Fighting knife the Kukri, a broad-bladed, curved general-purpose cutting tool and weapon with Indian origins. In other countries the machete or Filipino Bolo were often used as fighting knives by indigenous military or paramilitary forces. Colonial powers that encountered these general-purpose weapons used as fighting knives during a military campaign occasionally adopted them in turn for use by their own military forces, as exemplified by the U.S. Army's Model 1910/17 "Bolo" brush-clearing knife, which would be later pressed into service as a fighting knife in both World Wars. In World War I, military use of the fighting knife saw the introduction of
The Gurkha April. Ridden by Seamie Heffernan he started at odds of 7/2 and finished third of the sixteen runners behind his stablemate Claudio Monteverdi. In a similar event at Navan Racecourse eleven days later he was partnered by Ryan Moore and started 11/8 second favourite behind the Dermot Weld-trained Aasheq. The Gurkha disputed the lead from the start before drawing away from his fifteen rivals in the last quarter mile to win "easily" by nine lengths. On 15 May The Gurkha was moved up sharply in class when he was sent to France for the Group One Poule d'Essai des Poulains