Through the tears

I doubt that there will be many members of the racing community who have not shed a few tears this weekend following the news of the deaths of Jamie Kyne and Jan Wilson. I know that riding and handling horses is a precarious calling and that we all can name friends and acquaintances who have been killed or maimed, and that we all know that there but for the grace of God go I. However, even with an awareness of man's mortality being ever in the background, few deaths from our circle have been more stunning than these, because of their sheer shockingness, their terrifying circumstances, their appalling shouldn't-have-happenedness. I was not acquainted with either victim, knew nothing of Jan and only knew of Jamie from reading about him in the papers and watching him riding and being interviewed on television, but it is clear that we have tragically lost two fine young people at the threshold of what would undoubtedly have been worthwhile and productive adulthood. I was thinking after writing the previous chapter that it might have seemed odd my referring to admiring Kieren Fallon because of his success, because in the majority of professions success is not necessarily something to be admired per se, and I had thought that perhaps I ought to expand on this. I will expand on it now because it is pertinent: jockeying is a bloody tough game and to make any inroads in it at all one needs to be of a very high calibre. Many believe themselves called, but only very few have the necessary qualities to be chosen, and even to get a nucleus of rides as an apprentice and to ride some winners, as these two youngsters had done, means that one has already shown special qualities. To reach the heights which Kieren has reached requires special qualities (admittedly not all the qualities are totally pleasant, because ruthlessness is probably one of them - as we know, while the meek shall inherit the earth, they probably won't inherit the mineral rights) but even to make the start which Jamie and Jan had made shows that they were well above average. Jockeying is a profession in which ability is essential but far from enough on its own, and they were clearly youngsters of skill, character, determination and likeability. An ever decreasing number of youngsters are thus blessed, and the loss of these two in such horrific and needless circumstances is just truly awful. Their families must have been so proud of them, and I hope that it is some small comfort to them in their time of grief to know that they are the recipients of universal condolences.


It seems hard to focus on the sport at a time when one is reminded that there are far more important things than which horse wins which race, but this weekend was one which, under normal circumstances, would have been very special. Sea The Stars (pictured before the Derby) and Rachel Alexandra - both brought into our houses by ATR - were true stars, the former's victory coming despite what is seeming an over-riding desire by Ballydoyle to beat him. Aidan's five-strong challenge was truly bizarre: that he chose to run Mastercraftsman as his second string and as the third favourite when the horse could instead have been the odds-on favourite and almost certain winner in the Prix du Moulin suggests a focus on beating this one horse which has gone beyond the rational; and what his no-hopers were up to is anyone's guess. The stewards and the press don't seem to find anything odd in it, but how anyone could believe that Rockhampton and Set Sail were ridden to achieve their best possible placing is beyond me: to my eyes they were ridden in a way that guaranteed that they would achieve their worst possible placing (and if they happened to get in the way of Sea The Stars in the process, then that would have been very unfortunate, wouldn't it?). Happily the best horse won, but I think that if Bill Woodfull had been watching the Sea The Stars v. Team Ballydoyle match, he might again have said, "There are two sides out there today, but only one of them's playing cricket".

The Kieren Fallon roadshow finally got its result at Wolverhampton on Saturday evening, the fourth meeting at which he had ridden. His opening day was as bizarre as its fanfare had deserved. It was rather ironic that his supposedly sure-fire come-back winner, Amy Weaver's two-year-old, was beaten by a Michael Bell first-starter - and that it was only after the race that we learned that the only reason why he was riding the horse was because Hayley Turner had been offered the ride on him but had turned it down to ride the winner! A similar brahma came via Ed Dunlop's contribution: Kieren's handicap good thing for Ed at Lingfield duly finished tailed off, just before Kieren headed off to Kempton's evening meeting, where his first ride, for Paul Howling, finished third - in a race won by an Ed Dunlop-trained outsider, ridden by Tom McLaughlin. The weirdness of the situation was just what we deserved, but he's back amongst the winners and it's good to have him there. He's also had two Group One thirds now, on two beaten favourites: High Standing and Youmzain.
Either would have been a popular winner, but I'm never unhappy to see Grosser Preis von Baden winner Getaway (pictured, after winning last season's Jockey Club Stakes) victorious, as he, along with the likes of Dubai Millenium, Shirocco and Sea The Stars, stands out in my mind as one of the most handsome horses I have seen. He's a beautiful animal, the type who would stand out as such whether on a racecourse, in the show-ring, the hunting field or in the Trooping of the Colour.

Finally, while reviewing the weekend's action, I can't end without lamenting the death of Curtain Call. While events in Malton make me wary of using the word 'tragedy' to describe the death of a horse, Curtain Call's death was just very, very sad. He was a lovely horse, and a fatal injury caused by being galloped on is always terrible as it is one of those things which just shouldn't happen, but does. Only a week or so ago Emma came back from Luca's stable telling me that she had been talking to Ed Walker, Luca's assistant, about Curtain Call and about how fond of him Ed was, and I know that his death will be felt badly by many in the stable, as well as by his owners. They have my sincere sympathies, as does William Buick, who had the misfortune to ride two horses at Kempton yesterday whom he had to pull up mid-race with fatal injuries. Despite the fact that it contained some great racing, we can just say that we don't want days like yesterday to happen very often.