December Sales (part two) and semi-related tangents

We're into the second week of the December Sale. After the yearlings had finished we had foals, but that didn't really concern me: not only because buying a foal would have been even farther from a sensible idea financially for me than buying a yearling would have been, but also because of the fact that I am one of the few people who admit that judgeing a foal's racing potential from his physique is beyond him (and also one of the many people - ie everyone - who finds judgeing a foal's racing potential from his physique beyond him). (I'm sorry that that sentence is, even by my standards, unwieldy and confusing, but it does actually make sense. I think). I did, though, go to look at two foals. I went to see Ben Bhraggie's Galileo half-sister, who looked very nice. And I went to see a foal whose pedigree intrigued me, and he looked quite nice. He was by Alamshar (who else but my favourite?) from a Desert Story (aaagh!!!) mare, which meant that he was inbred 3x3 to the disqualified Oaks winner Aliysa. Furthermore, he was descended from his breeders Kirsten Rausing's great mare Alruccaba, whose dam was a half-sister to Aliysa (I think that's right), so from my viewpoint this was the most interestingly bred foal in the catalogue. He fetched something like 3,500 gns to the pin-hooker Willie Browne, so if I'm still solvent in ten months' time it's not impossible that he could find his way here next autumn. Ben's sister made 40,000 gns. So that was interesting, even if only to confirm my opinion that looking at foals is only something to do if you have a lot of time and money to spare. There was a second Alamshar foal in the catalogue, on Saturday morning, and I was contemplating paying him a visit for academic and sentimental reasons, and actually got as far as the Tattersalls' car park, at which point I remembered that the visit would be fairly purposeless, so I turned around and went home again.

(As you'll have gathered from the above, just in case you hadn't picked this up in previous chapters, Alamshar is my ideal of the perfect horse).

So now we have the second week of the sale, and a mouth-watering collection of mares and potential mares are starting to go under the hammer. I caught glimpses of Satwa Queen and Angara when I was up there today, and that's just scratching the surface. And, of course, on Monday evening we always have a few stallions and potential stallions; this evening, while many eyes will be on Archipenko (assuming he arrives, which he hadn't done by late morning today, even though he hadn't been withdrawn), mine will be on our old friend Largesse. I went to catch up with him and his studmaster Greg Parsons today, and he looks tremendous. Sadly I didn't have my camera with me so you'll just have to take my word for it: he's going through under cover of the night, so the opportunity for snapping has gone, as using a flash wouldn't be the correct thing. It's very possible that he could be returning to Upperwood Farm, which has been his home so far this century, but it will certainly be the end of an era for his small band of admirers if he doesn't.

Biased though I am, however, I cannot say that he's the greatest stallion I've seen so far this week, because we had a treat yesterday. Kirsten Rausing was kind enough to send an invitation to her stallion parade to this house, and that took place yesterday evening. It was a very special occasion: she gave a typically forthright 'state of the nation' address, and then our eyes feasted on five tremendous horses as Sam Sheppard gave a commentary to remind us of their credentials. Sir Percy, looking tremendous; Piccolo, as magnificent now as he was when he made such a big impression on me on July Cup Day 1994 that I still remember the sight of him as a fit three-year-old clearly; With Approval, a tremendous grey veteran whose fan club I joined yesterday, having previously been only vaguely aware of him; Hernando, a wonderful horse who is represented in this stable by his yearling daughter ex Palinisa, and who is sire of many excellent horses including one of my all-time favourites, Sulamani; and Selkirk, a live contender for the title of the best stallion in Britain, and I horse whom I saw fight out the finish (with Marling) of one of the greatest Sussex Stakes (in 1992) on what I think was probably my second visit to Goodwood. So yesterday evening was excellent: it was a privilege to be there.

The previous evening was also a good one, if very different. Very, very different. We went to Wolverhampton (AW). The reason for this was Polly's debut, and the best way to sum that up is by saying, "All's well that ends well"! In a six-furlong race, she was, I'd guess, eight lengths behind the second last horse at half-way. I was just hoping that she could pass one of her eleven rivals and be spared the ignominy of finishing last - and then, on straightening, Neil Pollard pulled her to the outside out of the (disappointingly fierce) kickback and gave her one smack. And she took off. She hit the line strongly in sixth place (albeit five lengths behind the fifth, and seven or so behind the winner, just in case I'm making it sound too much better than it was). But when, 25 seconds previously, one's just been looking at the prospect of a bad last, sixth was tremendous. I'd like to run her again over seven furlongs on Saturday 29th December, four weeks after her debut, and Alix Choppin, who races her in partnership with me (on lease from her breeder Bruce McAllister) and I are both really looking forward to that.

Just before I head up to Tattersalls to see Largesse's date with the auctioneer, I'll just do the brief stream of consciousness thing as I shoot off a few ideas, which might be of small interest to one or two people, which have been running around in my head. Firstly, congratulations to Nick Luck on winning 'Broadcaster Of The Year' today. It's always a pleasure to watch racing when he's presenting it, because one is invariably informed, entertained and amused in equal measures, so this award was really well deserved. And congratulations to the owners who named two racehorses who have run recently - Captain Aubrey and Like A Hurricane - whose appreciation of the arts I salute. It would be nice to think that Like A Hurricane could one day run against Somewhere Safer, the mare I co-own with Michael and Sarah Tidmarsh, but as he is a jumper trained in Somerset and she is a flatter trained in Queensland (she actually might have jumps potential, but as she'd have to travel 2,000 km to run in a jumps race, never mind the 20,000 km required to run in a jumps race against Like A Hurricane, we're unlikely ever to explore that option) that's almost certainly never going to happen. Stranger things have happened, but only at bloodstock auctions! And on which subject, congratulations to Henry Beeby for saluting me thus today: "Well done - you got what you wanted". It's debatable whether I actually did want steroids proscribed at sales - I've never taken the opportunity to request a post-sale drugs test and can't really ever see myself ever doing so as I don't work at the level where it's an issue - as what I actually wanted was to correct the misapprehension held by Rachel Pagones and 10,001 others that steroids were already proscribed, but I certainly do think that a step in the right direction has been taken. And I do salute Henry on his jovial salutation.