Loss of a good man

I was in the High Street late morning today when news reached me that Mick Channon was in intensive care after a car crash, but that he appeared likely to recover. That was a jolt but, bearing in mind that the prognosis appeared good, no worse than that. What was hugely worse, though, was to get the news from Emma when I got home that Tim Corby had been killed in the crash. That hit me like a bullet. There are many people in racing, as in life in general, who are a mixture of good points and bad, but far fewer whose good points are so obvious that any bad ones they might have are indiscernible. Tim was one such man. You could bump into him absolutely anywhere, and wherever you did find your paths crossing, he'd never be so busy that he wouldn't find time for a kind word, and never so down that it wouldn't be delivered with a smile. One example which sticks in my mind was that at Musselburgh last autumn I saddled a horse for George Margarson, owned by John Guest, for whom Tim was racing manager. I presume that George must have mentioned to Tim that I had represented him there, because the next time Tim saw me - and this would have been two or three weeks later, giving him plenty of time for that completely incidental snippet of irrelevant information to have slipped from his mind - he made a point of coming over to thank me for looking after things up there. That was courtesy way, way beyond the call of duty, and consequently stuck in my mind as an example of decent behaviour which anyone would be hard pressed to match. Tim was a very good judge of a horse indeed, buying numerous inexpensive yearlings who turned out to be good horses - one which springs immediately to my mind was a stocky little Waajib colt which he bought from John and Terre McNamara at Fairyhouse a few years ago who, named Diggit, won first up and ran placed in a Listed race at Deauville before being sold at the end of his two-year-old campaign to America, where I think he won a Stakes race - but his main assets were his decency and friendliness and, in a generally discreditted profession (agenting), he stood out like a shining beacon. The racing and bloodstock community is hugely the poorer for his departure.

But life, as they say, goes on, even if in a diminished way, and one little incident which has brought a smile to my face - mind you, I read this result before I heard of Tim's death, so it was easier to smile then - was the victory of Riggins at Great Leighs yesterday. Not that I know Riggins personally, but I believe that he is a lovely horse. He won a three-year-old maiden at Wolverhampton easily first time out last year, but fractured a pastern in the process and his life, I believe, hung in the balance. Happily, he not only recovered but returned to training this year and yesterday, something like fifteen months later, he took his record to two from two. That speaks volumes for the skill of his trainer Luca Cumani, but also for Riggins' genuineness (and talent). A horse who combines talent and extreme genuineness is a special horse indeed, and it was lovely to start today by reading of his win in the results section of the Racing Post.

What I also enjoyed reading today was a snippet which caught my eye on the front page of the Radio Times which lay beside the check-out while I stood in the queue in Waitrose. This passed on the very good news that Kurt Wallander is soon to be brought to British TV screens by the BBC. What is less good is that Kenneth Branagh is to play him, which - and I'd love to be proved wrong when we see the shows - I'd say is a poor piece of casting. Having read some of the later Wallander novels, I ordered the first five on Amazon a while back and am working my way through them. They are really, really good. I'm currently reading 'The Man Who Smiled', and so Wallander is in the forefront of my mind just now - and the Wallander who is in the forefront of my mind definitely isn't as poncey and perky as Kenneth Branagh. It seems an even worse choice than the casting of John Hannah as Rebus (and that did happen, before the producers realised the error of their ways and replaced him with Ken Stott) but we'll see. Anyway, the stories and the character are so good that the show has to be good however badly it's done. Henning Mankel, the author, has won at least one Golden Dagger for the books, an award which Peter Temple has also collected, so that's all the recommendation you need. So, while this website, as you know, isn't a tipping service, I'll give you a good tip now: when Wallander comes on the BBC, watch him. And, more importantly, if you've never read any of the books, read him (and track down some Peter Temples too). And don't say that I don't give credit where it's due: we have Nigel Reid to thank for introducing us to the works of both authors.