Garrison Savannah (horse)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Garrison Savannah (1983-2005) was a famous racehorse, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1991 by a short-head from The Fellow with Desert Orchid back in third place. In the same year, he came second in the Aintree Grand National. He won the previous year's Royal & SunAlliance Chase. He had only one race between his two Cheltenham Festival wins. In that race he came second to Celtic Shot in the Tommy Whittle Chase.

His Gold Cup win is rather unusual in that he beat two former champions in Desert Orchid (third) and Norton's Coin (fell) and two future champions in The Fellow (second) and Cool Ground (fourth). Also in the race were a former Champion Hurdle winner Celtic Shot (seventh) and a future Grand National winner Party Politics (pulled up).

He was trained by famous lady racehorse trainer Jenny Pitman, in Lambourn, Berkshire, England and ridden by her son Mark.

His victory in the Gold Cup was accompanied by an upsurge in interest in acupuncture, as his trainer revealed that he had been treated with acupuncture for a stubborn lameness.

[edit] References

• Jenny Pitman: The Autobiography, London: Partridge Press, 1998, First Edition