I'm really enjoying Mark Johnston's book. Sorry, we should say Nick Townsend's book about Mark Johnston, but I think everyone knows what we mean. It's just that we shouldn't fail to give Nick Townsend the credit he deserves for creating such a masterpiece. So inspirational. On a par with Brian Mayfield-Smith's 'The Outsider', except even more so. (If that makes sense). I'd recommend it to anyone, and have already recommended it to several. These include Mark Beecroft, former Squeak Fairhurst apprentice who became a battling senior hoop for a while but who is now one of the HRA (ie Jockey Club re-branded, due to be re-re-branded shortly, I think, just to waste a bit more money) roving stable inspectors, who paid us our annual visit today. That was straightforward, because Mark is a decent guy who seems to appreciate it when one is clearly trying to play things more or less by the book, and who appreciates how smaller yards operate, which obviously isn't on the big corporation style of our supposed betters. Mark is mentioned in the book as riding for Mark Johnston in the very early days (I think the phrase "Stuff Mark Beecroft") appears, and I discovered this morning that he didn't know that. A few minutes of rather amusing banter ensued.
Anyway, I'm really just waffling on to put off discussion of our most recent runner, Lady Suffragette, because I'm not very proud of her performance, or of my role in it. She'd run well at Wolverhampton seven days previously, and I took a bit of a leap into the unknown by backing her up over a significantly longer distance yesterday. She'd only run seven days before that, so this was her third race (over 2200m, 2400m and 3200m) in 15 days, which was quite an ask for an immature little filly who's only just turned four. Backing a horse up so quickly one is guessing a bit how well they'll take the race, and this last time she didn't fare nearly as well as the previous time. Admittedly she did fall victim of the usual AW sting, which happens most frequently at Lingfield but isn't unknown at Wolverhampton, of sitting immediately behind the leader on the rail, and finding when the leader starts to weaken halfway through the final circuit that one can't pull out, so that the whole field streams past on one's outside while one drops back to last on the bridle. I remember Critical Stage once going round Lingfield like that under a motionless Richard Hughes and finishing a promising and unextended second last. Lady Suffragette actually didn't really get going much again once she did get room - she probably didn't make much effort to do so, because she must have realised she was completely out of the race by that time, and she wasn't blowing much at all afterwards - and I think it would be wrong just to say that she didn't get the run of the race. She pulled far too fiercely early on, and basically I think I got things all wrong. I thought she was in the right shape, physically and mentally, to run well in the right race on the right day, but basically I think that just about every part of that was a misconception. At least she's my own horse, so I don't have to apologise to anyone. One learns by one's mistakes, so it's back to square one with her, and hopefully I'll have her better prepared when next she does step out, which won't be in the next few weeks. We've got Carol back now, thank God - it was great to have her helping us to catch up some lost time with a few backs last Tuesday - and step one in Lady Suffragette's rehabilitation will be a good check-over from Carol tomorrow.
Backs aren't the only worry just now, because we have a few horses under the weather. I don't actually mind that if they're the ones who are at the early stages of their preparation, because it doesn't do them any harm to have a cold when they are a few months away for a run, as it just means that they build up a few antibodies which will come in handy later on. So we've had a few coughs and dirty noses (and eyes now that the patients are having potassium iodide added to their feed, which seems to boost the immune system, and whose use is often followed by a weeping eye for a few days) and a couple of temperatures, but nothing to worry about. The only irritating thing is that Mattie Stokes has been one of the victims, and he was one horse who was just entering strong work. But there's no point in not acknowledging illness, and rest is the only cure, so one just has to acknowledge the situation and let nature take its course.
I can't sign off without eulogising about lovely Ashley Brook, whose first up win was the highlight of a great day's televised racing at Cheltenham on Saturday. Full marks to his trainer Kevin Bishop for having him ready to put in such a performance resuming after such a long and injury-induced layoff. Knee injuries are often the hardest to work around, particularly with a stayer, so that was excellent. I really enjoyed watching that. In the book, Mark Johnston, corrrectly, points out how absurd the Greatest Training Performance is, but even so Kevin Bishop's effort there should make it to some sort of list. But as for Problemwalrus nominating Norman Williamson for Greatest Ride for falling off something - dear, oh dear. Still, at least he didn't nominate Sean Fox for falling off the horse (was it called Ice Saint?) at Fontwell.
Speaking of which, we paid Barbara Lockhart-Smith a visit for lunch today over at Frinton, which was a brahmafest in itself. (The connection, in case you are wondering, is that as one enters her house, there's a photo of some steeplechaser she trained winning at Fontwell under Richard Pitman c.1972). It really was brahmae galore, but to describe it properly would take up too much book-reading time, so I'll just say that she's still going strong.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
I've just got back from Lingfield where we had our first runner of the year, Pantomime Prince (of whom more later) and a note of sadness has been added to a rather pleasant day by reading on thoroughbredinternet.com of the death of Brigid Payne at the age of 36. People die every day, and if you don't know them, you don't know them - yes, we know that, and I never met Brigid, but to hear of the death of heart failure of any 36-year-old is sad, particularly when it is a member of a family whom the entire racing community holds in the highest respect and affection, a family which has already suffered its share of heart-ache. Paddy senior had to bury his wife at an early age and raise his family himself - and haven't they all been a credit to him, with no fewer than eight becoming talented and respected jockeys? - and it is so sad to hear that he's now having to bury one of his children. For anyone unfamiliar with the Paynes, I strongly recommend Tony Kneebone's book of that name; I'd be prepared to lend my copy, but I'll definitely want it back.
Which leads me back to my ongoing reminicences of 2006, because one thought which has been haunting me since Emma and I went to the meet (on foot) of the Thurlow Hunt (where the riders included our vet David Dugdale and his wife Clodagh, Richard Perham, and a doctor called Roddy O'Donnell with whom I went to school and with whom I have recently regained contact - we haven't yet met up, but I hope to put that right before too long) on Boxing Day has been the fate of Anthony Gillam. You will probably recall that Anthony, one of the senior stipendiary stewards in the north, had a fall out hunting with, I think, the Middleton early last year which left him in a coma, in which I believe he remains. So very sad. He would be a candidate for the title of the most decent man I know, a true gentleman who is the perfect example of how racecourse stewarding should operate. A former amateur rider and then trainer for a few years - I believe he trained Red Rum briefly, but the only horse I really remember him training was Rambling Artist, who used to run against Red Rum in races such as the Greenall Whitley at Haydock - he is thoroughly versed in all aspects of racing horses, but oversees fair play in the kindest, most courteous manner - to everyone - you could imagine. He commands respect just by being himself, and I so wish that I could have the opportunity to tell him how much I respect him and how much poorer the racecourses are for his absence. Happier stories with which to begin the new year are Chris Kinane and J P McNamara, although neither is out of the woods by any means, and these stories are only happier in relative terms. It does, though, sound promising for J P, an excellent jockey and very decent man, as he struggles to regain mobility. As regards Chris, I spoke to Keith Cosby, the man who has worked wonders in organising the fund to raise money to help ease the torment for Chris and Tessa, a few days before Christmas and at least the update is that the struggle continues. He's been through a living hell and is still in it, but if there is any justice in the world, and if collective good will can have any effect, he'll be able to enjoy life again eventually.
In the absence of J P, who excelled on every horse he rode for this stable, the role of undervalued jockey we like to use for our few jumpers if we need someone has been taken on by Andrew Tinkler, an excellent young man who rode Bilkie a couple of times last year and who I think will have a very big future in the game. I was delighted when he rode a winner at the Cheltenham Festival and it is my prediction for 2007 that, with the retirement of Mick Fitzgerald scheduled for the end of the current season (both are attached to Nicky Henderson's stable), Andrew will be established as a major league jockey by the end of the year. Otherwise, Matthew Smith is our preferred option when he can do the weights. He is a thoroughly accomplished horseman, an outstanding schooling rider and outstanding value for his claim. Sadly, he hasn't been able to use that claim since having a very bad fall when representing GB in a FEGENTRI race in Germany in, I'd guess, September, and I think will be out for a few more months, but there'll always be horses for him to ride here.
The main reason I wanted to return to my end-of-year nostalgia (now that we've left the old year behind by a full ten days I think we can start being nostalgic) was that I realised that I hadn't mentioned stallions. And, having said that I would commend Largesse in my review, I must do so. So, here it is - Largesse had a cracking year, genuinely appears to upgrade his mares and using him would give anyone an opportunity of breeding a nice horse. And I'm putting my money where my mouth is. Otherwise, I'd say that stallion honours could be shared between Danehill Dancer and Dansili. The former couldn't go wrong, and produced grand horse after grand horse from, in general, pretty ordinary backgrounds, the money-factory (courtesy of the skill of Kevin Prendergast) Miss Beatrix being a prime example. Dansili had a summer and autumn to dream about. Emma and I had the pleasure of seeing him, and his brother Cacique, at Banstead Manor a few days ago, which was lovely. Cacique isn't at the moment a particularly imposing horse - and Dansili, for what appears to be a sire of middle-distance horses / stayers, is surprisingly compact - but that wouldn't bother me, as he actually reminds me of how Banstead's patriarch Rainbow Quest (we saw him too, in his stable) looked in his racing days. Mind you, I didn't pass on that opinion to anyone there, in case they told me to stop being stupid. But, think back - wasn't Rainbow Quest a fairly lanky, almost weedy, animal as a youngster? And look at him now! (So there's hope for me yet).
As regards trainers, I hailed a few of the more obvious achievers, but I feel it would be remiss of me not to mention the outstanding years enjoyed by Paul Midgley and Ron Harris. Both have really put their operations to the fore in the past year, and both are people who thoroughly deserve their success. John Quinn, too, has been one of the main achievers, and he too really deserves any credit or success he gets; so it is a real tribute to Ron that possibly his most successful horse has been Graze On, whom he bought out of John Quinn's yard after a selling race. Closer to home, Micky Quinn enjoyed an excellent year, and he too is a man I'm always glad to see in the winner's enclosure. Of our immediate neighbours, Jonathan Jay (mainly courtesy of the excellent jumper Tidal Fury) and Willie Musson both had good years, and it was great yesterday to see that Dave Morris has got off the mark so promptly 2007. Charlie McBride is another battler from Newmarket who enjoyed a great year (ten wins from a handful of horses), and his 2007 tally is already at two.
Our tally for the year, as I mentioned earlier, is no wins from one run, but that run, by Pantomime Prince, was promising enough today. The dear little horse seems to be thriving, and it was no disgrace to finish fifth, only a few lengths adrift of the winner, in the mile maiden today. The winner was a mighty horse - if you were drunk, you could have confused him for Dansili - which one would expect from a four-year-old colt, a half-brother to a Classic winner, who had cost 180,000 gns as a yearling and was now making a belated debut for Sir Michael Stoute. He's owned by Sean Woods, so I hope he did enough today to justify being taken to Hong Kong, because presumably Sean has a big investment tied up in him so it would be nice to see him getting a return. Pantomime Prince is, as eagle-eyed readers of this site might have picked up, a lovely little horse who is just a delight in every way. Martha has ridden him the past couple of days, and her verdict was that he "doesn't have a bad bone in his body". Mind you, the last person I heard a woman say that about was Richard Sims, so I'm not sure where that leaves us. Apart from Panto, two other horses have particularly contributed to the pleasantness of my day, because I seem to be the regular rider of Mattie Stokes and Belle Annie, and both gave me lovely rides this morning. Mattie is a real character, but seems to be learning to focus his energies on his work. Belle Annie will be a new name to you, because I see she isn't even up on the site yet. She's an unraced US-bred three-year-old daughter of a very distinguished stallion, Aptitude, from a US Stakes-winning GB-bred mare (who is a relative of the Mark Rimmer-ridden Cesarewitch winner Sir Michael, funnily enough). She's owned principally by Dave Huelin. We bought her out of Philip Mitchell's stable at the horses in training sale - and don't ask me if she's any good, because I really don't know. But I hope that we'll be a bit wiser in a few months' time.
