Off the mark!

Fourth of January, and Beverley House Stables was off the mark! Is that a record? Certainly in the Humphrey Cottrell era it's hard to see that there would have been any winners coming out of here much before about the fourth of April. (I don't think Sir Humphrey used to train jumpers, did he?). The only trouble, of course, is that I can't claim any credit for this latest success, as the winner came from Dave Morris' portion of the stable. But that, believe it or not, only marginally decreases my pleasure in the result. I think I can say for sure that, leaving aside winners that I either train or part-own, no result this year will give me as much pleasure as did the ten-lengths success of Cragganmore Creek in the amateur handicap at Southwell yesterday. It was not just that Dave trains the horse, but more particularly that his sixteen-year-old son Ben rode him, gaining his first success on only his third ride. This is excellent. They are such a nice family and it is a joy to have them as tenants, so seeing Ben salute the judge for the first time, riding for his dad, was a wonderful thing. As always, there's a brahma attached. Dave has one fault as a tenant, and that is that if you're not careful he can waste an awful lot of your time: conversationally (or monologually, if there is such a word) he can be like a (mini) ocean-going liner, in that when he gets into his stride it can take an awful long time to bring him to a halt. The good thing is that he's very aware of this (so often you hear people say about someone else, "You know what he's like - once he gets going, you can't shut him up", but Dave is a rare example of someone who'll say about himself, "You know what I'm like - once I get going, you can't shut me up") so he doesn't take offence if you run away when he starts to pick up verbal momentum. Anyway, this morning when I was congratulating them and sharing in the joy, Dave came out with the following brahma: "Sir Mark (Prescott) rang Linda (Dave's wife and Ben's mum) this morning to say 'Well done'. Afterwards I said to her, 'Why did he ring you?', and she replied, 'Because he knew that if he rung you he'd never get off the phone!'".

This brings me on to the next part of my review of the year. One of the great things about racing is that you don't only meet some lovely horses: you also meet some lovely people. You also, of course, meet some dreadful people, but that's not solely a racing thing, more an occupational hazard of being alive. The late, great Jeffrey Bernard summed it up perfectly: "The racing world is stuffed with lunatics, criminals, idiots, charmers, bastards and exceptionally nice people". As ever, one gets to the end of the year and gives thanks that one's path has been crossed by some of these exceptionally nice people, and the arrival of the Morris family here has been one of the year's highlights. We'd been neighbours, of course, for the previous ten years, and I'd always been happy with my other tenants previously, but I'm delighted to have them here, and the joy I got from yesterday's result has reminded me just how much. Otherwise, we've had several new additions to the list of the stable's owners in the past year or so, and without exception I can say that we are fortunate to enjoy not just the patronage but also the friendship of some very decent people. It's always been said that good horses deserve good owners, so it is very pleasing when a nice horse gets a nice owner or group of owners, and vice versa; so on that basis, it was the perfect result that Lady Suffragette should win for Stewart Leadley-Brown last summer (although circumstances dictated that that was the last time she carried my colours, when it really should have been the first time that she carried Stewart's). What we want now, and what will happen if natural justice continues to prevail, is for Anis Etoile, Ex Con and Polychrome to visit the winners' enclosure during the forthcoming year, and for Imperial Decree to train on and add to her Yarmouth victory. And on the subject of acquaintanceships newly made which have brightened the year, our champion blogger-elect Alan Taylor has been an excellent addition to the ranks of our friends. I hope that we see you back again this summer, Alan - and then all we'll need while you're here (and I'm sure this is going to happen someday) is for someone to walk into the yard and shake my hand with the words, "I am the Walrus". That would make a true brahmafest.

Review of the year (part three) to follow ...