| Istabraq by Graham Isom. Graham Isoms beautiful limited edition features Istabraq, one of the greatest horses of the century, on the way to winning the 1999 Smurfit Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham for the second year in succession. As in 1998, Istabraq was ridden by Charlie Swan and was eventually victorious in the biggest race in the National Hunt calendar by just over 3 lengths from a field of fourteen horses which included some of the most formidable names of the 1990s. From left to right, the horses prominently featured are: City Hall, ridden by Robert Thormon; Tiutchev, ridden by Mick Fitzgerald; Mister Morose, ridden by Carl Llewellyn; Bellator, ridden by Norman Williamson; Istabraq, ridden by Charlie Swan and French Holly, ridden by Andrew Thornton. Trained by Aidan OBrien and owned by the great Irish gambler JP McManus, Istabraq revelled in the bright and sunny conditions and on the good to soft ground. His success is a tribute to the work of the young colleague of JP McManus. John Durkan. who selected the horse on the grounds of his great promise but who died tragically frorn leukaemia before Istabraqs greatest triumphs. In his memory, the John Durkan Memorial Fund was founded by a number of his friends in the racing world to raise money to establish a leukaemia research body in Dublin called The Institute of Molecular Medicine. Istabraq, in Arabic, means to run like lightning. Signed limited edition of 500 prints. Image size 23.5 x 15.5 inches (60cm x 40cm). Price £130.00 ITEM CODE LIM0472 |