But what I can say is that she seems a sweet filly. She returned from Kerry 's farm on Monday, along with Brief, Jill and the Diktat filly (pictured at top following Jill) and, as always, they've come back from there in great nick. We're so lucky to be able to send horses to relax there under Kerry's kind eye, and Anis Etoile and our naughty teenager Ben Bhraggie (pictured right) are currently the two enjoying the plentiful Norfolk grass.
Lastly, prompted by our best correspondent Problemwalrus, I should add a few Cheltenham Festival thoughts to the review. So sad it was that the death toll reached ten, of which that dear old rogue Holy Orders particularly sticks in my mind, but as always the downside of the Festival was balanced by its upside. My feeling after the Champion Hurdle was that that had to be the race of the season - but then two days later My Way De Solzen and Golden Cross (and the admirable Johnny Murtagh) treated us to a duel which was at least as good. War Of Attrition was majestic and Black Jack Ketchum was superb. Voy Por Ustedes v. Monet's Garden was a real treat... And so on to 2007, when Kauto Star will be ... (fill in the blank yourself).
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
No good turn goes unpunished
I last signed on here when we were about to have four runners. Well, we've had them now, so I suppose some sort of post-mortem is required. I see one of our correspondents has asked why we don't run to a results' service, and the words have been taken out of my mouth by Signorinetta. However, to recapitulate on Signorinetta's reasoning, I feel that my blogs usually eventually provide a retrospective look at most of our runners; if there are any that I (probably deliberately) sweep under the carpet, or if anyone's patience runs out, there's always the free service of the excellent Racing Post website to provide an objective statement of how any British or Irish, or British- or Irish-trained runner has fared.
Of our recent runners, things started very well with dear little Lady S. running a fine race at Wolverhampton. Cathy Gannon, as requested, managed to get her in behind a few horses - which did require a bit of effort and skill - and once there she found that the filly was rather taken aback by her first taste of some pretty fierce kickback. So she raced sluggishly, rather than keenly as before, but stayed on very dourly into third. She seems to have taken the race very well, so can return to the same course this Sunday for an assault at my favourite distance, two miles (four furlongs farther than last time). I think she'll relish it. Cathy will be on board again, and we can hope for a bold run.
Kempton was rather an anti-climax. I went there thinking we had two good chances. How wrong can you be? Timmy turned into the straight tracking the leaders and travelling like a winner, but 50 yards later he was going backwards. He was eased down and finished tailed off. I thought, with horror, that he must have broken down, so it was some sort of relief that the jockey didn't immediately dismount. However, the real reason for this capitulation turned out to be, which was evident as soon as we saw Rab Havlin's blood-spattered silks, that he'd bled badly from both nostrils. This was completely unexpected as he'd never given any indication previously that this could be something which would happen to him, but really it was a relief - when one's thinking that a horse might have broken his leg, to find that he's 'only' bled and can walk away sound and chirpy, a bleeding attack really is a good result. I suspect that that will signal the end of his racing career and it has been a pity that his honest and consistent endeavour hasn't been rewarded with a win, only with several placings, but it's good that he can walk out in one piece and with his head held happily high.
And so on to Panto, whose race has inspired the headline for this article. I'd been pleased that I'd been able to give John Egan the ride in his time of beleaguredness (is that a word?), believing that I was doing A Good Thing, but I wish I hadn't. He missed his previous (winning) ride, but unfortunately (as it turned out) he arrived in time to ride Panto. The writing was (or should have been) on the wall, when he greeted us with a plaintive "I'm dying of 'flu". Anyway, we decided he should settle back from his wide draw, and then pull out again in the straight to make his run down the centre of the track. Prior to the off, his price got longer and longer, and when it got to 10/1, I had to act. This was well over the odds, and a bet was required. And then they were off. Panto was just so far back, and on straightening he was taken over to the inside. He was starting a strong run, and then ran into a dead end and was checked. He even ran on a bit again once he got some room, but that was by the by as his race was over. I thought that, even starting his run from so far back, he could have made the frame. So did John, who manfully apologised both for getting so far back and for getting the check. Ah well. But, as they say, it's an ill wind which blows nobody any good, so John's ride must have been manna from heaven to the intrepid souls who kept pushing Panto's price out to, I'm told, 16/1 on Betfair. That's astonishing. I thought he was well over the odds at 10/1, and yet others thought he was unders at 16/1. I think that the merit of the horse's run has shown that my assessment was correct, so one has to conclude that his layers were either much worse than I am at judging a horse's form and condition, or much better than I am at anticipating how badly it is going to be ridden.
One might ask why I backed Panto seeing how unwell the rider was, but I'd previously had this illusion that John had the constitution to shrug off illness. I've seen him have to dismount at the start to be sick, and yet still ride a blinder to get the horse home (Il Principe at Musselburgh). But that was ten years ago, and we're all ten years older and frailer since then. Ah well, we learn by our mistakes ...
And so on to today. Millyjean ran a nice race. There's not really much more to say than that. She was a little bit out of her depth in normal maiden company, as expected, and more than a little bit off the track for the entire race, but she wasn't beaten very far and will find things more suitable in what should be easier assignments in future. She behaved very well, really seeming to enjoy being at the races, and we were remain very pleased with and proud of her.
I note that John's ride on Pantomime Prince wasn't the worst on Monday. That dubious honour falls to Dean Mernagh on Black Opal at Wolverhampton. I haven't seen the race, but I read that he got a month's suspension, and the trainer a £5,000 fine. It must have been bad, because I saw him ride the same horse in a way that seemed to my uneducacted eye to be as dead as dead can be at Kempton just before Christmas and there wasn't even an inquiry that day. But the stewards, like God, move in mysterious ways, and it seems perhaps that, like the mounties, they always get their man eventually. The day at Kempton Black Opal was 6/1 favourite in the Racing Post and went out to 16/1 on Betfair (it's funny how 16/1 keeps cropping up, as if it's the devil's number; if they remake 'The Omen', perhaps they'll find that Gregory Peck's little lad has 16/1, rather than 666, seared into his skin), and I read that on Monday the mare drifted with the on-course bookies from 7/2 to 9/1. Lucky I wasn't at Wolverhampton, as I'd probably have had a bet at that stage!
And so on to a happier topic. Word reached me from our Brisbane correspondent that Michael Tidmarsh's license was restored yesterday. He'll be back at the track with Dolly tomorrow. I didn't ride out for three and a bit weeks when we were on holiday and was as stiff as a board when I resumed, so Michael will feel it after six months on the shelf. And he gives me a few years, which can't help. But the good news is that he'll have Sarah's dad Tom on hand to leg him up if the joints are creaking too much to jump aboard. I should really give Tom his correct name of 'The Great Tom Townsend' as he is rightly described by Guy Harwood in a lovely huge photo montage of Tom and the many great horses (eg Dancing Brave, Warning, To-Agori-Mou, Ela-Mana-Mou, Sandhurst Prince, Lear Fan ...) who had benefitted from his care, which was presented to Tom at the end of his period of service at Pulborough. I was delighted to hear that Tom's heading down under to stay with the family for a month, and I know that they and he will have a great time. And when he comes back, I'll be heading around to Jack Jarvis Close to grill him on just how well Dolly's Queensland Oaks preparation is going. In the meantime, I'll be keen to find out how things go on the Brisbane golf courses on Australia Day (Friday), when Liam Tidmarsh tees off in a big competition. He goes into it with a last-start win to his name, and hit 78 last time out which seems pretty good for a 15-year-old, so perhaps we'll be reading a bit more about him anon.
Of our recent runners, things started very well with dear little Lady S. running a fine race at Wolverhampton. Cathy Gannon, as requested, managed to get her in behind a few horses - which did require a bit of effort and skill - and once there she found that the filly was rather taken aback by her first taste of some pretty fierce kickback. So she raced sluggishly, rather than keenly as before, but stayed on very dourly into third. She seems to have taken the race very well, so can return to the same course this Sunday for an assault at my favourite distance, two miles (four furlongs farther than last time). I think she'll relish it. Cathy will be on board again, and we can hope for a bold run.
Kempton was rather an anti-climax. I went there thinking we had two good chances. How wrong can you be? Timmy turned into the straight tracking the leaders and travelling like a winner, but 50 yards later he was going backwards. He was eased down and finished tailed off. I thought, with horror, that he must have broken down, so it was some sort of relief that the jockey didn't immediately dismount. However, the real reason for this capitulation turned out to be, which was evident as soon as we saw Rab Havlin's blood-spattered silks, that he'd bled badly from both nostrils. This was completely unexpected as he'd never given any indication previously that this could be something which would happen to him, but really it was a relief - when one's thinking that a horse might have broken his leg, to find that he's 'only' bled and can walk away sound and chirpy, a bleeding attack really is a good result. I suspect that that will signal the end of his racing career and it has been a pity that his honest and consistent endeavour hasn't been rewarded with a win, only with several placings, but it's good that he can walk out in one piece and with his head held happily high.
And so on to Panto, whose race has inspired the headline for this article. I'd been pleased that I'd been able to give John Egan the ride in his time of beleaguredness (is that a word?), believing that I was doing A Good Thing, but I wish I hadn't. He missed his previous (winning) ride, but unfortunately (as it turned out) he arrived in time to ride Panto. The writing was (or should have been) on the wall, when he greeted us with a plaintive "I'm dying of 'flu". Anyway, we decided he should settle back from his wide draw, and then pull out again in the straight to make his run down the centre of the track. Prior to the off, his price got longer and longer, and when it got to 10/1, I had to act. This was well over the odds, and a bet was required. And then they were off. Panto was just so far back, and on straightening he was taken over to the inside. He was starting a strong run, and then ran into a dead end and was checked. He even ran on a bit again once he got some room, but that was by the by as his race was over. I thought that, even starting his run from so far back, he could have made the frame. So did John, who manfully apologised both for getting so far back and for getting the check. Ah well. But, as they say, it's an ill wind which blows nobody any good, so John's ride must have been manna from heaven to the intrepid souls who kept pushing Panto's price out to, I'm told, 16/1 on Betfair. That's astonishing. I thought he was well over the odds at 10/1, and yet others thought he was unders at 16/1. I think that the merit of the horse's run has shown that my assessment was correct, so one has to conclude that his layers were either much worse than I am at judging a horse's form and condition, or much better than I am at anticipating how badly it is going to be ridden.
One might ask why I backed Panto seeing how unwell the rider was, but I'd previously had this illusion that John had the constitution to shrug off illness. I've seen him have to dismount at the start to be sick, and yet still ride a blinder to get the horse home (Il Principe at Musselburgh). But that was ten years ago, and we're all ten years older and frailer since then. Ah well, we learn by our mistakes ...
