Autumn arrives but summer lingers

September 1st is usually a sad day as it marks the start of autumn, ie the end of summer. However, this year I've taken it reasonably well as I don't think that the passing of the summer we've had is something to be mourned too much. Last summer I just felt cheated at the start of autumn, because summer had been and gone without appearing at all. However, I don't think it was as bad this year because, notwithstanding the debacle of the washed-out Ebor Meeting, it hasn't been as nearly wet this year (I think that August 2008 was merely the fourth wettest August ever, as opposed to August 2007 being the wettest) so we haven't been completely robbed - but as it was the least sunny August ever, it can't really be regarded as a month to miss. And what was nice was that we ended it in a very nice way.

Friday morning dawned idyllicly, and a lovely way to start it was to head up to the Links with Tony Fordham and Hugh shortly after seven to watch William Kennedy school Jill Dawson. Jill hadn't been very keen on the jumping idea initially, but William is very good - and Jill is perfectly capable of athletic distinction - so now, on session number three, things went very satisfactorily. She went up the line of four hurdles six times - four times in company and twice on her own - and she was very proficient. And she worked hard, which was encouraging, because you never know how much she is going to exert herself, and so it was just really pleasing. There were three former jumps hoops teeing off for a round of golf when we were there - Ross Campbell, Declan Murphy and Terry Kent - and it was particularly pleasing to hear Declan, unprompted, remark how well she was jumping. So that was nice, and almost equally pleasing the following lot was to watch Tony's filly Struck Lucky put in some good work up Warren Hill. She's coming along nicely and, touch wood, is proving straightforward and hardy: it is a phenomenon of the modern thoroughbred that an unsatisfactorily high proportion start to get things wrong with them almost as soon as they start faster work (or even earlier than that!) so to find a horse having his or her work continually increased without anything going wrong is always a pleasure.

That was pretty much my contribution to the morning (and as I was merely a spectator to both exercises it wasn't too demanding a contribution) because before morning stables were over Emma and I set off on what proved to be an extremely long journey, driving to pick up Anthony and then continuing on to my father's house in Devon for Anthony's summer visit to Grandad's. It turned out that it took us more than eight hours to cover the 240 miles, which wasn't good, but we got there in the end. After such a journey, what one doesn't want is to arrive to find oneself locked out of the house; this, however, was precisely what happened, and as my father was out for the evening (and wouldn't be getting home until well after midnight) it wasn't immediately easy to see the funny side of this debacle. However, all was well that ended well when I was able to break into the house through a window and then open one of the doors from the inside, so we three weary travellers were able to put our heads down indoors rather than outside. The unsatisfactory start to the expedition notwithstanding, the trip was enjoyable - being in good company in a lovely place in decent weather could hardly be anything but - and the journey home particularly memorable (well, the outward journey was, in its way, equally memorable, but for the wrong reasons) as we were able to enjoy some lovely countryside on a beautiful summer's evening, the trip up the A361 between Taunton and Glastonbury being particularly special, and then the journey to and up the A303 providing further delights. I don't know that Anthony appreciated the countryside quite as much as I did (the frequency with which he asked "Are we nearly there yet?" suggested that he maybe didn't derive quite the pleasure from the scenery-seeing that I did) but I think that he now knows that Stonehenge is Britain's oldest man-made construction - he should do, because I've told him often enough!

Sunday was another fun day, thanks largely to my having been invited to be a judge at the Newmarket Horse Show in Exning Park, organised by Kerry and Colleen Salmon. This was a genuinely good thing, Kerry and Colleen having put in a lot of work to put on this event for no reason other than to benefit the local equestrian community and to give people the chance of an enjoyable day. They deserve full marks, as do the sponsors including Tattersalls, Darley, Frankie Dettori, Willie Carson, Cheveley Park Stud and Gay Kelleway. There were two show-rings - one for thoroughbreds and one for non-thoroughbreds - and plenty of people took the option to take their horses along and have some fun. Although I think I pretty much know what I'm looking at when I look at horses, I had no show-judging experience, but thanks to the kindness of my two co-judges Katie and Rob, that didn't really matter. They are experienced and respected judges - Katie (Jerram) writes a column on the subject in the Horse And Hound - who thankfully were very considerate of my lack of knowledge, making me aware of what factors do and don't matter without making me feel out of place for not knowing these things in advance. They were also kindly receptive to any observations which I offered, and it was a real pleasure to be part of the trio of judges - and an education too, thanks to their helpfulness and their generosity with their knowledge. So that was very good - and seeing the horses was great, because we had a lovely collection of past and current racehorses parading before our eyes. All were such a credit to their owners and provided a lovely reminder that when a horse's racing career ends, his useful life is far from over. We gave the thoroughbred championship (and happily she went on to win the show's overall championship) to the old Orchestra mare Lombard Ships, whose racing record when trained by Alan Bailey was five wins and 19 placings from 58 starts, in one of which she ws ridden by Lester Piggott. She's now aged 21, has had three foals, and is still in superb condition. She's a lovely-looking mare whose offset knees are her only fault and whose overall excellent physical make-up is proved by the fact that she's had 21 years of activity and is still going strong and undamagedly. It was a hard decision for the championship of our ring between her and the much more patrician 9-year-old Hazim, by Darshaan ex Souk, bred by Fittocks Stud, trained by Sir Michael Stoute for Sheikh Hamdam and former winner of the Zetland Gold Cup. He looked tremendous and, like Lombard Ships, pays a handsome tribute to those responsible for his post-racing life, and I think that the decisive factor in our selection of the mare as the champion was merely the fact that one had to give her extra respect for her evident extreme durability. Others in our ring who particularly stick in my mind include James Fanshawe's naughty hack/former good dual-purpose galloper Prins Willem; a lovely former maiden point-to-pointer whose name I can't remember who is due to line up this weekend at Burghley in the re-trained racehorses ridden showing class; the 12-year-old Arabian Desert who has won in both the UK and the UAE; the very tough Foxhound gelding Semper Paratus who won four from 53 and who is now doing dressage; a very attractive little unraced grey Storm Cat three-year-old who was bought by Dave and Roxanne Sims at the July Sale from Shadwell for 1,500 gns; and Strike Force who finished second at Great Leighs last week, is due to run again this week and who kept himself ticking over by shuffling round the ring in umpteen classes yesterday before being ridden home again afterwards! So that was lovely. Emma was on photography duty and Anthony seemed to enjoy accompanying her on her rounds, which was something of a relief as he'd been to the Bucks County Show three days previously and had apparently not looked at a similar animal there, the tractors instead proving the main and sole drawcard - so that the fact that this was a show with all horses and no tractors couldn't guarantee that he'd enjoy it. But enjoy it he did, and in doing that I'd say he was joined by everyone present.