Victory for Ex Con - a lovely day

We had a huge thrill yesterday with the victory of Ex Con in the bumper at Stratford. Everthing about this success was very pleasing. Owned by the six-man All Points West Partnership, he represents the first venture into ownership for the majority of the partners, and they have proved to be lovely people to train for. The aim, after the horse's purchase at the July Sale 2007, was that he would start racing in the season 2007/'08, but unfortunately that plan had to be put on hold, and he actually didn't start racing until February 2009, almost 19 months after his arrival. The longer one has owned horses, the more one gets used to the the fact that very often one is forced into finding that a horse's progress falls quite a long way behind the schedule one had optimistically planned, and so one gets accustomed to waiting. And waiting. But I am always conscious of the fact that a long, unexpected wait with one's first horse must be a hard wait to bear - hence it was a relief to find that, all the way through, the partners have been thoroughly supportive and, frustrating though it must have been to be spending a lot of time (and money) with absolutely nothing happening, at no time was I ever made to feel bad about it. And that speaks very, very highly of all the people involved, believe me. So yesterday was a very, very special moment: I am always very happy indeed to train a winner for anyone who has entrusted me with their horse, but yesterday was particularly pleasing, because the All Points West Partnership really do deserve any success they can get.

So yesterday's success was all the sweeter for the wait which had preceded it - and it was all the more thrilling for its manner. Even though Ex Con had improved hugely from his first run to his second, the form book said that another great leap forward would be required for him to win yesterday. I was confident that he had improved again - logic dictated that this would be likely to be the case, the continued progression of his homework backed this up, and his relatively (compared to his on previous outings) well-muscled appearance in the parade ring gave further encouragement - but even so that left him as merely one of at least four realistic chances in the race. Had I been forming a market, I would have made him perhaps a 7/1 or 8/1 chance, which meant that the 22/1 SP was a great bet, but still meant that, in advance, 'hopeful' was a more appropriate adjective than 'confident': I was confident that he'd run well, but it's very possible to run well without actually winning the race. And for much of the race one couldn't have been confident of victory. He travelled very well, but when the pressure was applied during the second mile he appeared to be booked for fourth place: a group of four, including him, began to pull clear in the back straight, but from "the mound" onwards, he was struggling just to keep up with the other three. However, rounding the last turn, the three lengths he had dropped back from the first three slowly began to shrink, and he showed real courage and stamina to poke his nose between horses approaching the final furlong. A typically spirited Mark Johnson commentary really summed up the surge of excitement as, his tongue hanging out Shergar-style, he forced his head in front inside the last furlong and pulled away to win by a couple of very hard-fought lengths. In National Hunt racing, stamina and genuineness are probably the two most important qualities, and he certainly demonstrated that he possesses both.

So that's great. He's come home safe and sound, and we can look forward, fingers crossed, to an exciting future over jumps with him. William Kennedy, who rode him typically excellently yesterday, schooled him earlier this month and he demonstrated then that he can jump very well, so roll on next season - but he can have a nice summer break first. He deserves it.