And so on to today. Millyjean ran a nice race. There's not really much more to say than that. She was a little bit out of her depth in normal maiden company, as expected, and more than a little bit off the track for the entire race, but she wasn't beaten very far and will find things more suitable in what should be easier assignments in future. She behaved very well, really seeming to enjoy being at the races, and we were remain very pleased with and proud of her.
I note that John's ride on Pantomime Prince wasn't the worst on Monday. That dubious honour falls to Dean Mernagh on Black Opal at Wolverhampton. I haven't seen the race, but I read that he got a month's suspension, and the trainer a £5,000 fine. It must have been bad, because I saw him ride the same horse in a way that seemed to my uneducacted eye to be as dead as dead can be at Kempton just before Christmas and there wasn't even an inquiry that day. But the stewards, like God, move in mysterious ways, and it seems perhaps that, like the mounties, they always get their man eventually. The day at Kempton Black Opal was 6/1 favourite in the Racing Post and went out to 16/1 on Betfair (it's funny how 16/1 keeps cropping up, as if it's the devil's number; if they remake 'The Omen', perhaps they'll find that Gregory Peck's little lad has 16/1, rather than 666, seared into his skin), and I read that on Monday the mare drifted with the on-course bookies from 7/2 to 9/1. Lucky I wasn't at Wolverhampton, as I'd probably have had a bet at that stage!
And so on to a happier topic. Word reached me from our Brisbane correspondent that Michael Tidmarsh's license was restored yesterday. He'll be back at the track with Dolly tomorrow. I didn't ride out for three and a bit weeks when we were on holiday and was as stiff as a board when I resumed, so Michael will feel it after six months on the shelf. And he gives me a few years, which can't help. But the good news is that he'll have Sarah's dad Tom on hand to leg him up if the joints are creaking too much to jump aboard. I should really give Tom his correct name of 'The Great Tom Townsend' as he is rightly described by Guy Harwood in a lovely huge photo montage of Tom and the many great horses (eg Dancing Brave, Warning, To-Agori-Mou, Ela-Mana-Mou, Sandhurst Prince, Lear Fan ...) who had benefitted from his care, which was presented to Tom at the end of his period of service at Pulborough. I was delighted to hear that Tom's heading down under to stay with the family for a month, and I know that they and he will have a great time. And when he comes back, I'll be heading around to Jack Jarvis Close to grill him on just how well Dolly's Queensland Oaks preparation is going. In the meantime, I'll be keen to find out how things go on the Brisbane golf courses on Australia Day (Friday), when Liam Tidmarsh tees off in a big competition. He goes into it with a last-start win to his name, and hit 78 last time out which seems pretty good for a 15-year-old, so perhaps we'll be reading a bit more about him anon.
Happy endings
Any time I turn on the tv there's something to warm the heart. Mind you, I am only talking about Racing UK and At The Races; the situation is completely different if one tries the regular (one thousand and) "sixteen channels of shit on the tv to chose from". We've only had one race so far this Saturday arvo, and that produced a wonderful result. The splendid Dr Philip Pritchard, one of racing's true heroes and as nice a man as you'd ever meet, rode and trained the 13-year-old Ichi Beau, the complete outsider of the field, to win the opening two mile 0-135 handicap steeplechase on a bog track at Haydock. Combined age of horse and rider 62. Dr Pritchard bought Ichi Beau out of Tony Martin's stable in the autumn for 2,800 gns in the autumn on behalf of his Timber Pond Racing Club, and the prize today was around three times that sum. That's exactly what racing is about, and I haven't enjoyed watching a race as much as I did this one for ... um, around 21 hours actually, because the last race at Musselburgh yesterday was a very pleasing one too from my point of view. But more of that anon.
I hope I'll enjoy four races in the coming days even more than either of those two because all four of our forthcoming runners should acquit themselves with credit. No change from the last report, other than one alteration to the riding arrangements. Micky Fenton's agent, the former hoop Shashi Righton, rang this morning with a very polite request that Micky be released from Panto on Monday. He was down for three rides at Kempton, the other two being for Tim Fitzgerald, another of his regular patrons. However, these two horses now aren't going to run, so Micky would either go to Kempton just for Panto or to Wolvehampton for several, including I note one for Paul Midgeley, who is one of Micky's best supporters. I was happy to accede to the request, because Shashi, an excellent agent who is invariably helpful and straightforward, had gone about this the right way, and he and Micky both deserve to be treated with consideration and respect. So now we've got John Egan on Panto, and he'll be an excellent substitute. He'll give Panto every chance to do as well as he can, and it is a good thing to be able to make a practical demonstration of support for a man who's been having a tough time.
Oh yes, the other update on the forthcoming runners is that Gemma, who's been riding Millyjean, has complimented me on my description on the previous blog of Millyjean's gallop on the Al Bahathri on Wednesday ("worked like a rocket"). She says that hit the nail on the head, so let's hope that the Lingfield race-readers will be similarly effusive. Hayley Turner rode her well last time so she'll be on her again this week.
The other star worker of the week is, you'll be surprised to hear, the Diktat filly. Not for her speed, of course, but for her composure. Happily, our midweek debacle has not been repeated. We went on a long walk and trot down Hamilton Road on Thursday with Panto Prince and Emma proving to be excellent companions for us, during which, despite the fact that the wind was atrocious (I'd thought we'd stay among the trees to be sheltered from the worst of its force, but being in the trees was just too frightening because of the noise, so that was another plan which went of out the window), the filly regained her confidence, and she hasn't looked back. Yesterday and today Panto has shepherded us up the all-weather on Warren Hill at a composed hack canter, and the filly has regained her place at the top of the class. And that's a huge relief, because my nerves can only stand nasty and painful shocks if they don't come too frequently. I even tightened my girths as we approached the canter yesterday, so that speaks volumes for my returning confidence! The only way to put a fall behind you is to get back on again and get plenty of riding in as soon as possible, but that, of course, backfires, if things go badly wrong again.
After Panto has run on Monday, I think I might dragoon him into being a mate for Glen Garioch for a few days. Panto is such a lovely horse. There's not much of him, so when he's not galloping a nice gentle exercise is probably what is best for him, so if he can do that while helping another horse, that's great all round. It's funny, because on the limited evidence we've had I'd formed the opinion that Glen Garioch was an excellent ride. I was very surprised, therefore, to be told first by James and then by David that he was getting out of hand, and I must say that I have had a few awkward moments since putting my name beside his on Thursday. For some reason he appears to have panic attacks, which is strange because he's excellent most of the time. But I had a rude awakening on him when we were trotting home yesterday when he stopped suddenly, put his head down and back between his legs and ran backwards, feeling as if he was about to launch himself in any direction, possibilities including both upwards and downwards. And yet most of the time he' s as quiet and content as a lamb. So strange. So I think just a few days riding sedately on the quietest parts of the Heath with one quiet horse will be what the doctor ordered, so he can realise that there's nothing to be frightened of. Suze came with me this morning on Mattie Stokes as we went for a long meander up Warren Hill and back around Side Hill, and more of the same will do nicely.
Oh yes, and before I move on, the other distinction to be handed out this week goes to Filemot (there's another new name for you - I don't think she's up on the site yet - but when she is you'll be able to read that she's a two-year-old filly by Largesse). Although strictly speaking this distinction is shared with Martha, who's done a great job in riding her. She's only had a week's riding, but horse and rider are both going around full of confidence and in a very composed manner. The little filly seems a bit nervous of traffic, but otherwise she's really slotted into the ridden life very well. I've set Martha some stiff tasks riding recently, but she's thrived on the challenge, and her confidence and competence are both rising by the day.
So, to return to the beginning. Races which were great to watch: yesterday. There were two actually. We started early, with the pleasing discovery that the overnight Aussie action on ATR had included Benalla. I'd set the video running just in case, but it was more in hope than anticipation, as I suspected that Ballarat would be the more likely Victorian venue to be shown. But when I got up I found that I could indeed watch the 3.00 from Benalla, and I had the pleasure of watching Spaceage Juliet, aka Joolzy (you can see her and Joff in the photo gallery) resume with a very good fourth on her first start for Anne Taylor's stable. It was really good, and I'd say they'll be in for a lot of fun with her this time in. And what was also great was, not that you'd particularly know it from the pictures we saw other than that the caption said that the track was rated 'dead', that apparently there's plenty of rain falling in Victoria. Let the rain tumble down in January. (It does here, just about all of the time, so why not there too?).
So on to day's other highlight. My eye was caught by the fact that Alan Swinbank was introducing an unraced 4-year-old gelding by Royal Anthem in the bumper at Musselburgh. I dug out my Fairyhouse yearling sale catalogue from 2004, and found that, as I suspected, this was indeed the horse which I'd loved and had tried to buy. My comments written on the page are: "very nice horse", "very big", "curb O/H", "bid 12,000 Euros", "20,000 Euros, Alan Swinbank". I'd asked Alan about the horse a couple of times in the intervening period, and he'd told me early on that he'd keep him for bumpers. So I was, as you can imagine, very keen to watch the race. And the result? He won very impressively by 18 lengths as the well-backed favourite, you'd almost say 'with his head in his chest'. He's now 20/1 for the Cheltenham Bumper. So that was nice to see that I was thinking along the right lines. A pity he isn't here, but I'm very happy for the man who does have him, and also happy for the horse, because he's in safe hands. We've instead got a similar (I hope) horse 12 months behind that schedule, in the shape of the 3-year-old Ben Bhraggie, another big, staying-bred flat yearling put away for bumpers at an early stage. Wouldn't it be great if he turns out to be as good a selection? Only time will tell.
And what we also have instead is Jill Dawson, because I don't know that I'd have bought her on the third day of the sale if I'd have bought this horse on the first. And we're more than happy to have her here so, again, all's well that ends well. Apart from Jill, incidentally, the other graduate of that sale who came to this stable was Lady Suffragette, so let's see if tomorrow she can make the ending even happier ...
I hope I'll enjoy four races in the coming days even more than either of those two because all four of our forthcoming runners should acquit themselves with credit. No change from the last report, other than one alteration to the riding arrangements. Micky Fenton's agent, the former hoop Shashi Righton, rang this morning with a very polite request that Micky be released from Panto on Monday. He was down for three rides at Kempton, the other two being for Tim Fitzgerald, another of his regular patrons. However, these two horses now aren't going to run, so Micky would either go to Kempton just for Panto or to Wolvehampton for several, including I note one for Paul Midgeley, who is one of Micky's best supporters. I was happy to accede to the request, because Shashi, an excellent agent who is invariably helpful and straightforward, had gone about this the right way, and he and Micky both deserve to be treated with consideration and respect. So now we've got John Egan on Panto, and he'll be an excellent substitute. He'll give Panto every chance to do as well as he can, and it is a good thing to be able to make a practical demonstration of support for a man who's been having a tough time.
Oh yes, the other update on the forthcoming runners is that Gemma, who's been riding Millyjean, has complimented me on my description on the previous blog of Millyjean's gallop on the Al Bahathri on Wednesday ("worked like a rocket"). She says that hit the nail on the head, so let's hope that the Lingfield race-readers will be similarly effusive. Hayley Turner rode her well last time so she'll be on her again this week.
