A tiny step forward

A new dawn awaits. Today I (we) rode out for the last time unprotected around the trunk: from tomorrow (June 1st) we all have to wear body protectors / safety vests / flak jackets, as Hugh and Martha are doing in this pic. I suppose it's a good thing. In fact, I know it's a good thing. It's definitely a good thing for the manufacturers and vendors of them: there must have been the best part of a couple of thousand of them bought in the last couple of months, which makes a handy six-figure sum, at about ninety quid a time. That will equate to a six-figure profit, because I can't believe they cost very much to make. Their use will do virtually nothing to reduce the incidence of serious injuries sustained by exercise riders, but will reduce soft tissue injuries around the abdomen in a few accidents. For race-riding they're definitely a good thing when a fall is usually followed by flailing horses' hooves, but that isn't really an issue in the vast majority of home-work falls. But they will do a small amount of good and won't do any harm other than financial, so the benefits have to outweigh the drawbacks. Especially for the manufacturers. I just find it rather hard to understand why we are barred from riding out without them, but are allowed to smoke: if lads were barred from smoking, the pain and premature death that would be prevented would be far greater than the pain and premature death prevented by making the wearing of body protectors compulsory. Maybe there is some logic in there somewhere, and I suppose it's a good thing that the nanny state / police state (chose whichever description you prefer) is applied only haphazardly rather than totally, but I just always find myself somewhat discomfitted by an application of priorities which shows a lack of appreciation as to what is fundamentally important and what isn't. The edict appears to have been prompted by the Racing Post, and in its defence the journalists, who are not practical horsemen, have been acting with good intentions. It is just that if there were a serious wish to improve the health and safety of riders, body protectors would have been very far down the list. In no particular order, there would have been a serious attempt made to control the equestricidal tendencies of the motorists - particularly the lorry drivers - in this and other training centres (hitherto, Mark Tompkins stands alone as an activist in this direction, and Jockey Club Estates are at best ambivalent); a ban on lads smoking; a move made to encourage trainers to give their horses a less restricted, unnatural and regimented lifestyle so that they don't have to do whatever frolicking they like to do with riders on their backs, because so many accidents are caused by horses' freshness which would be prevented if those horses spent an hour or two a day loose in a paddock; a move to get a lot of horses castrated a lot earlier in life, because so many accidents are caused by the sex drive of colts who have no chance whatsoever of being required for a stud career. But I suppose if you have no idea of the theory and practice of the lives of horses, none of those things would occur to you, and you'd feel that you'd made a great leap, instead of a tiny shuffle, forward by helping to make the wearing of back protectors compulsory.

From the overlong opening paragraph of this epistle, by the way, please don't feel that I don't take safety seriously. Au contraire: the problem is that I take it very seriously indeed, and because I am so intensely aware of the dangers involved and conscious of what could be done to lessen them that I realise that, rather than thinking that making body protectors compulsory has made a significant contribution to the improvement of safety, it has only made a tiny improvement; and that there are so many other things that could be done to make the lot of riders safer that are never even discussed. Other than by me. And as I devote so much thought to trying to make the job as safe as possible, I find it rather patronising to be dictated to by people who, as I see it, have no understanding whatsoever of the issues involved. (By the way, I know that, although a lot of premature deaths would be prevented by making it illegal for lads to smoke, it isn't feasible to ban them from doing so because of human rights legislation etc.; but is dictating what clothing they wear any less of an infringement on liberty? All the arguments about a responsibility towards ensuring that people make things safe for themselves surely apply equally to smoking).

I should have saved the above for a 'pink panel' on thoroughbredinternet. I don't know if you've seen any of the few (two so far, I think, or it might only have been one - I can't remember if the musings over Val Royal and the National Stud were written by Nigel Reid or by Rosinante) 'Tilting at windmills' leaders on our favourite site, but I think that's just the sort of stuff that is wanted. Except that this wouldn't really be wanted at all, because it is far too parochial an issue for an international website, and could only be tenuously described as a bloodstock issue. So it's just as well that I've got this blog to let this shite see the light of day. And, for obvious reasons, it definitely wouldn't be welcome in the Racing Post; not even in the alternative viewpoint slot, whose name I've forgotten because it appeared so infrequently and seems now to have expired altogether.

To return to less boring subjects (which isn't necessarily saying a great deal), we've had a sunny morning (I thought I'd get this in, because Lawrence Wadey, for one, particularly enjoys the meteorological bulletins) followed by yet more rain. With large parts of the field underwater after the 55 or so hours of incessant rain at the start of the week, the horses were barred from the field for two days so they were like bedouins reaching an oasis when their freedom was restored yesterday and today. There are six horses in the field as I write - Jack and Jill, Brief Goodbye, Millyjean, Milton's Keen and Lady Suffragette - and all six currently resemble very happy hippopotomi. Doubly happy, in fact, because I've given them another metre of Joe's grass today, so they were straight into that after their roll in the water hole.

