Weight
Marinera@aol.com
Tue, 15 Oct 1996 17:34:33 -0400
A letter recently stated that the writer believes 100 mile races will
"probably always be won by Arabs ridden by featherweight riders" . The ride
with the longest history, the Tevis Cup, disproves this. Nick Mansfield, Bud
Dardi( twice). Pat Fitzgerald, Sam Arnold, Boyd Zontelli (three times) and
Chris Knoch (twice) all weighed in at over 200 pounds. For a 25 year period
from 1965 thru 1994 (records are missing for 5 years from 1987thru 1991) the
average weight of Tevis Cup winners was 184 pounds. A determined heavy
weight who does his homework and has the good fortune to have found a good
horse, can overcome the weight handicap. I do agree with the writer that arab
blood is a huge plus.