The other star worker of the week is, you'll be surprised to hear, the Diktat filly. Not for her speed, of course, but for her composure. Happily, our midweek debacle has not been repeated. We went on a long walk and trot down Hamilton Road on Thursday with Panto Prince and Emma proving to be excellent companions for us, during which, despite the fact that the wind was atrocious (I'd thought we'd stay among the trees to be sheltered from the worst of its force, but being in the trees was just too frightening because of the noise, so that was another plan which went of out the window), the filly regained her confidence, and she hasn't looked back. Yesterday and today Panto has shepherded us up the all-weather on Warren Hill at a composed hack canter, and the filly has regained her place at the top of the class. And that's a huge relief, because my nerves can only stand nasty and painful shocks if they don't come too frequently. I even tightened my girths as we approached the canter yesterday, so that speaks volumes for my returning confidence! The only way to put a fall behind you is to get back on again and get plenty of riding in as soon as possible, but that, of course, backfires, if things go badly wrong again.
After Panto has run on Monday, I think I might dragoon him into being a mate for Glen Garioch for a few days. Panto is such a lovely horse. There's not much of him, so when he's not galloping a nice gentle exercise is probably what is best for him, so if he can do that while helping another horse, that's great all round. It's funny, because on the limited evidence we've had I'd formed the opinion that Glen Garioch was an excellent ride. I was very surprised, therefore, to be told first by James and then by David that he was getting out of hand, and I must say that I have had a few awkward moments since putting my name beside his on Thursday. For some reason he appears to have panic attacks, which is strange because he's excellent most of the time. But I had a rude awakening on him when we were trotting home yesterday when he stopped suddenly, put his head down and back between his legs and ran backwards, feeling as if he was about to launch himself in any direction, possibilities including both upwards and downwards. And yet most of the time he' s as quiet and content as a lamb. So strange. So I think just a few days riding sedately on the quietest parts of the Heath with one quiet horse will be what the doctor ordered, so he can realise that there's nothing to be frightened of. Suze came with me this morning on Mattie Stokes as we went for a long meander up Warren Hill and back around Side Hill, and more of the same will do nicely.
Oh yes, and before I move on, the other distinction to be handed out this week goes to Filemot (there's another new name for you - I don't think she's up on the site yet - but when she is you'll be able to read that she's a two-year-old filly by Largesse). Although strictly speaking this distinction is shared with Martha, who's done a great job in riding her. She's only had a week's riding, but horse and rider are both going around full of confidence and in a very composed manner. The little filly seems a bit nervous of traffic, but otherwise she's really slotted into the ridden life very well. I've set Martha some stiff tasks riding recently, but she's thrived on the challenge, and her confidence and competence are both rising by the day.
So, to return to the beginning. Races which were great to watch: yesterday. There were two actually. We started early, with the pleasing discovery that the overnight Aussie action on ATR had included Benalla. I'd set the video running just in case, but it was more in hope than anticipation, as I suspected that Ballarat would be the more likely Victorian venue to be shown. But when I got up I found that I could indeed watch the 3.00 from Benalla, and I had the pleasure of watching Spaceage Juliet, aka Joolzy (you can see her and Joff in the photo gallery) resume with a very good fourth on her first start for Anne Taylor's stable. It was really good, and I'd say they'll be in for a lot of fun with her this time in. And what was also great was, not that you'd particularly know it from the pictures we saw other than that the caption said that the track was rated 'dead', that apparently there's plenty of rain falling in Victoria. Let the rain tumble down in January. (It does here, just about all of the time, so why not there too?).
So on to day's other highlight. My eye was caught by the fact that Alan Swinbank was introducing an unraced 4-year-old gelding by Royal Anthem in the bumper at Musselburgh. I dug out my Fairyhouse yearling sale catalogue from 2004, and found that, as I suspected, this was indeed the horse which I'd loved and had tried to buy. My comments written on the page are: "very nice horse", "very big", "curb O/H", "bid 12,000 Euros", "20,000 Euros, Alan Swinbank". I'd asked Alan about the horse a couple of times in the intervening period, and he'd told me early on that he'd keep him for bumpers. So I was, as you can imagine, very keen to watch the race. And the result? He won very impressively by 18 lengths as the well-backed favourite, you'd almost say 'with his head in his chest'. He's now 20/1 for the Cheltenham Bumper. So that was nice to see that I was thinking along the right lines. A pity he isn't here, but I'm very happy for the man who does have him, and also happy for the horse, because he's in safe hands. We've instead got a similar (I hope) horse 12 months behind that schedule, in the shape of the 3-year-old Ben Bhraggie, another big, staying-bred flat yearling put away for bumpers at an early stage. Wouldn't it be great if he turns out to be as good a selection? Only time will tell.
And what we also have instead is Jill Dawson, because I don't know that I'd have bought her on the third day of the sale if I'd have bought this horse on the first. And we're more than happy to have her here so, again, all's well that ends well. Apart from Jill, incidentally, the other graduate of that sale who came to this stable was Lady Suffragette, so let's see if tomorrow she can make the ending even happier ...
Another one bites the dust
It is always with a sense of relief and appreciation of good fortune that one can get to the end of the year without having fallen off. Didn't make it in 2005, but fortunately I did manage it in 2006. Sadly I won't be able to match that feat in 2007, because I've blotted my copy book this morning by falling off the Diktat filly. And it hurt - I hadn't hit the ground that hard for years.
She's been ever so good. Martha rode her last week, and I've been on her this week. Monday and Tuesday I enjoyed very pleasant rides, so today I was expecting the same again. I thought I'd girthed her up tightly enough, but just felt when I jumped on her that the saddle was wobbling a bit. Being so young, she's quite narrow, so it would be easy for it to be a bit unstable. I felt it prudent to check my girths once I was settled on board. I went to pull them up a hole, but got the first girth almost up to the next hole before deciding that that would make the girth too tight for such an inexperienced horse, and just eased the pressure off to let it slide back down to where it had been before. At that point I received confirmation that that would indeed be too tight, because the filly exploded as if she was just feeling a girth around her for the first time. If I'd been sitting straight on her I might have had a chance - although I doubt it - but as it was, with one leg pushed forward in front of the saddle and one hand reaching down holding a girth strap, I was a gonner. I might have stayed on if she'd only bucked once, but as she felt my weight shift on her she just increased her gyration, and I was airborne within seconds. I landed smack on my back, hard, and felt the back of my head slam into the ground - thank God for crash helmets, because I'd have been knocked out otherwise.
Fortunately I had landed in a puddle, and it was raining hard as it seems to do most of the time in the UK nowadays so, as I lay there recovering my composure and working out whether any significant damage had been done, my clothes were getting wetter by the second, which gave me every incentive to get to my feet and climb back aboard the rather shaken filly. It had come as a shock to me, but probably even more to her, so neither of us really enjoyed the ride once we embarked on take two, as she seemed very on edge throughout. But all was well that ended well, and I'll ride her for a walk this evening with David when he takes Bilkie out for his afternoon stroll (the horses aren't getting their usual afternoons in the field, because it's under water), accompanied by little Curtis (assuming he isn't kept back at school in detention, which seems to happen once or twice a week) on Lady Suffragette. It'll do both Diktat and myself good to go out again this afternoon: at my advancing age I could do with the opportunity to re-bolster my confidence, and ditto the filly because of her lack of seasoning.
I entered the filly for the Tattersalls Sales race today (at the Curragh at the end of August), so I can only hope that the rest of her preparation goes more smoothly than that. But we'll have plenty of runners to worry about before we start thinking about that race as a serious option, starting with four in the next week. Things didn't go to the script with Lady Suffragette on Sunday, when we were forced into making an unforced error (as they'd say on RTE). I'd given Brett instructions to start positively from his low draw, but unfortunately she jumped out of the gate so full of beans, and nobody else wanted to make the running, that she raced with no cover and the choke out for the first mile. I thought that she did well to keep on as well as she did under the circumstances, notwithstanding the fact that she finished nearly last, so we'll try again (over a longer trip, believe it or not, but I still think she'll stay well) on Sunday. It's a race for jockeys who rode fewer than 30 winners in the UK last year, and Brett's late-season flourish rendered him ineligible for that, so Cathy Gannon can climb back aboard - with instructions to bury the mare away.
The following day two dear horses, Limit Down and Pantomime Prince, both ought to get runs in 0-45 races, which can be hard to get into. At the moment it's looking like Rab Havlin on the former and Micky Fenton on the latter, so that's two good jockeys for them. We've got to hope for two good runs. Then Millyjean is pencilled in for her third race two days later at Lingfield. She worked like a rocket this morning, but I suspect an open three-year-old maiden will be quite competitive, so whether she's good enough to make the frame we'll have to wait and see. She's definitely going well enough to run really well, but of course the quality of the opposition will might be a problem.
Looking a bit farther ahead, we have the People's Race, which does indeed seem to have our dear leader written all over it. I haven't paid too much attention to it, but it seems a harmless sideshow. And if P.Walrus is indeed going to be in the fray, I'll definitely be giving it my fullest attention. If P.Walrus does take part, we'd have to find a C.Lyon too. I might even have wrested Mark Johnston's book off Emma by that time, so I might by that time have come round to the idea of getting everything to make the running (some chance!) which I suspect probably would be the best tactic in that bun fight.
She's been ever so good. Martha rode her last week, and I've been on her this week. Monday and Tuesday I enjoyed very pleasant rides, so today I was expecting the same again. I thought I'd girthed her up tightly enough, but just felt when I jumped on her that the saddle was wobbling a bit. Being so young, she's quite narrow, so it would be easy for it to be a bit unstable. I felt it prudent to check my girths once I was settled on board. I went to pull them up a hole, but got the first girth almost up to the next hole before deciding that that would make the girth too tight for such an inexperienced horse, and just eased the pressure off to let it slide back down to where it had been before. At that point I received confirmation that that would indeed be too tight, because the filly exploded as if she was just feeling a girth around her for the first time. If I'd been sitting straight on her I might have had a chance - although I doubt it - but as it was, with one leg pushed forward in front of the saddle and one hand reaching down holding a girth strap, I was a gonner. I might have stayed on if she'd only bucked once, but as she felt my weight shift on her she just increased her gyration, and I was airborne within seconds. I landed smack on my back, hard, and felt the back of my head slam into the ground - thank God for crash helmets, because I'd have been knocked out otherwise.
Fortunately I had landed in a puddle, and it was raining hard as it seems to do most of the time in the UK nowadays so, as I lay there recovering my composure and working out whether any significant damage had been done, my clothes were getting wetter by the second, which gave me every incentive to get to my feet and climb back aboard the rather shaken filly. It had come as a shock to me, but probably even more to her, so neither of us really enjoyed the ride once we embarked on take two, as she seemed very on edge throughout. But all was well that ended well, and I'll ride her for a walk this evening with David when he takes Bilkie out for his afternoon stroll (the horses aren't getting their usual afternoons in the field, because it's under water), accompanied by little Curtis (assuming he isn't kept back at school in detention, which seems to happen once or twice a week) on Lady Suffragette. It'll do both Diktat and myself good to go out again this afternoon: at my advancing age I could do with the opportunity to re-bolster my confidence, and ditto the filly because of her lack of seasoning.
