Racecourses, new and old

Anthony's sighting of Greatest Piggott must have made quite an impression on him, because on the way to Great Leighs on Sunday he morning he asked, "Will the Greatest Jockey Ever be there?". I had to disappoint him, but it was a lovely day despite that inevitable omission, and Anthony was able to get over the disappointment by passing the time of day with a couple of other Classic-winning jockeys, as a photograph which might accompany this chapter shows. That, though, perhaps wasn't his main highlight, because the two star attractions for him appeared to be the food and the opportunity to meet "The Man With The Microphone" (Robert Cooper). Robert is one of my abiding memories of the day too: as you'll see if you catch the feature on At The Races, he spoke enthuasiastically about the project, but the really nice thing was that he was equally enthused off camera. That was the lovely thing about going to the trials day, that everyone came away really positive about the course's future, convinced that it is going to be a real asset to British racing, a place we shall all enjoy.

The highlight of the day for me, though, had to be the opportunity to ride Brief in the trial. I took my crash helmet and body protector as a fall-back, in case I had to ride him because of not being able to find anyone there to do the job. However, that turned out not to be a concern, because there was such a good atmosphere there that it was plain that anyone would have pitched in to do anything to help anyone. Of the eight jockeys present, the obvious one to put on him was his regular jockey Micky Fenton, whom I duly lined up to do so: he was riding in an earlier trial for Gay Kelleway, but it would be feasible for him to ride Brief afterwards. I was thinking that it would be nice to ride him myself, but basically - as I was assuming that they would be trials in the Australasian or Asian sense of the word, ie betting-free races, albeit not under real maximum pressure - I thought it wouldn't be fair on the horse to go round carrying a lot more weight than his rivals. However, it wasn't really like that - John Ryan's horse went around on his own, which indicates that the horses really could do as much or as little as the trainers wished - as became clear when, having ridden the horse up to the parade ring because it was easier than leading him, I saw that the "trials" really weren't as pressured as I'd anticipated. So when I saw the motley crew of three that Brief was up against, I thought, "Ah, why not? I'll ride him myself". So I just shouted across to Micky that he could stand down, and duly enjoyed the thrill of riding in what my Walter Mitty-like mind was able to convince itself was a ten-furlong race - and winning it!

The only shame was that, in retrospect, we should have taken more horses. I only took Brief because he was the only horse that I thought could have a trial inserted into his preparations for the forthcoming season and have those preparations enhanced rather than hindered. Knowing what I know now - that the trials weren't really trials as I understand the word - I'd have taken Anis Etoile, Jill Dawson and Imperial Decree down and let them have an easy gallop around the track on the bridle, which would have done them, particularly Anis, good. It was rather surprising that the trials weren't run as trials, because it means, presumably, that the timing, stalls (the batch of horses which went a mile jumped out of stalls, but none of the ones who went the other distances) and photo-finish mechanisms haven't been tested in simulated-race conditions. But that won't be a problem - and fingers crossed everything will go smoothly at the opening private meeting (as the public facilities are still very unfinished there will be no public access) this Sunday. We've been invited and I'm really looking forward to attending. Basically you know that everything is going to go well: after so many delays, it isn't going to open until it is sufficiently ready. The Jockey Club inspectorate have been keeping a close eye on things, and Richard Linley, Nicky Carlisle and Tony Goodhew were ubiquitous on Sunday, checking everything really thoroughly - but what was nice was that they were checking everything in a really positive and helpful way, so that it was quite clear that they are very much on-side with the project, and just keen to make sure that things go really, really well. From my point of view, it has just been a privilege to have been tenuously involved from the early stages in a project which is going to be a big part of and a big boon to British racing.

From a new racecourse to an old one, we're heading up to the Rowley Mile this afternoon for the Leslie Harrison Memorial Nell Gwyn Stakes. This will be an emotional afternoon, but a very special one, and a lovely way of remembering Leslie and the huge contribution he made to most aspects of racing and breeding in Newmarket over the past few decades. Kirsten Rausing organised the fund to have a race run in his memory, and it is wonderful that it is, and will be for two more years, the Nell Gwyn Stakes: having a race at the Craven Meeting containing some of the best fillies in the land is very appropriate for the memory of such a bloodstock connoisseur. I remember a Henry Cecil-trained filly named Evita winning the Nell Gwyn Stakes in the late '70s in Lord Howard de Walden's colours - I think under Joe Mercer - which made her nearly favourite for the 1,000 Guineas (which she didn't win) so Leslie was responsible for at least one Nell Gwyn Stakes winner. Leslie's widow Ruth has said that Camilla Millbank, Jamie Trotter, Emma and I are to pick the best turned out filly in the race, which is lovely - and, as you can imagine, the thought of my picking a best turned out is causing quite a lot of amusement! You can assume that, if I have much say in it, the winner of the award won't be plaited and won't be wearing a sheet (one of my hobby horses is that I don't think that horses should be allowed to wear sheets in the racecourse parade ring, unless it is very wet, because it does rather undermine the point of having them on parade if they are allowed to parade masked, as it were).

So that's what we have lined up this arvo. I'd better go and get myself organised.