The deluges of the past few days will have been very welcome in Peter Chapple-Hyam's stable. Noel O'Connor passed me yesterday evening as he cycled home, and he waved his arms to the sky, indicating his delight that his charge Authorized will find his favoured wet ground at Epsom. It's hard to envisage him being beaten in the Derby, and I hope that that prediction is correct. I also hope that we find a pleasing result to the first race at Eagle Farm on Saturday, which is the Group Three race in which Somewhere Safer will be making her bid for glory. It's at 12.15, which is 3.15 in the morning in the UK, for anyone who fancies watching At The Races instead of sleeping. She'll be the one jumping from barrier four, in Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum's colours of yellow, black epaulettes. We've struck lucky with the rider as well as with the draw. 51.5 kilos meant that our options seemed limited, but I suggested to Michael that it might be a good move to see what lightweight interstate or NZ hoops would be there on Oaks day, guessing that Craig Newitt or Lisa Cropp might be possibilities. And, lo and behold, Lisa Cropp is riding for us, which is terrific news. So, with no disrespect to the Derby intended, that will definitely, from my very biased viewpoint, be the race of the day. She's got a lot to find on form so we won't be disappointed if she isn't good enough, but it's just a thrill to be competing at a higher level, and I'm sure she'll acquit herself with credit.

When the rain tumbles down in May

There's only one soundtrack to the writing of this blog: 'When the rain tumbles down in July', by Graeme Connors. I'm listening to it as I write and as I calculate how many hours it has been raining now without interruption: I think it's about 33 and counting. I suppose the song isn't exactly right because it isn't July, but it's nearly June so that's close enough. I saw on the forecast that the top temperature today in this area was predicted to be 9 degrees; I think it may have been a bit more than that, but not much. Watching the extremely poor racing on tv on a soggy track at Leicester (where there are numerous scratchings, just to rub salt into the wound) I'm just gnashing my teeth at By Storm's absence. Jill Dawson's absence from Yarmouth two days hence will come at my choice: the discovery this morning that the ground had changed from 'good to firm' to 'soft' (and that it was still raining) made not declaring her an easy decision.

Ah well, so our plans for an all-out assault on the Flat season aren't coming to anything YET. The season is more than two months old, and we've had five runners: Brief's run thrice (two runs good and one ordinary), By Storm once (ordinary) and Jill once (like the wind). No runners this week means that the things aren't going to pick up just yet, but next week ... In the interim, we have Something Safer (see horse biographies) to look forward to. Michael has decided to run her in a Group Three race at Eagle Farm on Saturday, which is great because there must be a fair chance of the race being shown on ATR here. There are only fifteen nominations. It's a three-year-olds only race over, I think, 2100m on the same day as the Queensland Derby and a week before the Queensland Oaks so, if it rains, it could be an opportunity for a horse without obvious Stakes race credentials to put in a bold show. She gets into it with no weight (51.5) and the form of her most recent close second at the Gold Coast has worked out well (the winner has won again since) so it's definitely worth having a crack; and if it doesn't come off, we can always go back to provincial Class Ones afterwards.

Another part of our plan for world domination, Spaceage Juliet, in whom I lease about 5%, raced at Wodonga this morning, and that set the tone for a very dull day. ATR's coverage of Wodonga was set to go off air at 6.00 am, and her race was at 6.10. However, I was delighted to find that the show was going on, and we saw her cantering to post. We saw her loaded into the stalls. We heard the commentator say "And there are three more to go in ..." - and then, at 6.09.54, the coverage ended, cutting straight in to the usual commercial for the paint roller about which the Scotsman is so enthusiastic and of which I'm sick of the sight (as I am of the sound of his voice). She ran fifth, incidentally, which was satisfactory as it was her first run back after a brief let-up - I suppose her not being placed made missing the race so narrowly marginally less frustrating, if that's possible.

That was a suitable prelude to a morning of being rained on, on Racie Gracie, Jill Dawson and Milton's Keen. It was the kind of day when one is so pleased to get home at the end of it, and have a hot bath and a hot chocolate, followed by set of clean, dry clothes. Which won't be clean and dry for much longer, as I'm about to go outside to feed the horses.

One nice thing today was reading the results and seeing that our neighbour Mark Tompkins had had a double at Newmarket yesterday. I'd seen him win with a Tendulkar (rare footage of such an event) under Jimmy Quinn mid-afternoon, but I hadn't seen the last race, which I find he won too, with a Saleem Golam-ridden Halling. I like to see Mark do well and I like to see Saleem do well also, so that's good.

