Which horse beat Arkle in the 1966 King George VI Chase?

Owned by Anne Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster, trained by Tom Dreaper at Greenogue in Kilsallaghan, Co. Dublin and ridden, throughout his career, by Pat Taaffe, Arkle was inarguably the greatest steeplechaser in living memory. He is best remembered for winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup three years running, in 1964, 1965 and 1966, but all told won 27 of his 34 races and 22 of his 26 starts over fences. His Timeform Annual Rating of 212 remains the highest ever awarded to steeplechaser.

Arkle won the King George VI Chase in 1965, beating Dormant, trained by John Wells-Kendrew, by a distance and beat the same horse by 30 lengths, at odds of 1/10, in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1966. Consequently, when the pair re-opposed in the King George VI Chase, despite Arkle carrying 12st 7lb and conceding 21lb to Dormant, who was saddled with just 11st, he was sent off at prohibitive odds of 2/9, with his old rival 10/1 third favourite in a field of seven. According to his jockey, Jeff King, the connections of Dormant “were just hoping he’d run a decent race as third favourite.”

The complexion of the race changed when second favourite Woodland Venture parted company with jockey Terry Biddlecombe at the penultimate fence. Arkle cleared the final fence with a ten-length lead, but faltered soon afterwards and, as his stride shortened, King conjured a renewed effort from Dormant, who led close home to win by a length. Arkle was subsequently found to have fractured a pedal bone, an injury that effectively ended his career.