You could convincingly argue that Ireland's biggest sports star of the 1960s wasn't John Giles or Eddie Keher or Chrtisy O'Connor, Sr - he wasn't even a human athlete. Arkle, steered by his loyal rider Pat Taaffe, held the affections of the Irish sporting public like nobody else in the middle of the country's first full decade of televised action.
A favourite of National Hunt racing fans to this day, the Co Meath-bred chaser won the Cheltenham Gold Cup three years on the trot between 1964 and 1966, an Irish Grand National in 1964 and pretty much everything else worth winning, except for the Aintree Grand National.
Cheltenham week or not, I'm not a horse racing follower, but I'm as much of a sporting romantic as the next punter. With top-class contributors - including Ted Walsh, Brough Scott, Eamon Dunphy and the delightful Peter O'Sullevan, now 96 - not to mention gorgeous footage, "Arkle: The Legend Lives On" will definitely have my full attention when it airs later this week.
Arkle: The Legend Lives On: TG4, Wednesday, 9:30pm; Channel 4, Thursday 11:00pm.