Holding out for summer

We had a sure sign that summer's here during the week with our first sighting of Newmarket's favourite summer resident, Michael Holding. It's great to have him around the Heath during his UK summers, because his enthusiasm and friendliness to everyone is a real ray of sunshine. The only problem in this instance is that he's missed part one of summer and there's no sign yet of part two. The rains hadn't arrived prior to Brief's run at Newmarket on Friday, which should have been good news for us but actually was academic because he wasn't in the money even on his favoured fast surface; but even so he ran another very creditable race, confirming our optimism for his forthcoming summer. He's probably a victim of his own consistency as his rating rarely receives signficant reductions, but his genuineness is also his strong suit: you've always got a chance with a horse as honest as he is. Anyway, the rain is here now in a big way, which should be good news for By Storm, whom I declared for a seller at Leicester tomorrow - again, however, that's academic, as she, too, won't be in the money, as she was eliminated. And a surfeit of rain is the last thing we want ahead of Jill's trip to Yarmouth on Wednesday, so we'll just have to keep an eye on the situation there.

Brief's outing at Newmarket was the catalyst for a very pleasant 24 hours. Larry and Iris drove down from London on Friday morning for the race, and then stayed the night with us afterwards. Colin Casey accompanied us to the track - joking that Frank Morby had ridden a double on the last occasion he'd been on the Rowley Mile (at least I think it was a joke) - and then he and Eileen had dinner with us here that evening. On Saturday morning we had one very special and emotional task, as Iris had brought her urn of Joe's ashes, some of which we scattered over 'his' grass in the field here. It is a privilege to have part of Joe forever part of this property.

Emma took Larry and Iris up to the Heath yesterday morning to watch Jill enjoy an easy gallop along the Cambridge Road all-weather. He'd had a harder gallop earlier in the week under Kirsty and seems in top order, so she wasn't required to do anything too taxing merely four days before her intended race. We'd had another gallop along the same strip earlier in the morning and this, too, wasn't too strenuous, as Imperial Decree had her first shot of fast work, accompanied by Jack Dawson. She's coping with things so well and quickly learned that she was expected to go a lot faster than ever before, putting herself into the task in a very professional manner. She walked off the gallop under Hugh in a relaxed manner, blowing quite hard but seeming to have enjoyed her spin, so it looks as if she's going to continue to relish her increasing workload. A week can be a long time in the career of a young horse so we won't count our chickens, but it's easy to envisage her being ready for a race in around six weeks. Others to please during the week were Racie Gracie, By Storm (who put in a great gallop under Martha on Thursday, which doesn't make her elimination any easier to swallow) and Milton's Keen.

I've been riding Gracie (I think I mentioned her in the preceding chapter) and am getting really fond of her. She's a real sweetie, naturally impatient but ever so willing to please: now that she's learning that I'd prefer her to adopt a more patient attitude, she's doing just that, and is on her way to being a model conveyance. She seems a nice strong filly, so let's hope that she won't be long in proving herself to be yet another smart two-year-old to benefit from starting life under Chris Dwyer's care. Chris was here yesterday, and brought back memories of perhaps the best two-year-old he trained, the lovely Connemara: he said that he'd really enjoyed re-making her acquaintance the other day when, quite by chance, she'd passed through his stud, in-foal and en route from Ireland to Italy. I had received other news of the Dwyer family when walking into Newmarket racecourse on Friday, when I had bumped into Chris' younger son Mark, who works for Darley. Hitherto Mark has been in the stallion nominations' department, but he is about to be transferred to the racing department, which oversees all Sheikh Mohammed's directly or indirectly owned horses in training or pre-training, bar the Godolphin string. Mark has a very good racing brain and excellent knowledge of the form book, so I suspect his talents will be better used in his new role than previously, and I reckon this is a good move from his point of view. He seems very pleased about it, and so am I. I'm sure he will flourish in it.

Milton's Keen is due to have his first run for the stable and first run of the year nine days hence, and I'm looking forward to that. Kirsty's been galloping him, and we seem to be in good company in having her on our horses: she rode for Michael Tabor on Friday, on a lightly-weighted handicapper trained by Neville Callaghan which finished third at Pontefract. Cliff has told me an unlikely story that Michael Tabor sent her a text message to tell her she was the first female hoop ever to ride for him, but I'd prefer to accept her version of it, which was that Neville told her that she was having that honour. It seems slightly hard to believe that she is indeed the first girl to do so, bearing in mind just how many horses Michael Tabor has raced around the world, so perhaps this can be the next task for our correspondents: have there been any previous instances of female jockeys sporting the Tabor silks? If so, chapter and verse, please. On the subject of Neville Callaghan, I'm sure he'll be delighed to know that the world and his wife will have taken note of the promising debut at Newmarket about five minutes ago of Let Us Prey, a Hawk Wing two-year-old colt whom he trains and who has just finished third behind a Mr Greeley quinella in the five-furlong maiden (the lovely David Elsworth-trained Swiss Franc beat Godolphin's first juvenile runner of the year, Wolgan Valley). Coincidentally, Mr Greeley had sired the winner of the juvenile maiden at the Curragh fifteen minutes previously (the Jim Bolger-trained Saoirse Abu), so the omens seem good for Finsceal Beo 40 minutes hence. As we're always on maiden race pedigree-watch, it's worth pointing out that Aidan O'Brien's two unplaced runners in that maiden race were King Of Westphalia (Kingmambo ex Quarter Moon, a Moyglare Stud Stakes winner who finished second in three Classics) and Prairie Hawk (Hawk Wing ex Oaks winner Lady Carla).

