We're being spoiled: every time it seems as if autumn is arriving, summer returns. We've had another couple of lovely summer's days, with nights to match. Yesterday was just perfect. I caught the last race from Newmarket on Racing UK and heard Derek Thompson saying that it was 27 degrees, so that's clearly what it was, and the day was followed by a summer night, the only difference being that the night began two hours earlier than it would do in summer, and similarly ended two hours later.
I was saying to Aisling this morning that, at seven, it was just like 5.30 in summer: idyllic. Other than the days' lengths, the only give-aways are the facts that some of the trees have started to change colour and that our rogue elder trees in the yard, as the top picture shows, now have more elderberries than leaves. It's good for both man and beast, and Agent Almeida is shown enjoying some sun-bathing in his pen, with Anis picking grass alongside his domain adding an some extra interest for him.
An extra pleasure for me today was that I enjoyed the luxury of only riding one horse (Frankieandcharlie) and spent the rest of the morning on the ground. I do enjoy riding, but one can definitely have too much of a good thing, and it's nice to pretend occasionally to be a proper trainer. We had three members of the All Points West Partnership (Jason Hathorn, Ken Gibbs and Tim Trounce) staying last night, so it was very good to accompany them (plus Jason's sister Mel and niece Dakota, who are shown with the others, and Ex Con and Hugh, after the work was over) to the Al Bahathri mid-morning to watch Ex Con have his first (easy) gallop of the autumn, accompanied by Cape Roberto (nearer camera).
That went very pleasingly, and we had a bonus afterwards because Luca hove into view just a bit farther down the gallop, which made it plain that he was about to have some horses come up. So we waited in the stand and enjoyed watching them, an interesting mix of young horses at various stages of readiness, come past in bunches of three or four (one of which is shown below). I've no idea of the names of any of the horses whom we saw, but it's a fair bet that several of them will enjoy very rewarding three-year-old campaigns in 2010 - and that one or two will eventually make their debuts for other stables in bumpers, just as happened to the formerly Jeremy Noseda-trained Ex Con!
So that was all very pleasant, as was our dinner last night: our guests were kind enough to treat us to dinner in the Plough in Ashley, where good food and a friendly welcome are guaranteed. I fondly remember eating there a few years ago with Jason's late uncle Joe McCarthy, and I know that he'll have enjoyed looking down on our dinner: he certainly enjoyed his visit there, and subsequently used to tell the tale of being presented with a choice of TWELVE different types of vegetables!
A questionably less worthwhile activity which I have undertaken over the past couple of days has been to sign myself up to Facebook. For so long I'd sworn I'd never have a bar of this nonsense, but Hugh and David were recently again extolling its virtues, so the phrase 'Don't die wondering' came to my mind. So now I'm signed up and, while I still question the point of it, I suppose there's no (or not much) harm in it. In fact, a couple of items have already given me a bit of pleasure, because I have already received 'friend' requests from a couple of former apprentices who had disappeared from my radar. Antonio Polli started off with Luca but actually rode most of his British winners while with Jeff Pearce, while Heather McGee was with Luca throughout her apprenticeship. Both rode for us - in fact I think they probably rode related horses, because I remember Antonio having a couple of rides on Henry and Rosemary Moszkowicz's grey filly En Grisaille about ten years ago, and I'm pretty sure that Heather had a ride more recently (obviously) on her similarly grey daughter La Gessa - so it was good to hear that they are still both alive and happy to maintain a friendly acquaintanceship. Antonio went back to ride in Italy once he'd finished his apprenticeship (I did actually see him back here a couple of years ago) while I don't know what Heather is up to; no doubt I might soon find out.
However, I doubt I'll be wasting too much time on Facebook. I can't help thinking that, if Facebook had been in existence a century ago, James Joyce might have found it hard to get 'Ulysses' published: one can imagine the proposed publisher saying, "Why should we go to the trouble and expense of printing and binding all this inconsequential and humdrum drivel when so much of its like is freely available on the internet?". In fact, the book might never have been written. Joyce is famously reputed to have said, when asked what he had done during the Great War, "I wrote Ulysses"; had he been a citizen of the current era, his reply might instead have been, "Uh, dunno really - but I did spend quite a lot of time on Facebook".
I should perhaps end this on a slightly more positive and relevant note, so I'll just mention how much I enjoyed last night's ATR coverage of Caulfield and Rosehill, most of which I watched on video, having only watched a couple of races live. (I didn't fancy too early a start after a good evening in the Plough). It was tremendous to see The Embassy, part-owned by Lawrence Wadey, win again, his fifth victory of the year and his fourth from his past five starts, and win in a manner which suggests that he'll have a chance in the Metropolitan in two weeks' time. Lawrence picked this horse out from the films of the pre-sale NZ breeze-ups a couple of years ago, and The Embassy's success is thus a real feather in Lawrence's cap, as well as a source of vicarious excitement and pleasure to me. In fact, with a bit of imagination one could even call his win today a good trial for next year's Melbourne Cup, something which one could also say about another victory on the card, that of Bart Cummings' High Chaparral three-year-old So You Think. Another winner to give us pleasure was the smashing filly More Joyous, who won when we were in Australia in January: we watched her debut in Sydney on the television when we were at Caulfield. I mentioned recently how much I'm enjoying the fact that Lonhro is siring good winners every week, so I enjoyed watching Demerit hold off Trusting to win the Caulfield Guineas Prelude. While complimenting Lonhro again, I should also tip my hat to another young sire, Fastnet Rock, who has sired three Stakes winners this week: one at Newcastle midweek and two today (Stryker in Sydney and the impressive Irish Lights in Melbourne).
I've been lucky enough to see Fastnet Rock three times and fondly regard him as one of the most impressive-looking sprinters I have ever seen, alongside the likes of Statoblest, Piccolo, Gold Brose, Hareeba and Choisir. I saw him in Geoff Wragg's yard on his abortive trip the UK (when he ended up not running) and twice at Coolmore Australia: in 2006 and again this year, when admittedly I couldn't actually see that much of him as he was well protected from the summer elements, as this photograph shows. Anyway, he's a lovely horse and I'm really pleased that he's had a good day.
And on one final note, I was very pleased to see Fastnet Rock's admirable paternal half-brother Pevensey win at Catterick today. I only caught one race from Catterick so I'm glad that it was this one, not merely because I like Pevensey (whose win today was his first Flat victory since winning a handicap at Royal Ascot 27 months ago) but also because it enabled me to see what the victory meant to his rider Ian Brennan, whose punch of the air after the post spoke a thousand words. Ian, of course, escaped more or less unharmed from the fire 14 days ago which claimed the lives of Jamie Kyne and Jan Wilson, but, while his body came out of the inferno intact, his spirit must have been severely battered, with Jamie being his colleague and friend and Jan being his girl-friend. To win today on this lovely horse, who must surely be a real favourite in his and Jamie's stable of John Quinn, must have meant a hell of a lot to him, and I'm very glad that I happened to catch the race.
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