The start
This article was written by Twanny Bugeja at the time.
Isard du Pont ... star of the eighties, that’s how I thought I should name this article through which we shall follow together how in season 82 -83, this marvel of a horse managed to win no less than 13 races ... a feat which in the times we are living in, is somewhat difficult if not also impossible to win so many races in one season.
This success was achieved due to the great form that this idol was passing through at the time, when we can say that he managed to recruit as his followers thousands of people from every corner of our island, always driven by the same driver ... the expert Ray Clifton.
This success saw its start precisely on the 13th November 1982 when Isard du Pont had taken part in an autostart race in class B. The full field of horses that had taken part in that race were: Hautain de Vaux, Holiday, Herve de Mai, Fust, Hotesse de Lorgere, Isard du Pont, El Cordoba, Gaguer and Gars de Parigny. At the time Isard du Pont was coming from a long period of below-par performances and thus did not start as one of the favourites in that race, although at the time it had started showing some progress during training.
Here the distance was of 1600 metres, and we saw Isard taking the lead early on and showing immediately that on that occasion the chances that anyone could keep up with it were meagre. And so it was because Isard du Pont managed to win in a time of 2’12, an average of 1’22’4 per kilometre, which was no great time. Hautain de Vaux was runner-up with Herve de Mai managing to place third on that day.
At the time many were of the view that this first seasonal success for this horse that season was a normal one, where virtually every horse has some success but then stops there. In fact many remained of this view, when on the 28th November 1982, Isard du Pont or the “small one” as it is known, had participated in an autostart class A race on a 2200 metre distance.
Here Isard had raced with number 9 and we can say that it did not do that well. On that day the race had been won by Dicav, in front of Espadon.
When another race meeting was held on the 12th December 1982 this horse’s name, which until then was still a normal one, once again did not appear on the race card, and this could have been interpreted that the horse was not in good health, but its owners had other thoughts because the best was yet to come.