I've just watched Notnowcato (who could now be the latest very good MIchael Stoute-trained horse to become a great in maturity) prove just too strong for the magnificent Dylan Thomas in a thrilling finish for a typically good Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh. We started yesterday with a great duel between two mighty horses (Takeover Target and Gold Edition in the Doomben 10,000) and this was another treat. It's always good to have a top-class weight-for-age race on a Classic card, to remind us that, for all the thrill of the Classics and the class of their contestants, the weight-for-age races are the real cream. I haven't studied the Epsom runners yet, but no doubt we can look forward to another great Coronation Cup. We don't need to study the Derby field closely, because we all know that Authorized is a certainty (isn't he?). Whether he wins, though, or whether something else does, I doubt we'll see such impressive displays of male bonding as were on view in the aftermath of the Irish 2,000 Guineas yesterday. As mentioned post-2,000 Guineas, any big win for Cockney Rebel is a good result in my book, but we had an extra bonus here with the sight of Geoff Huffer kissing anyone in his path. Ted Walsh coped with this surprisingly well, but Robert Hall looked even more non-plussed than normal after his pair of smackers.

Oh yes, and one last thing. Problemwalrus mentioned in a past response that he was at the Rowley Mile for last weekend's fixture. Well, Walrus, do please feel free to drop into the stable for a cup of tea (or something stronger) any time you're in town. I enjoyed your Moscow State Circus musings, by the way: we'd been chuckling a few weeks ago when the Chinese State Circus came to town, saying that all the best circuses (circi?) nowadays had to be from outside zone of the EU's health and safety czars. We'd been thinking of heads being put into the mouths of lions and knives thrown at people on rotating wheels etc., so the edict that Russian tight-rope walkers must wear crash helmets (as if that would do any good!) was right on cue.

Pride in a narrow and perfectly-ridden defeat

I really enjoyed our trip to Towcester last night. It was the perfect idyllic English summer evening in a perfect rural setting, and Lady Suffragette ran another super race. It was just a pity she couldn't win, but I've no complaints: she ran really well and bravely and was ridden flawlessly by William Kennedy (a very impressive temporary replacement for the beleaguered Tom Greenway) so, although she was only narrowly beaten, there were no 'if only's - just a feeling of pride of having such a lovely horse running so consistently and honourably. Towcester is such a stiff track that the margins are usually exaggerated, but we managed to find the one race of the decade where you can be beaten less than a length and not finish in the first three. But it's meant to be a competitive sport, and it was just a great thrill. Aisling came along with us, and Kate Williams, who is here for a week from Snowdonia on work experience from school. As we were in the last race (8.45), it meant we had a late night, but it was a good one - and as there was light in the sky until 10pm, the drive home along the old A45 wasn't a chore at all. The perfect post script to the outing was that Lady Suffragette gave Kate further experience this morning by taking her for a ride around the Heath (pictured): hitherto I've just had Kate meet us as we come off the Heath and ride one home after its work, but today I thought that she and Lady S. could go for a nice hack around the Heath, and that went very well. (Accompanying photo might appear - we've been doing quite well for photos recently, thanks to Emma putting some up on recent blogs, so if you haven't seen any for a while you might like to scroll down to the past few chapters). Kate has had plenty of riding experience at home, although not on racehorses, so I'm probably being overcautious, but that's usually not a bad way to be with horses. I went with her on Brief Goodbye, who galloped yesterday and so was due for an easy exercise, and both horses and riders enjoyed the pleasant meander around the Heath in its full May glory.

My other two lots were less relaxing today: Racie Gracie first lot and Jack Dawson third lot. Gracie is a dear horse and actually a very easy ride, but she is always eager to be getting on with things, and wouldn't usually chose to walk when jig-jogging is an option, nor trot when hack cantering is an option. However, once you're used to her she's actually very straightforward, is a lovely ride at the canter and seems to be becoming more of an adult by the day. You could say the same about Jack, only I doubt he'll ever completely grow up: he's now ten but still behaves like a boy racer, so I don't suppose he'll ever change. I wouldn't want him to, either: you'd have to be of a very dour nature not to find a smile breaking on your face as you ride him, because his patent enjoyment of the exercise is infectious. The highlight of that ride was falling in behind Luca Cumani's string as they walked along the side of the Heath, and finding Sara observing the action on foot. She had a horrible fall a couple of months ago, in which I believe she broke a bone in her back, but seems more or less fully healed now. She said that she's itching to return to the saddle and would like to have started back already, but Luca has decreed that 1st June will be quite early enough.