I entered the filly for the Tattersalls Sales race today (at the Curragh at the end of August), so I can only hope that the rest of her preparation goes more smoothly than that. But we'll have plenty of runners to worry about before we start thinking about that race as a serious option, starting with four in the next week. Things didn't go to the script with Lady Suffragette on Sunday, when we were forced into making an unforced error (as they'd say on RTE). I'd given Brett instructions to start positively from his low draw, but unfortunately she jumped out of the gate so full of beans, and nobody else wanted to make the running, that she raced with no cover and the choke out for the first mile. I thought that she did well to keep on as well as she did under the circumstances, notwithstanding the fact that she finished nearly last, so we'll try again (over a longer trip, believe it or not, but I still think she'll stay well) on Sunday. It's a race for jockeys who rode fewer than 30 winners in the UK last year, and Brett's late-season flourish rendered him ineligible for that, so Cathy Gannon can climb back aboard - with instructions to bury the mare away.
The following day two dear horses, Limit Down and Pantomime Prince, both ought to get runs in 0-45 races, which can be hard to get into. At the moment it's looking like Rab Havlin on the former and Micky Fenton on the latter, so that's two good jockeys for them. We've got to hope for two good runs. Then Millyjean is pencilled in for her third race two days later at Lingfield. She worked like a rocket this morning, but I suspect an open three-year-old maiden will be quite competitive, so whether she's good enough to make the frame we'll have to wait and see. She's definitely going well enough to run really well, but of course the quality of the opposition will might be a problem.
Looking a bit farther ahead, we have the People's Race, which does indeed seem to have our dear leader written all over it. I haven't paid too much attention to it, but it seems a harmless sideshow. And if P.Walrus is indeed going to be in the fray, I'll definitely be giving it my fullest attention. If P.Walrus does take part, we'd have to find a C.Lyon too. I might even have wrested Mark Johnston's book off Emma by that time, so I might by that time have come round to the idea of getting everything to make the running (some chance!) which I suspect probably would be the best tactic in that bun fight.
Better to travel hopefully
During the inevitable lulls when the stable is having fewer runners than one would ideally like to have winners, I am never suprised to be asked if I'm still training. However, it came as something of a surprise to discover that problemwalrus has found the Racing Post querying whether I even exist. So, there's nothing for it but to produce another diary entry, and tell of the fictitious events in this quasi Wathenworld, to prove that I am at least in some sort of cyberexistence. Not that I need to prove it, because I see that Signorinetta has kindly vouched for my reality - and hinted at what has to be the racing highlight of the day.
Yes, it was great to cheer Serpentaria home on tv in the first division of the mile median auction maiden at Lingfield today. Unfortunately I was unable to help anyone else to share the excitement, because I only woke up to the fact of who she is (she is Anis Etoile's Golden Snake three-year-old half-sister and was making her debut today) after they had gone about a furlong, so had no time to alert any of Anis Etoile's part-owners that we had someone to cheer for. But, if you missed it, believe me - it was really good. She was up there all the way, led into the straight, was challenged on both sides and lost the lead, but battled back (with Seb Sanders riding at nearly his hardest, which is a sight to behold) to regain the lead in the shadows of the post to win by a brave head. It was great. Of course, it doesn't really alter whether we do or don't have a good horse on our hands, but it certainly makes it even easier for us to travel hopefully. I think it was a good race. The runner-up Mutoon is, I think, a good horse: she is a half-sister to a Park Hill winner and Dave Huelin and I were keen to buy her at the sales last autumn, but she fetched too much (about 45,000 gns, I think), while the third (at least I think the horse was third) had been the subject of a monster plunge, something like 5/1 into 2/1. And the field also contained Araafa's Orpen half-brother, who had been placed in two of his three previous starts for Michael Bell. So that was good. We can watch Serpentaria's future with interest. She could be Golden Snake's best horse, which wouldn't be saying a great deal, although I've always felt he has the potential to be a better stallion than he is supposed to be; perhaps now that he is standing in Ireland he will be better patronized and thus better able to show what he can do.
As mentioned above, Seb Sanders' riding today, as so often, was pretty impressive, and I'm going to use that fairly nothing statement to bring us back to my end-of-year review, because names keep coming up who deserve a bit of a plug. Several of these are jockeys, and it would be remiss of me not to highlight that our street produced the champion apprentice last year: Stephen Donohoe, the latest young rider to thrive under the aegis of Willie Musson. He's been a very good rider for several year, but questionable motivation had sometimes seen him unfeasibly heavy and therefore inactive. However, he seems to have woken up now, and has added keenness to his talent, intelligence and natural decency. It was nice to see him being used frequently by his former boss David Evans, and he just kept riding more and more winners as the season went on. Including Jack Dawson at Yarmouth, which was nice. I don't know where he's been over the past couple of months, but he's just resuming riding the past couple of days, and rode an interesting horse today for David, a three-year-old gelding called Mick Is Back, by Diktat ex Classy Cleo. Classy Cleo was a grand filly in the same stable and Diktat is a good stallion (which I suspect I shall point out shortly) and this horse seems, after an unpromising start, to be running into some sort of form. He finished fourth today, wearing blinkers for the first time, and he's in the right stable to win a few races, which I predict he will do this year.
Another jockey whom David Evans is using quite a lot now is Cathy Gannon. She rode a winner for him at Wolverhampton this evening, having ridden one for his ex-wife Deborah yesterday. You've got to take your hat off to her, because she is an excellent rider, really on a par with the best men, who has found things a real struggle since coming over here (because she was finding things such a struggle since losing the claim which had helped her become champion apprentice in Ireland two or three years ago). She had one ride for us last year, on Lady Suffragette, who had achieved nothing up to that point, and she really woke the filly up to run a close fourth. Brett was available for Lady Suffragette on her only subsequent run, and rides her again tomorrow when she should run well, but I wouldn't hesitate to put Cathy back on her, or on anything else come to that. She really deserves the success which is slowly starting to come her way. On the subject of her winner yesterday, that was really weird, because she beat David Evans' runner, the 7/4 favourite ridden by Neil Callan, by a short head. Her mount was 22/1. What was weird was that first and second were both owned by the same people, and they claimed to have backed the second. How could you do that? If you had two runners in the same race, and one was 7/4 and the other was 22/1, how could you back the 7/4 shot? You couldn't. There's only one reason for running two horses in the same race, and that's because you think it is the right race for each horse and that, therefore, they both have a chance. So if one is 7/4 and the other is 22/1, your punting strategy would be a no-brainer (as Luca would say): you'd back the outsider. Well you would if you had any understanding of anything. Or maybe I'm missing something.
Returning to subjects closer to home, a thought that's been going through my head in the past few days has been that I must add Diktat (yes I said we'd get on to him) to the list of stallions who emerged from 2006 with credit. He had a cracking year, Rajeem's win in the Group One Falmouth Stakes (in fairness, Kerrin McEvoy probably deserves the lion's share for that one, but she still had to be nearly as good as her Group One class rivals to win it) being the highlight, although the excellent runs of Short Skirt, in particular her defeat of Alexandrova in the Musidora, rate very highly too. When we bought the little Diktat yearling in Fairyhouse in September, I did so having it in my mind that Diktat was doing well, particularly with his fillies, so it was nice to keep tabs on a real stream of winners which he enjoyed for the rest of the year. One of the most exciting was little Dixie Belle winning a Listed sprint at Newbury, keeping the ball rolling in an excellent year for the Quinlan brothers, who had another big day a few weeks later when Frank Sonata beat Scorpion in a Listed race at the Curragh. Good, I've got them in too, because they were the most glaring omission from my list of trainers who had enjoyed a notably and deservedly successful year in 2006. Anyway, the reason why Diktat has been buzzing around my brain is that, as mentioned in an earlier blog, our little filly has come back from Kerry's, and I'm very pleased with her. She looks to my eyes to be going physically in the direction I had hoped (and mentally she is great, very biddable and enthusiastic), and I think that now she is back in work she will just strengthen up week by week and month by month, and I anticipate her being quite a strong little horse by the middle of the year. Let's hope so. In fact, if she or one of the others can manage to win anything approaching a feature race, then maybe even the Racing Post will know I exist.
(Which they must do anyway, because I've sent them two letters this week - although as one was to nominate Vince Smith for Greatest Ride Ever, and the other was to criticise one of their columnists (Howard Wright, again), it's possible that they might just be filed on the cutting room floor.).
Yes, it was great to cheer Serpentaria home on tv in the first division of the mile median auction maiden at Lingfield today. Unfortunately I was unable to help anyone else to share the excitement, because I only woke up to the fact of who she is (she is Anis Etoile's Golden Snake three-year-old half-sister and was making her debut today) after they had gone about a furlong, so had no time to alert any of Anis Etoile's part-owners that we had someone to cheer for. But, if you missed it, believe me - it was really good. She was up there all the way, led into the straight, was challenged on both sides and lost the lead, but battled back (with Seb Sanders riding at nearly his hardest, which is a sight to behold) to regain the lead in the shadows of the post to win by a brave head. It was great. Of course, it doesn't really alter whether we do or don't have a good horse on our hands, but it certainly makes it even easier for us to travel hopefully. I think it was a good race. The runner-up Mutoon is, I think, a good horse: she is a half-sister to a Park Hill winner and Dave Huelin and I were keen to buy her at the sales last autumn, but she fetched too much (about 45,000 gns, I think), while the third (at least I think the horse was third) had been the subject of a monster plunge, something like 5/1 into 2/1. And the field also contained Araafa's Orpen half-brother, who had been placed in two of his three previous starts for Michael Bell. So that was good. We can watch Serpentaria's future with interest. She could be Golden Snake's best horse, which wouldn't be saying a great deal, although I've always felt he has the potential to be a better stallion than he is supposed to be; perhaps now that he is standing in Ireland he will be better patronized and thus better able to show what he can do.
As mentioned above, Seb Sanders' riding today, as so often, was pretty impressive, and I'm going to use that fairly nothing statement to bring us back to my end-of-year review, because names keep coming up who deserve a bit of a plug. Several of these are jockeys, and it would be remiss of me not to highlight that our street produced the champion apprentice last year: Stephen Donohoe, the latest young rider to thrive under the aegis of Willie Musson. He's been a very good rider for several year, but questionable motivation had sometimes seen him unfeasibly heavy and therefore inactive. However, he seems to have woken up now, and has added keenness to his talent, intelligence and natural decency. It was nice to see him being used frequently by his former boss David Evans, and he just kept riding more and more winners as the season went on. Including Jack Dawson at Yarmouth, which was nice. I don't know where he's been over the past couple of months, but he's just resuming riding the past couple of days, and rode an interesting horse today for David, a three-year-old gelding called Mick Is Back, by Diktat ex Classy Cleo. Classy Cleo was a grand filly in the same stable and Diktat is a good stallion (which I suspect I shall point out shortly) and this horse seems, after an unpromising start, to be running into some sort of form. He finished fourth today, wearing blinkers for the first time, and he's in the right stable to win a few races, which I predict he will do this year.
