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A famous chase

Kauto Star is perhaps the King George VI Chase's biggest star © Getty Images

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Southern Hero was the first winner of which famous horse race, in 1937? asked Matt Kingsley

The 1937 is a slight clue, since that was the first full year of the reign of the new King - George VI, the current Queen's father.

And the race in question is the King George VI Chase, the showpiece three-mile event which is now usually run at Kempton Park on Boxing Day (that tradition started in 1947, when the race resumed after the war).

Southern Hero, ridden by Jack Fawcus, won that first race in February 1937; he finished ahead of Royal Mail, who subsequently won the Grand National a couple of months later.

Southern Hero was 12 years old, and remains the oldest horse to win the King George: Desert Orchid (his fourth win in 1990), Edredon Bleu (2003) and Kauto Star (his fifth win in 2011) have won it since at the age of 11.

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