I'd had the pleasure of receiving Luca's hospitality a couple of days ago, because he organised a lunch in the Jockey Club Rooms to which Peter Jones, chairman of the Tote was invited. The idea was that a few of us (ten - seven trainers, plus John Ferguson, Peter Stanley and Jack Ramsden) could take the opportunity to be filled in as to what the hell is happening with the Tote, so that the community of professional horseman, who in theory could be construed as interested parties, might feel marginally less out of the loop than has been the case. There is a blanket of silence over the Tote's dealings with the government, but Peter isn't actually involved in the deal so he was at liberty to tell us some of the little he knows or has worked out. It was an interesting occasion - and a very good lunch - and Peter did such a good job that it wasn't until at least half an hour after the gathering had broken up that I realised that I now had more unanswered questions in my head than I had had at the start.

In the next week or so we have three runners to look forward to. Brief Goodbye at Newmarket on Friday is the most immediate. He should run very well, although one can never be entirely sure how things are going to pan out for him until the race has been going for 20 seconds or so. Micky Fenton will be at Haydock, so Ted Durcan will be on board again, which won't be to the detriment of Brief's chances. Larry and Iris are coming up for the race and plan to stay with us afterwards, so an enjoyable afternoon and evening - Colin and Eileen Casey will join us for dinner - ought to be in store. By Storm is entered in two races at Leicester on Monday, and is likely to run in one of them, although if the current gorgeous weather persists that plan could be revised. And then Jill Dawson should run at Yarmouth on Wednesday. Kirsty galloped her yesterday and, from my close-up vantage point on Brief Goodbye, I'd say the filly is going extremely well, so we should be able to hope for a good run from her. Jill should again have a good supporters' club: in addition to her connections, we can expect to see a few of the friendly faces one normally finds at local meetings, plus there is likely to be a strong (friendly) contingent of the Great Yarmouth constabulary. There is a WPC in Yarmouth called Gill Dawson who keeps in touch with us, and she and her colleagues are keen followers of Jill's fortunes. Since they noticed her name in the papers early last year, they've been hoping she might run at Yarmouth, so the day has the potential to be a very pleasant one.

Here comes the sun

Gosh it's nice to have a sunny morning. We were spoiled in that respect throughout April but the past week or so has been very wet indeed. But this morning was a joy. What helped to make it such, over and above the sunshine, was the professionalism of our string of two-year-olds. In recent weeks we've got into a routine of taking Filemot (Largesse), Anis Etoile (Helissio) and Imperial Decree (Diktat) out together. We went through a phase of taking them over to the other side of town and cantering up Hamilton Hill, which made for a nice relaxing exercise. This week we've altered our route and have been cantering up Long Hill (Anis Etoile and Imperial Decree pictured above, Filemot below), which is a longer stretch of ground and makes for a slightly more strenuous canter. They are all so good. Hugh seems to be enjoying an armchair ride on Anis Etoile, who is really thriving and ever so professional; Martha has Filemot, probably the baby of the bunch, going very nicely; and I'm finding Imperial Decree a very pleasant conveyance. She finds this very easy, so she can start to do something more taxing within a couple of weeks. So this morning, on the perfect May day, was a real joy.

Another horse whom I particularly enjoyed riding today was Milton's Keen, who is a lovely horse. He's really thriving and looks very well at the moment, and seems very content with his routine. I took him out on his own and cantered around Side Hill, and it was just like riding a really good hack through Hyde Park. I've got it into my head that, despite his relatively ordinary form, he's going to prove to be quite a good horse, but so far there hasn't been a huge amount of gallops evidence to support this belief. However, his gallop yesterday under Kirsty was his best so far for the spring, so maybe he's starting to get fit now, so let's hope his current apparent progress is set to continue.

I'm writing this with the laptop on the dining room table so I can watch the racing, and we've just been treated to Sergeant Cecil's exciting win in the Yorkshire Cup. He's such a special horse, and today was yet another magic moment in his splendid career. It was good also to see Geordieland run such a good second, showing that his abortive trip to Melbourne, where he bled in the Cup, hasn't done him any long-term harm. The previous race at York was a great triumph for one of our fellow Exeter Road inmates, Willie Musson. High Treason was second in a handicap at York two days ago, and now he has followed up with a win in one worth £31,000 to the winner, making it a great meeting for himself and his connections. He was ridden by Tom Queally, who is about to start a 20-day ban for riding a Henry Cecil-trained non-trier - and that's a phrase I never expected to use. I saw the race in question, and was astounded to see Tom riding as if his instructions had been "Do not finish in front of your shorter-priced stable-companion". I can only presume that Tom must have misunderstood his instructions.

If Tom finds he has some time on his hands during his spell, he could do worse than read Rachel Pagones' biography of Dubai Millenium. I finished it today. It isn't a great book, but it is a good one, and I'm glad that I've read it. It isn't a particularly thorough profile of the horse, but that's possibly the result of him having spent his life in an environment where the horses are so numerous that they seemingly are numbers rather than individuals, but the second section of the book, which provides an overview of the achievements of some of his sons and daughters, means that by the end one feels that one has read a fairly satisfactory account of the life and times of the horse. And he was certainly a horse worthy of such a book. I treasure the memory of seeing him at Royal Ascot in 2000, when John McNamara and I attended Prince Of Wales's Stakes day. My favourite sentence from the book comes when we've been told of a few Dubai Millenium juveniles winning for Godolphin, and then we're told that Prince Khalid Abdullah's Quickfire won from Sir Michael Stoute's stable: "It was also proof that the stallion's success was not just down to Godolphin, because Quickfire was trained by Sir Michael Stoute and ridden by Kieren Fallon". That's a point well made, just in case anyone was thinking that Dubai Millenium's stock were so marginally talented that no trainer other than Saeed bin Suroor would be up to winning with them. Possibly one reader might have been labouring under that impression.

