Squeaker salutes

Here's a nice story. Those who have been familiar with this stable and its inhabitants for some years will realise that, had I started to blog several years ago, 'Squeak' would have featured frequently. For years he appeared to be a permanent fixture here, notwithstanding that he used to go walkabout every so often as the thought crossed his mind that the grass might be greener on the other side of the fence; but predictably he would always reappear to cause his former colleagues to groan at the sound of him asking for his job back. Anyway, three or four years ago he did finally fly the nest, and James Eustace, Ed Dunlop and James Fanshawe all had the mixed delight of keeping him off the streets for a while. But of course he's never left the radar completely because, for all his faults, a lack of friendliness isn't one of them, and he'd always keep in touch. And that's just what we'd want because, although he can drive you up the wall with irritation at times, he's got a lot of good points too, and I'd never want to lose contact with him altogether. It would take too long to give you a complete flavour of Squeak, who was once memorably described by one of his colleagues as 'the most vulgar person I've ever met', but I'll just quote a few sentences which Claude Duval about this stable wrote in the Sun in November 1999: "Bespectacled Berry does have a staff - his apprentice jockey Darren Williamson, 21, who also slots nicely into odd-ball Berry's kingdom. He said, "Darren came to me because Sir Mark Prescott said he'd never make it (in fact, he said that he was too stupid to be granted an apprentice's license, which really is saying something - ed). I suppose Sir Mark thought he was right when Darren fell off Statistician in a Flat race at Southwell. But he shows promise. I call him Squeaker - he's always talking"".Anyway, Squeaker fell off Statistician after a couple of furlongs during his first ride. The horse passed the post first without his luggage and then won his next three races - and everyone assumed that that was an omen that Squeak would never ride a winner.

However, the good news is that persistence pays. Squeaker is now the proud bearer of a Swedish jockey's license, and yesterday morning I received a text from him to tell me that he had four rides at Gothenburg that afternoon. And - you've guessed it - a few hours later I received a call from the most excited little man in the world, telling me that he'd had a winner, a second, a fourth and one unplaced. So there it is: he's done it. At the age of 28, Squeaker has finally ridden that elusive first winner. I've been feeling so good about it, really happy for him. Fingers crossed he doesn't do anything rash, and if he can just settle where he is, he could have a worthwhile long-term career ahead of him. He's very small and can ride well - and completely fearlessly - (albeit sometimes in a style which went out of fashion about 100 years ago) and does like and understand horses, so it's just great to think that at last he's found his niche in the racing world. For all his faults (which would take too long to list, but I could probably sum a few of them up by saying he's probably the most politically incorrect person alive, which in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, but he takes political incorrectness to extremes) Squeak is a very kind, generous person, so it's just lovely to find that life's going so well for him.