Good on 'em

Well, Brief never raised a cheer at Sandown, so I never got to raise my glass of Lucozade. He mooched around at the back, as it was plain that he was going to do once they'd gone a couple of furlongs, by which stage in-running punters would already have been laying the backmarkers. The last four horses at that stage were the last four horses home, and one could say that he did well to move up from fourth to second of that group. However, it would be unwise to read too many positives into the run, and I think now it's time for a radical change of tack, so he'll be tackling something considerably longer next time. If he's up to that task, it will mean that it will have taken me five years to work out that a Slip Anchor can run farther than 2000m, which wouldn't say much for my supposed pedigree-awareness. Last week, however, did get better, as Imperial Decree ran another creditable race when fourth in the nursery at Yarmouth, and Racie Gracie ran and behaved satisfactorily on her debut at Newmarket. Furthermore, I returned fairly quickly to health, and we greatly enjoyed the company of our Irish visitors (ie members of the Principes Formation), despite finding that dining in the Bushel is the closest one can get to dining in Fawlty Towers (although in fairness I must add that the landlord was very nice about it all, and he did serve me with the best steak I have eaten in years). On which subject, we must just spare a thought for Liam Richardson, for whom lightning struck for a second time: he'd missed Imperial Decree's run at the Curragh when his flight from Belgium that morning was cancelled out of the blue, and then he missed out on Yarmouth too, after arriving at the Channel Tunnel that morning to discover that the service was disrupted for a few hours. Unbelievable.

I've just got a few thoughts now buzzing around in my head, which I'll just allow to flow out onto the page. Uppermost of them, ie the most recent, is marvelling at the fact that a 70-year-old rode in a couple of races in New South Wales the weekend before last. Some of you might remember him, because he is the man who accompanied Choisir when he ran over here a few years ago, Lyle Weaver. It wasn't bush racing either, but Newcastle, and he rode one for Paul Perry and one for Kris Lees. He doesn't appear to be planning to make a habit of it, but was just helping out because the EI-induced 'closed' nature of the meeting meant that there was a shortage of jockeys, so this daily trackwork rider, and ex-jockey, donned the silks once again, which is great. That nugget of information came from Saturday's Winning Post, which was a real mine of gems, containing a letter from "H Peterson of Wonthaggi (Vic)" - which will mean nothing at all to most readers, but will bring a grin to one or two faces - as well as a big feature on a grinning M.Rodd, who will be forever remembered as David Dumas' favourite jockey. As the same post also brought a package of goodies from Michael Tidmarsh, including a great photo of Lisa Cropp on our filly Somewhere Safer at Eagle Farm, it was easy to forget just what a tough and worrying time the racing and breeding communities are having down under at present.

Saluting Lyle Weaver's presence in the saddle brings me on to saluting a few achievers over here. These aren't the really big names, but several folk a rung or two below the limelight have, I'd say, earned a 'Good on yer'. We've got to start with Tim Etherington, whose win with Fullandby - a former €6,000 Fairyhouse yearling who has won over £150,000 (if I've got the figures right) - in the Portland, ridden by the excellent PJ McDonald, proved that decency and success can combine. Another trainer whom I'm always happy to see having a winner is Mark Tompkins, and he's been having plenty over the past few weeks as his stable remains in cracking form. Another of our neighbours was among the winners last week too, as Dave Morris had a win at Yarmouth from his tiny string, thanks in part to an excellent ride from Tom Queally. (And Jonathan Jay had a winner at Catterick). Two other jockeys who deserve a pat on the back are JD Smith, who received a well-deserved boost when riding a winner for Sir Michael Stoute at Chepstow a couple of weeks ago, and Tom McLaughlin, who is back where he belongs - in the saddle and the winner's enclosure - after a couple of years of self-imposed exile. He's kept himself fit by working for Ed Dunlop while he hasn't been race-riding, and it has been good to see him slot straight back into the swing of things; in fact, he's done more than slot straight back in, because he's now riding at lighter weights than he'd done for years, having done 8 stone 8lb in his first week back.

Kirsty Milczarek has got her claim down to 5lb, thanks to some good patronage from David Simcock, so I hope it won't be too long before she's claiming five off one of ours: she hasn't ridden anything for us for a few weeks, but then very few people have, as our runners have been far from plentiful. I should also give a small pat on the back to the two jumps jockeys who have ridden for us this year. Both have gone well beyond the call of duty in the thoroughness of the service they provide. Tom Greenway has had the more rides of the pair - and the only winner - and he was here again on Saturday, when he gave Allouette a very successful jumping lesson over hurdles, which she took in impressive style, accompanied by Suze on Lady Suffragette. (The same session, incidentally, also saw Ex Con make the first few steps in his jumping education, going over the log/tyre jumps with Hugh a few times as if to the manner born, all three are pictured at the top of this posting with the adorable Ex Con between Allouette on the left and Lady S on the right). William Kennedy has had only two rides for us - on the track, that is, because he has also schooled - but I hope that he, like Tom, will have plenty more in the future, because both were genuine ten out of tens. Granted normal luck, he has a very bright future indeed.

Just before I sign off, someone else to be saluted is the Racing Post's Nick Godfrey. You'll know that he's just had 'On The Racing Road' published, which is his account of his world racing tour which had previously spawned a few articles in the Racing Post. As this book is published by the Racing Post and written by one of its writers, it seemed sensible not to have another Racing Post employee write its review in the paper, because that might come across as lacking objectivity, so I found myself being asked to write the review. I read the book last week and wrote the review on Sunday and I can here precis my 700-word review into 1% of the original: "It's an excellent book which I recommend".