This coming weekend we have Somewhere Safer to look forward to. She runs in an 1800m Class Two at the Gold Coast, with Daniel Griffin once more aboard. It's a stronger race than the one she won 13 days previously, but I think she has fair prospects of finishing in the money. We'd certainly like to think that now she has found winning form she will continue to progress, so tomorrow we shall learn if that is indeed what is happening. Lady Suffragette will then be the next runner from this stable. She is likely to run at Towcester on Tuesday in a mares' handicap hurdle. Tom Greenway sadly won't be able to ride, because he had a heavy fall a few days ago and apparently has failed the mandatory concussion test. I think William Kennedy (the race is restricted to conditional jockeys) is likely to take his place: I don't know him, but I believe he's a good jockey, so let's hope that we can have another good run from her. I haven't been riding her so much recently, but Aisling has been on board all week and she seems very happy with her condition. The filly certainly still looks and seems extremely well.

Postcard from Paris (and Doomben)

I always used to say that people could tell how busy I was by how frequently or infrequently I made contributions to the 'Readers' Letters' section of the Racing Post. Nowadays the inverse correlation is between busyness and postings on this blog. I don't really know why I've been so taken up doing other things the last week or so - I certainly can't blame running horses, because I haven't done that - but I've just been doing other things. Last week we went up to Norfolk on Thursday afternoon to see Allouette at Chris Murray's Colton Stud so that was one afternoon gone; still, it was a productive trip, because we found, as expected, that the fillly has flourished during her extended spell (as has our foundation mare Minnie's Mystery, pictured below, who is in foal to Largesse), so she can come back into work soon and we can start to find out whether she has the potential to race successfully. The following afternoon it was Emma's grandmother's funeral, and then the following two days were also written off as we treated ourselves to a weekend away: once the horses were worked on Saturday morning headed for Folkestone, put the car on the train and headed off for 29 hours or so in France.

We stayed in Chantilly, which I'd never previously visited, and spent Sunday afternoon at Longchamp, watching the the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches. It was a lovely afternoon, and a reminder of just how feasible it is for people living in south east England to have a day at the races in France if they wish. A very poor shot of Darjina about to be mounted might appear in this slot, although the picture editor might - justifiably - decide that it was too obviously taken by an amateur snapper.

So that meant that there were four consecutive afternoons on which I got no paperwork done - but what a way to spend a weekend. And what made it even better was that Saturday had started with Doomben on At The Races, which meant that we were treated to the sight of Bentley Biscuit storming past Takeover Target to record his third straight Group One success. He looks a really sweet horse and I'm so looking forward to him joining Takeover Target in coming to Newmarket for the summer. I really enjoyed trotting out a grey panel for thoroughbredinternet on that one. So that race was great, and two or three races previously we'd had an even bigger thrill. Michael and Sarah Tidmarsh (see previous chapter) have Michael Pitman, leading trainer in the South Island of NZ, staying with them for the Brisbane Winter Carnival with two of his best horses, both of which ran on Saturday - and one of which, Irish Sky, a son of Stravinsky, won. It was so exciting, even though my connection with the horse is extremely tenuous and exists solely in my mind. It was a thrilling race, because he came from nearly last (in an 1100m race) under Glen Boss to win by about half a length - and then we cut to the stands, to see a replay of both Michaels plus Sarah cheering him home. So, all in all, it was a weekend of racing which I found very enjoyable - despite (or perhaps because of) not having any runners. But we should have one or two next week (none this week) so we can preview those when we get a bit nearer the time.

Like Hurricanes

I'd planned to post an entry to this blog on Sunday after 'Dolly', aka Somewhere Safer, the horse which I co-own with Michael and Sarah Tidmarsh in Deagon (see horse section of this website), saluted the judge at the Sunshine Coast at around 4am BST on Sunday morning. The headline was, inevitably, going to be 'Like A Hurricane', in acknowledgement of her nomenclature. Michael and Sarah were kind enough to allow me to name her and, as Michael and I are both dead-set Neil Young fans, one of his songs had to provide the inspiration; and as she is by a son of Summer Squall (Postponed) 'Like A Hurricane' had to be the one. And, as her dam is Security, what more appropriate phrase than 'Somewhere Safer'? She ran like a hurricane, and I'd had the best possible start to the day. However, I didn't get organised to write anything on Sunday, nor on Monday, and by now Jill has saluted the judge too, so 'Like Hurricanes' it has to be.

