have been lucky to be at Haydock Park to witness his brave back to back victories in the Peter Marsh Chase in 1998 and 1999.

In January 1998 General Wolfe produced a solid staying effort to land the Grade 2 Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock Park, defeating Strath Royal by three lengths. Trainer Tim Forster said: "I`m not a betting man, but if I had been I would have £1 on him today - he`d never been so well in his life before. He does not stand a lot of racing and needs to be fresh, and I suppose his owners will think of the Grand National. But he wants soft ground - they were always going too fast for him when he ran in it last season."

Following the retirement of Tim Forster, General Wolfe was moved to Venetia Williams` stable near Hereford. In January 1999, at a bitterly cold Haydock Park, General Wolfe joined the growing list of chasers touched by the Venetia Williams magic when defying a year-long absence to gallop race- fit rivals into the ground in the Peter Marsh Chase for the second consecutive year.

"With Venetia training your horses anything is possible," said Stephen Winstanley, the driving force behind The Winning Line, General Wolfe`s owner.

The mud-loving 10-year-old promptly leapt to the head of the Martell Grand National betting-alongside another Willilams star, King George hero Teeton Mill.

Winstanley had encouraged a major ante-post gamble on General Wolfe for last year`s National only to be thwarted when the chestnut, then trained by Tim Forster, developed tendon trouble.

Once a chancy jumper, General Wolfe attacked Haydock`s big fences with relish under Norman Williamson and took the race by the scruff of the neck as he surged for home three out. An awkward leap at the last helped Simply Dashing and Random Harvest close, but General Wolfe had plenty in reserve and galloped on powerfully to score by four lengths.

After his Peter Marsh sucess General Wolfe tackled the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter. the chesnut was headed three out before falling at the last. Thankfully the General was not injured and was back on the course at Haydock in February to tackle the Greenalls Grand National trial. He could manage only sixth, beaten 29 lengths behind Young Kenny.

His next run was in the Martell Grand National where he could not recapture his Haydock form and finished a tailed off 12th after a mistake at Bechers the second time round, despite early headway.

However, on 4th November 1999 it was announced that the General had run his last race. The Venetia Williams-trained 10-year-old, has been retired after suffering a setback which would have ruled him out of the 1999/2000 campaign. He raced in the colours of tipping service The Winning Line, whose spokesman said: "Venetia Williams informed us earlier in the week that the General has a slightly inflamed tendon and would probably need to miss this season.

"Bearing in mind his age and current handicap mark we felt that in the best interests of the horse he should be retired, particularly as one of our shareholders is keen to give him a very good home at his farm in Cholmondley, Cheshire."

General Wolfe was bought privately by The Winning Line during the 1994/5 season, when trained by the late Tim Forster, and finished second in the Scottish Grand National at Ayr in 1996. He won a total of four races at Haydock but had less luck at nearby Aintree.

The gelding was well beaten in the Martell Grand National in 1997 and 1999 and missed the race due to a tendon injury in 1998 - when the subject of a major ante-post gamble inspired by his owners.

Back from retirement

In February 2001 General Wolfe returned from retirement! Mark Gichero for General Wolfe`s owners The Winning Line said: "The horse was retired after his last race. We felt he was badly handicapped and not qualified for hunter chases and he picked up an injury which made our minds up.

"But he didn`t like being retired so we brought him back into training with Venetia Williams in October and the horse has thrived." General Wolfe ran his first race in the Agfa Diamond Chase at Sandown and shouldered top weight of 12 stone. After leading for most of the way, he finished second and ran a superb race. After an absence of 651 days, he will surely improve and looks likely to add more wins to his already impressive tally.