Another jockey whom David Evans is using quite a lot now is Cathy Gannon. She rode a winner for him at Wolverhampton this evening, having ridden one for his ex-wife Deborah yesterday. You've got to take your hat off to her, because she is an excellent rider, really on a par with the best men, who has found things a real struggle since coming over here (because she was finding things such a struggle since losing the claim which had helped her become champion apprentice in Ireland two or three years ago). She had one ride for us last year, on Lady Suffragette, who had achieved nothing up to that point, and she really woke the filly up to run a close fourth. Brett was available for Lady Suffragette on her only subsequent run, and rides her again tomorrow when she should run well, but I wouldn't hesitate to put Cathy back on her, or on anything else come to that. She really deserves the success which is slowly starting to come her way. On the subject of her winner yesterday, that was really weird, because she beat David Evans' runner, the 7/4 favourite ridden by Neil Callan, by a short head. Her mount was 22/1. What was weird was that first and second were both owned by the same people, and they claimed to have backed the second. How could you do that? If you had two runners in the same race, and one was 7/4 and the other was 22/1, how could you back the 7/4 shot? You couldn't. There's only one reason for running two horses in the same race, and that's because you think it is the right race for each horse and that, therefore, they both have a chance. So if one is 7/4 and the other is 22/1, your punting strategy would be a no-brainer (as Luca would say): you'd back the outsider. Well you would if you had any understanding of anything. Or maybe I'm missing something.
Returning to subjects closer to home, a thought that's been going through my head in the past few days has been that I must add Diktat (yes I said we'd get on to him) to the list of stallions who emerged from 2006 with credit. He had a cracking year, Rajeem's win in the Group One Falmouth Stakes (in fairness, Kerrin McEvoy probably deserves the lion's share for that one, but she still had to be nearly as good as her Group One class rivals to win it) being the highlight, although the excellent runs of Short Skirt, in particular her defeat of Alexandrova in the Musidora, rate very highly too. When we bought the little Diktat yearling in Fairyhouse in September, I did so having it in my mind that Diktat was doing well, particularly with his fillies, so it was nice to keep tabs on a real stream of winners which he enjoyed for the rest of the year. One of the most exciting was little Dixie Belle winning a Listed sprint at Newbury, keeping the ball rolling in an excellent year for the Quinlan brothers, who had another big day a few weeks later when Frank Sonata beat Scorpion in a Listed race at the Curragh. Good, I've got them in too, because they were the most glaring omission from my list of trainers who had enjoyed a notably and deservedly successful year in 2006. Anyway, the reason why Diktat has been buzzing around my brain is that, as mentioned in an earlier blog, our little filly has come back from Kerry's, and I'm very pleased with her. She looks to my eyes to be going physically in the direction I had hoped (and mentally she is great, very biddable and enthusiastic), and I think that now she is back in work she will just strengthen up week by week and month by month, and I anticipate her being quite a strong little horse by the middle of the year. Let's hope so. In fact, if she or one of the others can manage to win anything approaching a feature race, then maybe even the Racing Post will know I exist.
(Which they must do anyway, because I've sent them two letters this week - although as one was to nominate Vince Smith for Greatest Ride Ever, and the other was to criticise one of their columnists (Howard Wright, again), it's possible that they might just be filed on the cutting room floor.).
Nostalgia, part two
I've just got back from Lingfield where we had our first runner of the year, Pantomime Prince (of whom more later) and a note of sadness has been added to a rather pleasant day by reading on thoroughbredinternet.com of the death of Brigid Payne at the age of 36. People die every day, and if you don't know them, you don't know them - yes, we know that, and I never met Brigid, but to hear of the death of heart failure of any 36-year-old is sad, particularly when it is a member of a family whom the entire racing community holds in the highest respect and affection, a family which has already suffered its share of heart-ache. Paddy senior had to bury his wife at an early age and raise his family himself - and haven't they all been a credit to him, with no fewer than eight becoming talented and respected jockeys? - and it is so sad to hear that he's now having to bury one of his children. For anyone unfamiliar with the Paynes, I strongly recommend Tony Kneebone's book of that name; I'd be prepared to lend my copy, but I'll definitely want it back.Which leads me back to my ongoing reminicences of 2006, because one thought which has been haunting me since Emma and I went to the meet (on foot) of the Thurlow Hunt (where the riders included our vet David Dugdale and his wife Clodagh, Richard Perham, and a doctor called Roddy O'Donnell with whom I went to school and with whom I have recently regained contact - we haven't yet met up, but I hope to put that right before too long) on Boxing Day has been the fate of Anthony Gillam. You will probably recall that Anthony, one of the senior stipendiary stewards in the north, had a fall out hunting with, I think, the Middleton early last year which left him in a coma, in which I believe he remains. So very sad. He would be a candidate for the title of the most decent man I know, a true gentleman who is the perfect example of how racecourse stewarding should operate. A former amateur rider and then trainer for a few years - I believe he trained Red Rum briefly, but the only horse I really remember him training was Rambling Artist, who used to run against Red Rum in races such as the Greenall Whitley at Haydock - he is thoroughly versed in all aspects of racing horses, but oversees fair play in the kindest, most courteous manner - to everyone - you could imagine. He commands respect just by being himself, and I so wish that I could have the opportunity to tell him how much I respect him and how much poorer the racecourses are for his absence. Happier stories with which to begin the new year are Chris Kinane and J P McNamara, although neither is out of the woods by any means, and these stories are only happier in relative terms. It does, though, sound promising for J P, an excellent jockey and very decent man, as he struggles to regain mobility. As regards Chris, I spoke to Keith Cosby, the man who has worked wonders in organising the fund to raise money to help ease the torment for Chris and Tessa, a few days before Christmas and at least the update is that the struggle continues. He's been through a living hell and is still in it, but if there is any justice in the world, and if collective good will can have any effect, he'll be able to enjoy life again eventually.
In the absence of J P, who excelled on every horse he rode for this stable, the role of undervalued jockey we like to use for our few jumpers if we need someone has been taken on by Andrew Tinkler, an excellent young man who rode Bilkie a couple of times last year and who I think will have a very big future in the game. I was delighted when he rode a winner at the Cheltenham Festival and it is my prediction for 2007 that, with the retirement of Mick Fitzgerald scheduled for the end of the current season (both are attached to Nicky Henderson's stable), Andrew will be established as a major league jockey by the end of the year. Otherwise, Matthew Smith is our preferred option when he can do the weights. He is a thoroughly accomplished horseman, an outstanding schooling rider and outstanding value for his claim. Sadly, he hasn't been able to use that claim since having a very bad fall when representing GB in a FEGENTRI race in Germany in, I'd guess, September, and I think will be out for a few more months, but there'll always be horses for him to ride here.
The main reason I wanted to return to my end-of-year nostalgia (now that we've left the old year behind by a full ten days I think we can start being nostalgic) was that I realised that I hadn't mentioned stallions. And, having said that I would commend Largesse in my review, I must do so. So, here it is - Largesse had a cracking year, genuinely appears to upgrade his mares and using him would give anyone an opportunity of breeding a nice horse. And I'm putting my money where my mouth is. Otherwise, I'd say that stallion honours could be shared between Danehill Dancer and Dansili. The former couldn't go wrong, and produced grand horse after grand horse from, in general, pretty ordinary backgrounds, the money-factory (courtesy of the skill of Kevin Prendergast) Miss Beatrix being a prime example. Dansili had a summer and autumn to dream about. Emma and I had the pleasure of seeing him, and his brother Cacique, at Banstead Manor a few days ago, which was lovely. Cacique isn't at the moment a particularly imposing horse - and Dansili, for what appears to be a sire of middle-distance horses / stayers, is surprisingly compact - but that wouldn't bother me, as he actually reminds me of how Banstead's patriarch Rainbow Quest (we saw him too, in his stable) looked in his racing days. Mind you, I didn't pass on that opinion to anyone there, in case they told me to stop being stupid. But, think back - wasn't Rainbow Quest a fairly lanky, almost weedy, animal as a youngster? And look at him now! (So there's hope for me yet).
As regards trainers, I hailed a few of the more obvious achievers, but I feel it would be remiss of me not to mention the outstanding years enjoyed by Paul Midgley and Ron Harris. Both have really put their operations to the fore in the past year, and both are people who thoroughly deserve their success. John Quinn, too, has been one of the main achievers, and he too really deserves any credit or success he gets; so it is a real tribute to Ron that possibly his most successful horse has been Graze On, whom he bought out of John Quinn's yard after a selling race. Closer to home, Micky Quinn enjoyed an excellent year, and he too is a man I'm always glad to see in the winner's enclosure. Of our immediate neighbours, Jonathan Jay (mainly courtesy of the excellent jumper Tidal Fury) and Willie Musson both had good years, and it was great yesterday to see that Dave Morris has got off the mark so promptly 2007. Charlie McBride is another battler from Newmarket who enjoyed a great year (ten wins from a handful of horses), and his 2007 tally is already at two.
Our tally for the year, as I mentioned earlier, is no wins from one run, but that run, by Pantomime Prince, was promising enough today. The dear little horse seems to be thriving, and it was no disgrace to finish fifth, only a few lengths adrift of the winner, in the mile maiden today. The winner was a mighty horse - if you were drunk, you could have confused him for Dansili - which one would expect from a four-year-old colt, a half-brother to a Classic winner, who had cost 180,000 gns as a yearling and was now making a belated debut for Sir Michael Stoute. He's owned by Sean Woods, so I hope he did enough today to justify being taken to Hong Kong, because presumably Sean has a big investment tied up in him so it would be nice to see him getting a return. Pantomime Prince is, as eagle-eyed readers of this site might have picked up, a lovely little horse who is just a delight in every way. Martha has ridden him the past couple of days, and her verdict was that he "doesn't have a bad bone in his body". Mind you, the last person I heard a woman say that about was Richard Sims, so I'm not sure where that leaves us. Apart from Panto, two other horses have particularly contributed to the pleasantness of my day, because I seem to be the regular rider of Mattie Stokes and Belle Annie, and both gave me lovely rides this morning. Mattie is a real character, but seems to be learning to focus his energies on his work. Belle Annie will be a new name to you, because I see she isn't even up on the site yet. She's an unraced US-bred three-year-old daughter of a very distinguished stallion, Aptitude, from a US Stakes-winning GB-bred mare (who is a relative of the Mark Rimmer-ridden Cesarewitch winner Sir Michael, funnily enough). She's owned principally by Dave Huelin. We bought her out of Philip Mitchell's stable at the horses in training sale - and don't ask me if she's any good, because I really don't know. But I hope that we'll be a bit wiser in a few months' time.
But what I can say is that she seems a sweet filly. She returned from Kerry 's farm on Monday, along with Brief, Jill and the Diktat filly (pictured at top following Jill) and, as always, they've come back from there in great nick. We're so lucky to be able to send horses to relax there under Kerry's kind eye, and Anis Etoile and our naughty teenager Ben Bhraggie (pictured right) are currently the two enjoying the plentiful Norfolk grass.Lastly, prompted by our best correspondent Problemwalrus, I should add a few Cheltenham Festival thoughts to the review. So sad it was that the death toll reached ten, of which that dear old rogue Holy Orders particularly sticks in my mind, but as always the downside of the Festival was balanced by its upside. My feeling after the Champion Hurdle was that that had to be the race of the season - but then two days later My Way De Solzen and Golden Cross (and the admirable Johnny Murtagh) treated us to a duel which was at least as good. War Of Attrition was majestic and Black Jack Ketchum was superb. Voy Por Ustedes v. Monet's Garden was a real treat... And so on to 2007, when Kauto Star will be ... (fill in the blank yourself).
