Indian summer

Every year we hear about the possibility of an Indian summer, but it's usually something more apparent in discussion than actuality. This year it's great that it's actually happening. After the 'summer' of almost constant cloud cover above and wet conditions underfoot, it's great to have a spell in late September of clear blue sunny skies, and warm dry days. This spell may only last a week, but that's a lot better than nothing, and a lot better than much of what preceded it. Friday really was one of the most glorious days of the year, and we were lucky enough to have a great way of appreciating its glory: looking out across the sunlit Rowley Mile from the Darley box high in the grandstand, having been very kindly invited to join the lunch party there by Mark McStay. The racing was really interesting - exclusively two-year-olds - and there was a good crowd of people in the Darley box. What was particularly nice was that one of the guests was the breeder of a Reset colt who was running in a two-year-old maiden race at Newbury; this horse, Wave Aside, won, so that brought about a good cheer within the box. Another of the guests was the owner of a Sulamani filly called Peal Park who was making her debut at Newmarket and, although she finished towards the rear, she looked rather a nice, it still unfurnished, filly when I watched her cantering down to post, so fingers crossed she will be another horse with plenty to look forward to. And a further bonus of the lunch was the opportunity to have a good chat with Stuart Boman, an Australian who has started work this year as Darley's head of marketing: it was great to discuss the following day's excellent racing at Caulfield and Rosehill with him, with a particular bonus being getting the tip from him that the 6am cut-off point of At The Races' Australian coverage doesn't apply if one presses the red button. It's amazing that I didn't know that, but I know it now, and thus was able to enjoy all the racing in Melbourne and Sydney yesterday, rather than just the earlier - ie pre 3pm - action.

So that was nice, and I hope that we'll have a runner of our own to cheer on this week. We didn't have any last week - I did declare Kadouchski a couple of time, but he was eliminated - but I hope that he will run on Thursday at Great Leighs. I was very pleased with his first run for us eight days ago when he finished fourth at Kempton, very well ridden by Taidgh O'Shea. That run, though, illustrated the elimination difficulties: he was drawn in the outside stall and, despite Taidgh doing everything possible to negate that disadvantage, he still covered quite a bit of extra ground while getting no cover, so I think can be said to be unlucky not to have finished in the first three. But, unlucky or not, fourth was where he finished, which means that he has been dropped a pound in the ratings, from 49 to 48, making it even harder to get him into a race. I think it was Alan Taylor who thought that I was joking when I said that I thought there was a very strong argument for saying that one should be allowed to withdraw one's horse when badly drawn; I certainly was not joking, and particularly in the current situation, as illustrated by Kadouchski's latest revised mark, whereby running when badly drawn can mean that one might never be permitted to run the horse again, I think it's far from obvious that one should be obliged to pay a lot of money to run one's horse when circumstances beyond one's control have intervened to dictate that one now has very little chance of winning. At least Kadouchski is still rated as high as 48, but another bad draw could put him farther down the list, and then we really would be struggling ever to get him in. At least he is eligible for maidens, and one can usually get in one of those eventually, but there are plenty of lowly-rated horses who aren't eligible for maidens. Take Run From Nun, who hasn't run for ages. She's been regularly entered and declared, but can't get in. In theory she can run in maidens, but in practice that hasn't so far proved to be a feasible option: she wants five furlongs and fast ground, and the vagaries of (Britain's lack of) racing planning have ensured that there are virtually no 5-furlong maiden races. There was one at Bath the other week, but that was on soft ground, and there was one at Great Leighs, but that was a median auction maiden, so she wasn't eligible for that. There is one at Wolverhampton on 10th October and another one a week or so later, so fingers crossed she might get in one of those. Or maybe not ...

Oh yes, and don't tell me that claimers and sellers are always an alternative, because they only are an alternative when a horse is for sale, which isn't the case with every horse. So what is the answer? I don't know. In fact, there isn't one, because until the recession really bites in and the horse population drops markedly there is always going to be an elimination problem - but I certainly don't think that a situation whereby a horse's continued eligibility to compete is based on the vagaries of the draw is a satisfactory solution at all.

Looking outside our own little goldfish bowl, I was delighted to watch Quai D'Orsay win impressively on his debut at Hamilton half an hour ago. Emma and I are both huge fans of this horse's sire Sulamani, whom we both expect to make a good stallion. Emma in particular has put her money where her mouth is by breeding little Oscar Bernadotte (see Emma's blog if you don't know whom I mean). I greatly admired Sulamani as a racehorse, and I recently dug out my Winning Post article of October 30th 2004, which was headlined "Godolphin's pricy recruit goes out in a blaze of glory", written just after Sulamani had won his final race, the Canadian International. I wrote in summary "Although physically unimposing, he is a most admirable horse who will be a great asset to Sheikh Mohammed's breeding operation if he can pass on his class, determination and durability to his offspring". Michael Tidmarsh and I saw the little horse at Dalham Hall Stud less than a month later, when my respect for him further increased, because it was clear from how tired he looked that he had put his heart and soul into his racing. Anyway, it's now really pleasing to see that, at this early stage of his stud career, he has had four individual winners from only eight runners, so I remain convinced that he is on his way to proving himself a good stallion.

Otherwise, the nicest result of the weekend has to be William Carson's victory on Regal Parade in the Ayr Gold Cup. Regal Parade is an admirable horse who is a real credit to his connections and to himself, but I was particularly pleased for William, who really deserved the boost to his career which this triumph will surely bring. Another pleasing recent result has been the win in the previous weekend's rescheduled Portland Handicap of Hogmaneigh, who thus gave a very good advertisement for the skills of his trainer Stuart Williams and his jockey Saleem Golam. Hogmaneigh really is a test of Stuart's skill, because he has very poor feet, and I suspect with a lesser trainer his racing record would not be impressive. And while I'm saying nice things (something I don't do very often, other than when I'm regurgitating others' tributes to Richard Sims), Kirsty Milczarek and Hayley Turner must both be saluted for their recent good form. Kirsty in particular deserves a particular pat on the back for not allowing either the loss of her claim or a(nother) sizeable suspension to halt her progress.

Progress, though, which I hope will be halted is that of the plans which I believe are afoot to create a mini-town in the Fordham Road on Lord Derby's Hatchfield Farm. I hadn't heard of this until today, when Richard Ward sent me an article from the free weekly paper which we don't get because delivering it to us would be too complicated for the paper boy. Astonishingly, it appears that Lord Derby is keen to sell the 150 acres of Hatchfield Farm to allow a suburb of Newmarket to be built on the Fordham Road. We have duly alerted Save Historic Newmarket to this situation, so I hope that opposition will be mobilized shortly. 'Why should opposition be mobilized?', you might ask. Well, I think there are two very good reasons. Firstly, the town's traffic system is in almost constant gridlock as it is, with traffic jams generally uninterrupted from from 8am to 7pm on the cocked-up Clock Tower / Waitrose gyratory system, whose 'improvements' just haven't worked, and consequently right down the High Street. Until that is sorted out, I don't think it's realistic to be contemplating a development which would see another couple of thousand cars living in the Fordham Road. Secondly, and from many people's point of view more pertinently, this town is supposed to be one in which the training of horses is encouraged - and it's not just I saying that, because that's what the town's Royal Charter says, and the council still pretends to take that seriously. Sadly, getting horses from the stables to the Heath becomes more dangerous every year, with the Fordham Road crossing becoming ever more hazardous, and as long as there is still any collective will for Newmarket to remain a training centre, any plans to make the town and its roads, and in particular the Fordham Road, significantly busier just have to be opposed.