Friday, August 11, 2006

Hold that brahma

I'll be brief. I ought to be brief because of jusitified concerns over the danger of boring (any) readers who chance upon this site; but that doesn't worry me, because my powers of self-criticism aren't well enough developed to make me think of things like that. So I'll be brief because I'm cream crackered. Yesterday was a very tiring day, ending early today after the return journey from the last race at Folkestone's evening meeting. Even if it hadn't been a long day with a lot to worry about, it would still have been a tiring one, because Chilly Cracker could have been renamed Hold That Tiger in the preliminaries as she realised that she hadn't, after all, been retired. But it was also a good day, with all three horses running well. The two most pleasing moments of the day, though, weren't connected to the races. The first involved Mozie Cat, who was supposed to be very hard to load into a horse-box. I decided to take her with us to Folkestone because, so I was told, Chilly Cracker doesn't like to travel alone, and I was really, really pleased when Mozie just walked straight onto the box. They were a sweet pair of fillies all day, but poor Chilly did start having flashbacks of panic when I led her to the pre-parade ring, and thence to the saddling box, and then to the mounting yard. Which brought us to pleasing moment number two. As she was dragging me around the ring, George Baker, who used to ride her quite often for Reg Hollinshead, walked past and said, "She's a lot more relaxed than when I used to ride her". This, too, made me very pleased. So, all things considered, a good day.

Since getting home I have seen replays of our two runners at Yarmouth, and those were good to watch. I also watched the replay of Andrew Hollis' debutant at Yarmouth, Northern Jem, who ran a really nice race and should be a very nice horse. The winner, by Fusaichi Pegasus, put up an impressive performance, but he had already had a run and it showed, whereas Andrew's horse's lack of a previous race was equally obvious. I wouldn't be surprised if Northern Jem turns out the best of the horses from the race.

I have also now seen the 2100m maiden race from yesterday's Haydock card, which was a cracker. Two horses were of particular interest. Most obvious was Mulaazem, the King's Best ex Harayir colt who had looked lovely, but in need of the run, when narrowly beaten by Desert Authority, the pair a mile clear of the rest, at Sandown the day Brief ran there last month. (Thank you Peter, by the way, for filling me in on Desert Authority's maternal grandsire Panoramic; sounds as if that's a name which isn't going to crop up in pedigrees too often. It's a pity one of our more regular bloggers couldn't have come up with that oil, but they seem too preoccupied with details less germane to the general direction of stable- and racing-related web discussion which I'm trying to encourage). Mulaazem was odds-on favourite yesterday and duly won, but only in a three-way photo, which also included a horse which I'd seen putting in an uncooperative show in a stalls session on the Heath a few weeks ago. This was the long-awaited Falpiase, the four-year-old Montjeu half-brother (well, a bit more than half-) to Falbrav whose debut was delayed until yesterday because of his unruly behaviour. He ran a great race to finish third and I think that we'll hear a lot more about him. I'll be surprised if Luca can't guide him to the winner's enclosure for some big races.

So that's three horses to follow from yesterday: Falpiase, Northern Jem and Mulaazem (who retains his position on this blog's horses-to-follow list). On our own list, By Storm, Limit Down and Chilly Cracker have all-reinforced their positions, but then we look on our own animals with rose-tinted spectacles - but even so, Lady Suffragette's position on this list is currently under suspension awaiting further evaluation. She didn't cover herself in glory on Wednesday, but she's only young so we won't sack her just yet.

Just one point I'll throw up in the air. Having mentioned Fusaichi Pegasus, would it be fair to say that he has made a disappointing lack of impression as a stallion so far? Am I being harsh? Or am I just not paying attention to what's going on around me, and failing to notice a regular stream of better-class winners which he's churning out. Does anyone have any views on that? Hold That Tiger doesn't have to be the only stallion under discussion.

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