A mixed bag of memories
The sheer impossibility of my chosen task has been becoming ever more apparent over the past few days. Well, that's not really accurate, because it is, of course, perfectly possible to do the task (producing an end-of-year credit-giving entry, in case I've, understandably, lost you), but to do it satisfactorily just isn't feasible. Site creator Rob Winter has recently made the observation that I post some "massive" entries - if that's the case, I don't think the word exists which would accurately describe the enormity of the entry which would be required to cover last year thoroughly and even-handedly. So I'll just muddle along, lavishing praise on whomever comes to mind, and completely ignoring scores of far more worthy achievers and achievements.
The full extent of the problem came to light today when I watched about an hour of racing on a dull January midweek arvo, and realised that I could fill an entry with just what I'd seen today (which obviously doesn't even count, because it has taken place in 2007). But just to prove how disrespectful of the rules I've set myself, I must before I go any farther hail Kerry Lads' courage in saluting at Wetherby today. The ground was bottomless. There were large areas of standing water in the infield, and the racing surface was so chewed up after last week's two-day heavy ground slog. There were five extremely admirable runners in a three mile, one furlong handicap chase, with aggregate age of 54. Course specialist Jungle Jinks (a son of Proud Panther, a stallion of whom I've otherwise never heard) was bidding for sixth success there, and he almost made it, because he was one of three snapping in slow motion at the heels of Kerry Jack up the seemingly never-ending run-in. It was like watching Crisp in the Grand National, only this time the Crisp character held on, by about a neck. It was the eighth win (from 42 starts) for this splendid 12-year-old, and you'd never see a braver success. The poor horse was absolutely exhausted, and it was nice to see his jockey Peter Buchanan, who had ridden him really well and most sympathetically, jump off him as soon as he pulled up, which was a few strides from the line. There is becoming a worryingly elitist tendency among the racing press - even the superb James Willoughby has succumbed, of which more later - which means that the lesser horses who contest the less valuable races are viewed as if they are children of a lesser god, but anyone who watched this race will have seen as special a display of genuineness as one would ever see, however many feature race-days one attended. And this slap, bang in the middle of the silly season. (The silly season? Well, how about this: 125/1 winner at Southwell yesterday who had been beaten 100 lengths on his most recent start, and whose only previous win had come in a seller six years ago; P.Grayson trained all the horses (five) declared for a two-year-old race at Lingfield AW on Saturday, the field for which was reduced by 60% on race-morning after only two of the five (four of whom had already run at least once that week) were deemed sound enough to run; the winner of division two of the two-mile handicap at Kempton AW today was by Mozart from a Statoblest mare ...).
I digress. We're looking at the year's heroes. Well, how about this for a start? Pride, Collier Hill and Sergeant Cecil. What a wonderful little scrap Pride is. There's not really much more to say, other than that she'd be my nomination for Horse Of The Year. I cheered myself hoarse when she won in Hong Kong. Collier Hill, with the help of his thoroughly admirable trainer and jockey, has also provided some wonderful thrills, battling to the narrowest of wins in Gr.1 in Canada (on a bog track) and Hong Kong (on a firm track). He also was the catalyst for interview of the year, when running in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot, quite late in the meeting. Ouija Board and Yeats had already won their Group Ones on the Wednesday and the Thursday, so when Dean McKeown was interviewed on tv in advance of Collier Hill's run, he was able to point to his mount's chances by referring to those wins, and saying that Collier Hill had beaten both horses in the past. It goes without saying that Dean mispronounced the mare as "Weejee" Board - everyone does that, even Claire Balding, although I suspect in her case it must be going against her better judgement, but will have been foisted on her by the BBC's dumbing down - but the true gem was "Yeets". That was a moment to savour, and a lovely little story with which to remember three splendid horses. And yes, Yeets is a splendid horse. He was sublime at Royal Ascot and at Goodwood, and was clearly past his best by the autumn (not that I wish in anyway to undermine the great Cup runs of beautiful Delta Blues and lovely Pop Rock). But he surely has to share stayer of the year honours with the great Sergeant. His Horse Of The Year-winning 2005 campaign was a hard act to follow, but his form in the second half of 2006, culminating in that thrilling Prix du Cadran win, meant that he's just going from strength to strength. And what can one say about the excellent Rod Millman: Sergeant Cecil and his side-kick Hawridge Prince? The man's a genius. And a thoroughly decent one to boot.
Yeets' Gold Cup, of course, also provided one of the lowest points of the season, when dear old Media Puzzle broke down in the shadows of the post and had to be put down. It was a very, very sad end for a horse who had brought so much pleasure to so many. From my own point of view, Benedict and Ngauruhoe were the saddest casualties of the year, but I found the avoidable and shocking death of Horatio Nelson in the Derby very hard to cope with too. Not least because it was only two days after Ngauruhoe's death, and only nine or ten weeks after we'd lost Benny. I'd seen Horatio Nelson at Longchamp when he won the Prix Jean-Luc Lagadere, and he was the perfect combination of a lovely-looking horse who seemed to have the most loveable, placid temperament. I took to him as instantly as I had done two years previously with Alamshar when I'd first laid eyes on him in the Derby parade ring, and each of them was easily my favourite (and I'm basically writing this article leaving out the horses here, because that would make it intolerably subjective, rather than just extremely subjective) horse of his generation. Horatio Nelson didn't look the same animal on his two racecourse appearances of 2006, and his death was just very, very sad. It's easy to be wise in retrospect, but it just shouldn't have happened. But, unfortunately, when one is racing for colossal sums of money, one's judgement can be affected - although current journalistic thought (of which more probably in a future blog) appears to be that this is more likely to happen when winning the race makes one only slightly less poor than not running in it. Unbelievable. But back to our memorial, and we have to inscribe lovely Missed That's name on it too. He was a smashing horse. I think I only saw him once, when he won the Cheltenham Bumper two years ago. He was easily the nicest horse in the field, a really powerful horse, but an immature one, physically and mentally. I always enjoyed watching him run, because he was always exciting. He never really seemed very good at looking after himself, but David Casey, a jockey I very much admire - Walsh, of course, is the complete jockey, outstanding, but I was always very happy to see Casey on Missed That, and he was the top-class mount that Casey deserves - rode him really well, and they made a very good combination. In retrospect, he was always a horse who might have met a sticky end, just like poor Therealbandit, because he always had that look of a horse living on the edge, but when I read that he'd suffered a fatal injury on the gallops, I felt really, really sad. Desert Orchid, of course, was the highest profile equine demisee of the year, but nobody lives forever, and no one could ask for a live lived better or fuller than the one which Dessie enjoyed. And I do mean enjoyed.
Ouija Board retires in one piece. She's a wonderful mare, but I've never really been on her bandwagon. Of course I respect her - and admire the way Ed Dunlop has trained her - but Pride would be undisputed Queen Of The Turf for me. It's just a shame that Ouija Board's outstanding record has been so severely diminished by the incompetence of her various riders so often. Jerry Bailey takes pole position here, because often she's lost races she should have won through bad luck and one's blamed the rider for not getting a clear passage (and that, after all, is pretty much the differentiating factor between good jockeys and bad jockeys) but with Bailey in last year's Breeders' Cup there was no question of luck being involved: he just went to sleep, and gave the leader far too much rope in a slowly-run race. But for his ineptitude, she'd be the only horse ever to win three consecutive Breeders' Cups. Now wouldn't that be some record. And she could still become the first horse to win three if the premature decision to retire her was reversed. If that were the case, she would probably become Britain's highest-earner (she's currently a close second to Singspiel), become the first horse to win three Breeders' Cups, retire as the best mare in Europe (because Pride won't be in training next year), and could very well end up with ten Group One wins (a real holy grail of a goal, which she would probably already have attained with better rides). Racing as a six-year-old hasn't done Pride any harm, nor Makybe Diva (nor countless other top-liners who have raced well beyond that age, such as Collier Hill ...), but as it is she retires in one piece with a splendid record. She's been a credit to her connections and they have been a credit to her, so maybe they've made the right decisison yet again. Who knows? (As Peter Corbett would say).
Trainers and jockeys? Well, Alan Swinbank and Rod Millman have to stand somewhere on the podium. As does Pam Sly, for her wonderful Classic win with wonderful Speciosa. (By the way, while it was great to see her win and it really was a most heartening occasion, it was rather depressing to hear the press tell us that it was a great boost for small stables to see that a small stable can win a top race granted the presence of the right horse - surely we knew that already? It's just finding that horse on very limited financial resources, and this doesn't get us any nearer to doing that. But we live in hope. The problem is that, even now, so many otherwise reasonably sensible people really believe that having only a few cheap horses under one's care really does mean that one is a second-rate trainer). But at least now everyone knows that Pam Sly, at least, is a very good trainer and a lovely person. (But some of us knew that anyway). And it was just great to see her, and Micky, in that winner's enclosure. Otherwise, the master trainer Jim Bolger has found the successor to St. Jovite, and possibly the successoress to Jet Ski Lady too, which is great because he really is the professional's professional. If we can look forward to a few more battles between Teofilo and Holy Roman Emperor, who comes from the same mould as our dear friend Horatio Nelson, then 2007 will be a treat. As regards jumping, it was very moving to bid the great Martin Pipe farewell, and reflect that he must be rated as perhaps Britain's greatest ever trainer. (On which subject, I used to think that Richard Dunwoody was our greatest jockey ever, flat or jumping, but now I'm not sure that that's correct, such is the strength in the jumping ranks. And I never saw Scobie ride, which is a very topical thought only a couple of weeks after his death.). If anyone deserves a long and happy retirement, it is Martin Pipe, and he must currently be enjoying seeing how well David is maintaining the stable's standards. Another son to make the father proud, although in this case posthumously, is Nicky Richards, who has now fully established himself as one of the country's finest. His father was a very hard act to follow indeed, but he's doing his dad proud.
Talking of doing dad proud, Jimmy Frost's son rode his first winner today, on I'd guess about his fourth or fifth ride. And that's despite being saddled with the bizarre Christian name Hadden. You'd think he was Seth Efrican. He rode really well (mind you, his dad was a top point-to-point hoop aged 15, so it's in the blood) and looks set to follow in his dad's footsteps by going near to the top as a jockey - and I'd say it will be as a jumps jockey too, because he looked as big as Dane O'Neill, who was on the second, already. Mind you, as mentioned in a recent blog, George Baker is massive and he's still riding on the flat. He's a wonderful rider worthy of the highest respect, and not far behind Dale Gibson and Ted Durcan in professionalism. It's great to see Brett Doyle back in the UK and leading the winter premiership by a wide margin. Another jockey to catch the eye in the past year (yet again) was Tony Culhane, who rode some fantastic races, and that was despite having a horrendous fall mid-season. He's been one of our finest hoops for several years - but sadly that may be about to change, as he's about to be charged with wrong-doing by the HRA, as we read last week. It's just so sad that there appears to be so much rotten in the jockeys' room, and it is a sad state of affairs that one can admire riders' skill and nerve so much, and like them, but find that they may be abusing our sport and dragging it down. How to react is a dilemma we should not have to face. I suspect I may touch upon this sore topic in another blog in the near future, so I don't want to get too involved now, but basically one can't compile an overview of the year without referring to the subject when jockeys of the calibre of Kieren Fallon and Tony Culhane are waiting in line. So very, very sad.
I think that's most of what I wanted to say. As I mentioned, this is meant to be me looking outwards, but I must finish with a little bit of navel-gazing. Jack's win at Yarmouth was a real highlight, because he really is the most wonderful old soldier (just don't let him hear you call him old), and it was so special to see him back in the winner's stall. Brief is a true trouper too, and in retrospect his success at Haydock was a very special moment indeed. Such a happy day with which to remember dear Joe. And I can't think of a better way to finish this blog than that.
