Earth Summit (horse)
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Earth Summit Earth Summit was foaled in 1988, a son of Celtic Cone who was a winning stayer on the flat and over hurdles. Celtic Cone loved soft ground, as did all of his progeny. Earth Summit was bought by a six-man partnership in 1992 and began his racing career as a four year-old, finishing second in a bumper (a National Hunt flat race) at Cheltenham.
As the horse developed it became clear that, like his father, he appreciated long distances. He ran with an economy of movement, like a marathon runner, and jumped fences with skill and timing. In a thirty seven-race career that spanned twelve years, Earth Summit fell only once, when in the lead, jumping the second last fence at Cheltenham in 1995.
Twelve months earlier, as a novice, he had won the Scottish National over four miles one furlong at Ayr. In February 1996, Earth Summit suffered a near fatal injury at Haydock and it seemed likely he would never race again. Twenty-one months later, the gelding returned to the track, again at Haydock, and came through unscathed.
On 27th December 1997, barely seven weeks after his comeback race, Earth Summit won the Welsh National at Chepstow, returning odds of 25 to 1.
At Aintree on April 4th 1998, Earth Summit jumped his way into the history books, when, having shared the lead with Suny Bay for the last third of the Martell Grand National, he pulled clear before the second last, running on to win the biggest horse race in the world by eleven lengths. No horse in history, including Red Rum, has ever won the Aintree Grand National and the Scottish and Welsh equivalents.
After suffering a minor injury, Earth Summit was retired in 2000 and given to his lass, Marcella Baylis. He won ten races and £420,000 in prize money.
[edit] 23rd March 2005
Earth Summit, the 1998 Grand National winner and still the only chaser ever to have completed the National Treble, the Scottish and Welsh Nationals and the Aintree Grand National, was put down today having being diagnosed with cancer.
A comparatively young 17, Earth Summit started to lose condition about two weeks ago and following scans was discovered to have cancer in both his liver and spleen. He was painlessly put to sleep to avoid any suffering.
Nigel Payne on behalf of The Summit Partnership which owned the brave gelding said: "Since his retirement in 2000, Earth Summit has had a wonderful life, being stabled by Marcella Bayliss who had looked after him since he joined the Nigel Twiston-Davies yard in 1992. He, and the many that rode him, had some wonderful days hunting and he made many public appearances including The Parade of Champions at Aintree on Grand National day where he had been scheduled to go next month."
Continued Payne: " On behalf of our partnership I would like to pass on our deepest gratitude to Peter Scudamore, who acquired Earth Summit for us, to Marcella Bayliss for her undying affection and care for him, for our main jockeys, David Bridgewater, Tom Jenks and Carl Llewellyn, and most importantly to Nigel Twiston-Davies who trained him so brilliantly and caringly and who brought him back from a career threatening injury at Haydock to win both the Welsh National and Grand National some 16 months after the injury.
As to Earth Summit himself, no six individuals could have dreamt of owning such a beautiful brave animal. His courage was unbelievable and he rewarded us with nine wins and amassed close to £400,000 in prize money. Apart from his three Nationals, his other wins, all on Grade One Tracks, included a Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock and a Steel Plate and Sections Final at Cheltenham. We will miss him greatly but have the comfort of knowing that he had a great life doing what he loved."
