Vale Gorgeous George

I'm writing this on one of the best mornings of the year: the Sunday when the clocks have gone back, and there has been an extra hour's sleep in the night. Sundays are good anyway because, unless one has a runner, or a social commitment (which I try to avoid), there's no rush in the mornings anyway. We do have a runner today, but that's at a local track (Towcester) so there's no hurry.

So all should be well, especially as we had the thrill of a winner on Friday. But just now I feel the same way that I'd guess most readers of this blog feel: just very, very sad at the end of George Washington's life. Of course we know horses, like humans, die every day, and if you don't know them, you don't know them; but the thing is we all feel as if we did know George Washington. He was such a charismatic horse, and we just loved him for his 'eccentricities'. But in retrospect those eccentricities maybe were just him expressing the fact that racing wasn't for him - did he have a premonition of doom, or more prosaically was there always some little aspect of unsoundness which made it stressful for him, and his quirks were the only way open to him of expressing to those around him that he'd rather not be doing it? Were they his distress signals which nobody heeded? When a horse dies in or as a result of action, it's always much more easy to accept when one can say that the horse died doing something he enjoyed. That's normally the case - but can we say that about George? I doubt it. I'm just glad I wasn't there - it would have been a miserable enough day even if that hadn't happened - and I just hope that the tragedy hasn't blighted too many people's ability to enjoy what is, most of the time, a wonderful sport, for humans and horses alike.

To happier topics, I can go back a day farther and recall our winner at Fakenham. We have Con Ryan and Jackie Gill to thank for that. Con's was the shepherd's crook which extracted the horses from the Godolphin herd, and Con made the connection between Take Me There and his owner Paul Devereux, and between Take Me There and this stable. And Con and Jackie have been integrally involved in the horse's preparation, so I was so glad that they were able to enjoy and take pride in the thrill of victory before they - reluctantly, I'd imagine - head off to Dubai for the winter. The horse's work with Lady Suffragette and Allouette had been good, if not spectacular, beforehand, so I found it very easy to see him making the frame, but in advance I found it hard to believe he could beat the unbeaten odds-on favourite. However, once the horses were assembled in the parade ring, he looked the pick of the bunch, while the favourite looked just an ordinary little mare, so it was easy to understand why the support came for him, and then unsurprising to see him and Tony McCoy come home impressive winners. It was a very happy day all round, hugely enjoyed by all concerned - particularly his connections who really enjoyed the trip over from Cork - so now Paul and his friends can look forward to seeing how his career develops. Another bumper in three or four weeks time is definitely something to look forward to; we'll see what happens there before making any further plans. In the meantime. Allouette runs at Towcester this afternoon. Although her form, such as it is, suggests she'll run really badly, her work with Take Me There and Lady Suffrgette suggests otherwise. However, the formbook is very often the best guide and, whereas Lady S and Tacky have bomb-proof, reliable temperaments unsullied by bad past experiences of racing, she hasn't, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. And if disappointment ensues, we'll be ready for it. As last night reminded us, as long as the horse comes home safely, anything better than that is a bonus.