The full extent of the problem came to light today when I watched about an hour of racing on a dull January midweek arvo, and realised that I could fill an entry with just what I'd seen today (which obviously doesn't even count, because it has taken place in 2007). But just to prove how disrespectful of the rules I've set myself, I must before I go any farther hail Kerry Lads' courage in saluting at Wetherby today. The ground was bottomless. There were large areas of standing water in the infield, and the racing surface was so chewed up after last week's two-day heavy ground slog. There were five extremely admirable runners in a three mile, one furlong handicap chase, with aggregate age of 54. Course specialist Jungle Jinks (a son of Proud Panther, a stallion of whom I've otherwise never heard) was bidding for sixth success there, and he almost made it, because he was one of three snapping in slow motion at the heels of Kerry Jack up the seemingly never-ending run-in. It was like watching Crisp in the Grand National, only this time the Crisp character held on, by about a neck. It was the eighth win (from 42 starts) for this splendid 12-year-old, and you'd never see a braver success. The poor horse was absolutely exhausted, and it was nice to see his jockey Peter Buchanan, who had ridden him really well and most sympathetically, jump off him as soon as he pulled up, which was a few strides from the line. There is becoming a worryingly elitist tendency among the racing press - even the superb James Willoughby has succumbed, of which more later - which means that the lesser horses who contest the less valuable races are viewed as if they are children of a lesser god, but anyone who watched this race will have seen as special a display of genuineness as one would ever see, however many feature race-days one attended. And this slap, bang in the middle of the silly season. (The silly season? Well, how about this: 125/1 winner at Southwell yesterday who had been beaten 100 lengths on his most recent start, and whose only previous win had come in a seller six years ago; P.Grayson trained all the horses (five) declared for a two-year-old race at Lingfield AW on Saturday, the field for which was reduced by 60% on race-morning after only two of the five (four of whom had already run at least once that week) were deemed sound enough to run; the winner of division two of the two-mile handicap at Kempton AW today was by Mozart from a Statoblest mare ...).
I digress. We're looking at the year's heroes. Well, how about this for a start? Pride, Collier Hill and Sergeant Cecil. What a wonderful little scrap Pride is. There's not really much more to say, other than that she'd be my nomination for Horse Of The Year. I cheered myself hoarse when she won in Hong Kong. Collier Hill, with the help of his thoroughly admirable trainer and jockey, has also provided some wonderful thrills, battling to the narrowest of wins in Gr.1 in Canada (on a bog track) and Hong Kong (on a firm track). He also was the catalyst for interview of the year, when running in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot, quite late in the meeting. Ouija Board and Yeats had already won their Group Ones on the Wednesday and the Thursday, so when Dean McKeown was interviewed on tv in advance of Collier Hill's run, he was able to point to his mount's chances by referring to those wins, and saying that Collier Hill had beaten both horses in the past. It goes without saying that Dean mispronounced the mare as "Weejee" Board - everyone does that, even Claire Balding, although I suspect in her case it must be going against her better judgement, but will have been foisted on her by the BBC's dumbing down - but the true gem was "Yeets". That was a moment to savour, and a lovely little story with which to remember three splendid horses. And yes, Yeets is a splendid horse. He was sublime at Royal Ascot and at Goodwood, and was clearly past his best by the autumn (not that I wish in anyway to undermine the great Cup runs of beautiful Delta Blues and lovely Pop Rock). But he surely has to share stayer of the year honours with the great Sergeant. His Horse Of The Year-winning 2005 campaign was a hard act to follow, but his form in the second half of 2006, culminating in that thrilling Prix du Cadran win, meant that he's just going from strength to strength. And what can one say about the excellent Rod Millman: Sergeant Cecil and his side-kick Hawridge Prince? The man's a genius. And a thoroughly decent one to boot.
Yeets' Gold Cup, of course, also provided one of the lowest points of the season, when dear old Media Puzzle broke down in the shadows of the post and had to be put down. It was a very, very sad end for a horse who had brought so much pleasure to so many. From my own point of view, Benedict and Ngauruhoe were the saddest casualties of the year, but I found the avoidable and shocking death of Horatio Nelson in the Derby very hard to cope with too. Not least because it was only two days after Ngauruhoe's death, and only nine or ten weeks after we'd lost Benny. I'd seen Horatio Nelson at Longchamp when he won the Prix Jean-Luc Lagadere, and he was the perfect combination of a lovely-looking horse who seemed to have the most loveable, placid temperament. I took to him as instantly as I had done two years previously with Alamshar when I'd first laid eyes on him in the Derby parade ring, and each of them was easily my favourite (and I'm basically writing this article leaving out the horses here, because that would make it intolerably subjective, rather than just extremely subjective) horse of his generation. Horatio Nelson didn't look the same animal on his two racecourse appearances of 2006, and his death was just very, very sad. It's easy to be wise in retrospect, but it just shouldn't have happened. But, unfortunately, when one is racing for colossal sums of money, one's judgement can be affected - although current journalistic thought (of which more probably in a future blog) appears to be that this is more likely to happen when winning the race makes one only slightly less poor than not running in it. Unbelievable. But back to our memorial, and we have to inscribe lovely Missed That's name on it too. He was a smashing horse. I think I only saw him once, when he won the Cheltenham Bumper two years ago. He was easily the nicest horse in the field, a really powerful horse, but an immature one, physically and mentally. I always enjoyed watching him run, because he was always exciting. He never really seemed very good at looking after himself, but David Casey, a jockey I very much admire - Walsh, of course, is the complete jockey, outstanding, but I was always very happy to see Casey on Missed That, and he was the top-class mount that Casey deserves - rode him really well, and they made a very good combination. In retrospect, he was always a horse who might have met a sticky end, just like poor Therealbandit, because he always had that look of a horse living on the edge, but when I read that he'd suffered a fatal injury on the gallops, I felt really, really sad. Desert Orchid, of course, was the highest profile equine demisee of the year, but nobody lives forever, and no one could ask for a live lived better or fuller than the one which Dessie enjoyed. And I do mean enjoyed.
Ouija Board retires in one piece. She's a wonderful mare, but I've never really been on her bandwagon. Of course I respect her - and admire the way Ed Dunlop has trained her - but Pride would be undisputed Queen Of The Turf for me. It's just a shame that Ouija Board's outstanding record has been so severely diminished by the incompetence of her various riders so often. Jerry Bailey takes pole position here, because often she's lost races she should have won through bad luck and one's blamed the rider for not getting a clear passage (and that, after all, is pretty much the differentiating factor between good jockeys and bad jockeys) but with Bailey in last year's Breeders' Cup there was no question of luck being involved: he just went to sleep, and gave the leader far too much rope in a slowly-run race. But for his ineptitude, she'd be the only horse ever to win three consecutive Breeders' Cups. Now wouldn't that be some record. And she could still become the first horse to win three if the premature decision to retire her was reversed. If that were the case, she would probably become Britain's highest-earner (she's currently a close second to Singspiel), become the first horse to win three Breeders' Cups, retire as the best mare in Europe (because Pride won't be in training next year), and could very well end up with ten Group One wins (a real holy grail of a goal, which she would probably already have attained with better rides). Racing as a six-year-old hasn't done Pride any harm, nor Makybe Diva (nor countless other top-liners who have raced well beyond that age, such as Collier Hill ...), but as it is she retires in one piece with a splendid record. She's been a credit to her connections and they have been a credit to her, so maybe they've made the right decisison yet again. Who knows? (As Peter Corbett would say).
Trainers and jockeys? Well, Alan Swinbank and Rod Millman have to stand somewhere on the podium. As does Pam Sly, for her wonderful Classic win with wonderful Speciosa. (By the way, while it was great to see her win and it really was a most heartening occasion, it was rather depressing to hear the press tell us that it was a great boost for small stables to see that a small stable can win a top race granted the presence of the right horse - surely we knew that already? It's just finding that horse on very limited financial resources, and this doesn't get us any nearer to doing that. But we live in hope. The problem is that, even now, so many otherwise reasonably sensible people really believe that having only a few cheap horses under one's care really does mean that one is a second-rate trainer). But at least now everyone knows that Pam Sly, at least, is a very good trainer and a lovely person. (But some of us knew that anyway). And it was just great to see her, and Micky, in that winner's enclosure. Otherwise, the master trainer Jim Bolger has found the successor to St. Jovite, and possibly the successoress to Jet Ski Lady too, which is great because he really is the professional's professional. If we can look forward to a few more battles between Teofilo and Holy Roman Emperor, who comes from the same mould as our dear friend Horatio Nelson, then 2007 will be a treat. As regards jumping, it was very moving to bid the great Martin Pipe farewell, and reflect that he must be rated as perhaps Britain's greatest ever trainer. (On which subject, I used to think that Richard Dunwoody was our greatest jockey ever, flat or jumping, but now I'm not sure that that's correct, such is the strength in the jumping ranks. And I never saw Scobie ride, which is a very topical thought only a couple of weeks after his death.). If anyone deserves a long and happy retirement, it is Martin Pipe, and he must currently be enjoying seeing how well David is maintaining the stable's standards. Another son to make the father proud, although in this case posthumously, is Nicky Richards, who has now fully established himself as one of the country's finest. His father was a very hard act to follow indeed, but he's doing his dad proud.
Talking of doing dad proud, Jimmy Frost's son rode his first winner today, on I'd guess about his fourth or fifth ride. And that's despite being saddled with the bizarre Christian name Hadden. You'd think he was Seth Efrican. He rode really well (mind you, his dad was a top point-to-point hoop aged 15, so it's in the blood) and looks set to follow in his dad's footsteps by going near to the top as a jockey - and I'd say it will be as a jumps jockey too, because he looked as big as Dane O'Neill, who was on the second, already. Mind you, as mentioned in a recent blog, George Baker is massive and he's still riding on the flat. He's a wonderful rider worthy of the highest respect, and not far behind Dale Gibson and Ted Durcan in professionalism. It's great to see Brett Doyle back in the UK and leading the winter premiership by a wide margin. Another jockey to catch the eye in the past year (yet again) was Tony Culhane, who rode some fantastic races, and that was despite having a horrendous fall mid-season. He's been one of our finest hoops for several years - but sadly that may be about to change, as he's about to be charged with wrong-doing by the HRA, as we read last week. It's just so sad that there appears to be so much rotten in the jockeys' room, and it is a sad state of affairs that one can admire riders' skill and nerve so much, and like them, but find that they may be abusing our sport and dragging it down. How to react is a dilemma we should not have to face. I suspect I may touch upon this sore topic in another blog in the near future, so I don't want to get too involved now, but basically one can't compile an overview of the year without referring to the subject when jockeys of the calibre of Kieren Fallon and Tony Culhane are waiting in line. So very, very sad.
I think that's most of what I wanted to say. As I mentioned, this is meant to be me looking outwards, but I must finish with a little bit of navel-gazing. Jack's win at Yarmouth was a real highlight, because he really is the most wonderful old soldier (just don't let him hear you call him old), and it was so special to see him back in the winner's stall. Brief is a true trouper too, and in retrospect his success at Haydock was a very special moment indeed. Such a happy day with which to remember dear Joe. And I can't think of a better way to finish this blog than that.
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