In retrospect, there was only one bet to have at the weekend: a double, Cockney Rebel into Somewhere Safer. The only shame was that Neil Young couldn't make it to the Sunshine Coast to cheer our girl home. (When I told Joff about Steve Harley's presence on the Rowley Mile, he suggested that he should see if Dave Faulkner of the Hoodoo Gurus, after whose songs Stoneage Romeo and Spaceage Juliet - again, see horse section of the site - are both named, would like to come to watch trackwork). Readers of recent chapters of this blog will have worked out that the four big winners (Cockney Rebel, Somewhere Safer, Finsceal Beo and Jill Dawson) were all extremely well received by me: I think they all featured in the most recent weekend preview posting. I couldn't have been more pleased that the two Guineas-winning trainers were Geoff Huffer and the admirable Jim Bolger. Geoff is the ultimate loveable rogue. Any success for his reincarnated stable is well-deserved, because he has organised it in such a laudable manner. When Geoff resumed training, he sought out all his former key employees, some of whom had seen their lives go downhill since the great days when Team Huffer operated out of Lagrange, got them all back together and it has worked so perfectly. Dave Wallis came back as head lad initially, and then Geoff tracked down Stuart Jackson, who had got out of racing and was driving the Jetlink bus. Mick Miller, who rode an Ayr Gold Cup winner for Geoff on First Movement in 1981 (beating his stable-mate Tina's Pet), had given up riding out and I think was working on a stud, so Geoff called him up as assitant. It's all too easy in what is basically a physically demanding job to favour youth over experience, but Geoff took the other viewpoint, realising that experienced men on whom you know you can rely are the key, and he, and they, are now reaping the due reward. He even asked Mark Rimmer, who rode the Cesarewitch winner for him in 1979, to come in and gallop Cockney Rebel a couple of weeks ago. There's nothing like feeling wanted, and that is just what Geoff has done to all the people who had served him well in the past; for this I salute him, and because of this I rejoice that he has had this well-deserved success. And so there they all were, plus Burns Hutchinson, who used to work in this yard for Hugh Collingridge when he used to ride the occasional very poor hurdler; and there was Jack Banks too in the winner's enclosure, Geoff's assistant trainer in the '80s whose health isn't so good nowadays. It was as nice a result as you could find.

As (in my eyes anyway) was Jill's success yesterday. It's lovely that 'Joe McCarthy And Friends' is continuing post Joe, and he was so in our minds yesterday. It was a truly special occasion: a sad occasion for sure, but a very, very happy one too. A large party gathered to cheer Jill home and she did her part in fine style. It wasn't the plan for her to lead, because I feared that she might be rather exuberant on her first start for nearly ten months and I didn't want her to burn herself out in the first half of the race. It turned out that I was right about her freshness, but wrong in fearing that it could prove her undoing. She jumped straight to the front and Kirsty, correctly, took the 'sit and suffer' option rather than instigating a battle with her mount in a doomed attempt to follow the instructions to sit in behind the leaders. So Jill just ran along joyously. When she turned into the straight and one thought she'd start to weaken, she just skipped clear and, although tiring in the final furlong, she was never thereafter going to be reeled in. What was, incidentally, very impressive was that the horse who made the best effort of trying to catch her was her old rival Murrumbidgee: they've finished first and second three times now (Jill leads 2-1), and you couldn't find two more consistent or genuine horses. Jill's made great physical progress since last year (predictably I forgot to take my camera to Warwick, which I realised with a jolt while admiring her in the parade ring and thinking that she looked so well that a photo on the blog - irrespective of how she ran - would be ideal), but Murrumbidgee has too, so I hope that his connections can get the reward for his consistency when next he runs. And when will Jill next run? I don't know. She can have an easy week and then we can start thinking about another run at the end of the month. She's seems to have taken the race very well, which is the main thing. Brief, too, is fine after yesterday. Things didn't work out yesterday, which wasn't a huge suprise. So often races at Windsor are leader-dominated, as yesterday but unlike the untypical one which he won there last July, and when that's the case, Brief can't win. But no handicapper can win every time, so we'll just try to keep him hail and hearty, and hope his turn will come again. He might run at Newmarket at the end of the month.

We've had a couple of welcome visits in the last few days. Brian Ahern, who used to have a share in Diamond Joshua, called into the stable on Saturday morning on his way to the races. It's always nice to see him here, and I hope we'll see him in July week, if not before. And then on Sunday I was delighted to receive a call out of the blue from Bill Riches, a vet and breeder from Berwick, south east of Melbourne. He and his wife Jenny visit England every couple of years or so (their daughter lives in London) and they were up this way for Guineas weekend. So they joined us for dinner on Sunday evening, which was great. In the same way that I'd started the day by receiving a text to tell me that I'd co-owned a winner at the Sunshine Coast, Bill had taken a call at seven that morning to tell him he'd co-bred the winner of that day's South Australian Oaks: Watches, by Encosta De Lago ex Wellington Dreamer, by El Qahira (a very good Sir Tristram stallion whom he stood prior to the horse's tragically premature demise). I'd been very pleased to bump into them at Flemington on Derby Day last November, so it was great to see them again so soon; we normally only meet once every few years. I've only been to their beautiful property once (in 1997), at which time they were standing two stallions: Runyon (who is now back in Europe, at Scarvagh) and Greig, a son of Somewhere Safer's maternal grandsire Grosvenor. Bill breeds a lot of horses in partnership with Ross Du Bourg, writer of the mighty tome 'The Australian and New Zealand Thoroughbred' which has been giving me so much pleasure and information, so I have asked him to convey to Ross my appreciation of the book.

Guineas week thoughts

The agonizing is over for Jim Bolger. He has decided not to declare Teofilo for the 2,000 Guineas. That's disappointing but also a huge relief. As discussed in a previous chapter, I wouldn't have wanted to be in Jim Bolger's shoes over the past couple of weeks. We know from experience that little problems disappear with rest but become big problems if work is continued. Although I have not had a chance to assess Teofilo myself, it seemed plain to me right from the outset that his problem was one for which the required rest would be considerably more than one week with a swift re-introduction to work. I'm sure Jim Bolger would have surmised that that would almost certainly be the case - but when the chance of the Holy Grail, aka Triple Crown, was within his grasp, he had to give himself every chance of snatching it. But it would have been an agonising period, because the downside to getting it wrong by under-estimating the problem was potentially so much worse than the downside to over-estimating it. And he would have known that. He has handled the situation with typically faultless aplomb and correctness- and not just in the superb feature and interview with Nick Luck, who must have broken the record for verbosity in questioning, on Racing UK - but now he can just breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the dilemma is over, that he has given the horse every chance to run in the race, that he has now definitely taken the right decision not to run him, and that he has done so without, we hope, causing irreparable damage to the horse. If there is any justice, he'll now saddle Finsceal Beo to win the 1,000 Guineas and saddle Teofilo to win numerous Group One races later in the year and then throughout 2008 (and perhaps 2009 too).

Even without Teofilo it looks like a very exciting race. I think Adagio and Kerrin McEvoy will win, and the Pedigree Club will be rooting for the mighty horse to win for Grand Lodge, just as Hot Weld has done for another Plantation Stud protege, Weld, on the past two Saturdays. But Alix Choppin has done a pretty good job of convincing me that US Ranger is very, very good. And Largesse's paternal half-brother Major Cadeaux is very good too. And wouldn't it be nice to see a big run from Cockney Rebel. And Drayton winning would be a memorable result; we passed his jockey Weichong Marwing standing on the Heath yesterday outside Geoff Wragg's yard, presumably waiting for the horse to appear ready to be worked, and I'd certainly be happy to see him riding into the winner's enclosure on Saturday. And Tobosa would be a nice winner for a lovely stallion Tobougg ...

However, excited though I am about the Classics, I'm even more excited about Monday's racing, when, God willing, Brief Goodbye will go to Windsor and Jill Dawson to Warwick. Both are in very good form. Kirsty came in again this morning to ride Jill Dawson, who looked to work well and pull up very well from it. Brief has only had one gallop (on his own) since he ran, but he's very fit and well, and can have another gentle gallop tomorrow. I will go to Warwick on Monday, but in spirit I'll be in two places at once. And in the early hours of Sunday morning my mind will be at the Sunshine Coast when Somewhere Safer, the horse I share with Michael and Sarah Tidmarsh, will carry bottom weight and jump from barrier one in a 1600m maiden. She needs to lift, but she could well do so. Daniel Griffin, who has saluted on a previous occasion for the Tidmarsh/Berry combination, takes the ride, so we'll hope for the best.

One of the happiest events of the week for me took place two days ago, when Roy Fowler appeared in the yard. Roy is one of my longest-standing friends, and was travelling head lad for my first employer, Andy Turnell, for most of the time I worked there. We've had some very good times together. I wasn't aware that Roy had started work in January as travelling head lad for Marcus Tregonning, but I know now. He'd brought a horse to Newmarket to the vet, had some time to spare and so wandered round the yard to say G'day. It was really good to see him. One of the best outings which Roy and I have enjoyed together was when we went to Oslo in 1986 when I rode my horse Black Rod in the Norwegian Grand National (on the same day that Dancing Brave won the Arc), and coincidentally we had two Norwegian visitors yesterday. Norwegian horseman Anton Granhus has introduced himself to us since becoming a reader of this site, and we were delighted to welcome him and his fiancee Annette here yesterday morning as they passed through Newmarket en route to Badminton, which event he regularly attends. It was good to spend some time with them and to show them around. One horse I particularly enjoyed showing them was Milton's Keen, who is a full-brother to last year's champion Norwegian juvenile Not Secret, winner of the Norsk Criterium. Let's hope that Milton's Keen can soon start to add to the family's record - he seems in very good shape, physically and mentally. We'll know a bit more about him after tomorrow, when Kirsty is coming in to give him his first gallop of the year.