It was great to see High Chaparral, a lovely horse, come up with the Cox Plate winner, just as it had been great to see two other sons of Sadler's Wells (Scenic and Montjeu) provide the Caulfield Cup quinella (again courtesy of the ageless 81-year-old Bart Cummings - and only he could say, about So You Think's owner, "It's nice for him to have had this winner, because he's getting on a bit") seven days previously. And another winning pedigree which I enjoyed on Cox Plate Day was the fact that the Moonee Valley Cup winner The Sportsman is a son of the NZ-based stallion Kilimanjaro, who is a son of Sadler's Wells and Darshaan's Group One-winning Top Ville half-sister Darara (and is thus a half-brother to Dar Re Mi). I'm always pleased to see Kilimanjaro sire a good horse because I happened to be in Tattersalls Sales ring when he was sold as a yearling however many years ago it was, and I still consider him to be just about the best-looking yearling I've ever seen.
He was a decent horse when trained by Michael Stoute, if not quite top-class, and I enjoyed today re-freshing my memories of him with my friend Liam Casey (pictured recently riding his horse Diamond Dancer, who lives in this stable) who formerly worked for Michael Stoute for many years and who used to ride the horse as a yearling. Anyway, most recent chapters of this blog have involved a trip or two down memory lane, so that's the first (but not the last) for this episode.
I'm cross with myself because, after the treat of the Cox Plate card, I didn't watch any racing from Sale today, which was silly as the last race was at 6.08 and I was wandering around the house at the time, albeit very much in Sunday morning mode, which meant that turning on the television would have seemed too much like hard work. And it turned out that I was very cross with myself for not having watched the race, because (and here's the second trip down memory lane) it saw Peter Hutchinson ride a rare winner on a 40/1 shot.
Yes, that is the same Peter Hutchinson (seen earlier this year sitting opposite one of his brother's less satisfactory former employees) who spent much of his boyhood in England because of his father, the champion South Australian rider Ron, being stable jockey to John Dunlop for many years, and who served his apprenticeship in Epsom (with Geoff Lewis I think, although that could be wrong) and whose elder brother Ray (the vet who at various times trained both in Epsom and in Fitzroy Stables, Newmarket) was England's champion amateur rider for several years.
I really take my hat off to Peter because he is persevering with a come-back which must at times seem barely worthwhile. He was formerly a leading jockey, having been champion jockey in Adelaide two or three times before moving to Melbourne, and with his wins including the 1992 AJC Oaks on the (pictured, ridden by her regular trackwork rider Sean Acton) My Brilliant Star (the only Classic winner whom I have had the pleasure of riding at exercise - but there's still time to change that, I say more in hope than expectation) and the same year's Caulfield Cup on Fraar for David Hayes. He also, of course, 'enjoyed' one of his less fine hours in that year's Cox Plate, when he brought down half the field.
(Well, that's not entirely fair: his mount fell when he clipped heels in an incident which is invisible on the film of the race as it takes place in the one second in which the horses are shielded from view by what I think is a water tower, but unfortunately the horses brought down included the hot favourite Naturalism, whose departure left the way clear for his heroic stablemate Super Impose - pictured in retirement a year later - to win one of the most exciting races you'd ever see).
However, over the years Peter suffered a lot of injuries and, after what I think was a bad neck injury, he finally gave away race-riding on medical advice seemingly for good. However, last year, after a break of at least five years, he resumed riding trackwork (which he is seen here doing so at Caulfield earlier this year, and also, below, alongside a young David Taggart at the same, but scarcely recognisable compared to how it is today, track 18 years previously) and, after getting his weight right back down again which must have been easier said than done, resumed race-riding.
He doesn't get many rides now, and those which he does get tend to be outsiders in the country, but he's sticking at it, for which I heartily salute him. I'm always very pleased to note any winner which he rides - and I'd have loved to have watched today's race; and, of course, to hear any post-race interview, because any interview with the ever-entertaining Hutchy is guaranteed to be nearly as funny as one with Bart.
Highlight of the weekend here, of course, has been the outstanding win of St Nicholas Abbey in the Racing Post Trophy. This has stirred up a few thoughts in my brain, but I'll save them for the next chapter, and instead content myself with the past during this one. On which subject, I was surprised to see Mount Athos, third to Sir Ivor and Connaught in the 1968 Derby (in which I suspect he might have been ridden by Ron Hutchinson, although I would be grateful if someone could either confirm or contradict this) running in a maiden race at Doncaster either yesterday or the previous day. This reminds me of another Classic contender whose name has been recycled. A couple of days after writing about Arthur Pitt on this blog, I happened to find myself with a 1982 Horses In Training in my hand, so I looked up his string. Sure enough old Freight Forwarder was there among his 27 horses, aged eight that year. But there was also one horse who should have sprung to mind even before him: Rocamadour, aged three that year and a very good colt whom I remember running very well just behind the place-getters in both the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby. How could one forget him - particularly as his name has been carried recently by a Mick Channon-trained colt who, likewise, ran with distinction in some of the top three-year-old races?
Of the weekend's runners other than St Nicholas Abbey, pride of place has to go (despite some great National Hunt action, headed by lovely old Monet's Garden) to Ask, particularly from this viewpoint. His record for the season now reads four runs, which have yielded three wins (the Yorkshire Cup, the Coronation Cup and, today, the Prix Royal-Oak) and a third place behind his stablemates Conduit and Tartan Bearer in the King George And Queen Elizabeth Stakes. That's a great record which reflects very well on both horse and trainer. But why I was so pleased to see him win today was that he had really caught my eye two or three weeks ago. Only a few days after I'd had my close encounter with Harbinger (who ran well to be placed in yesterday's St Simon Stakes at Newbury), I had a slightly less close encounter with Ask. We were walking back down the side of Warren Hill next to the Moulton Road when Kevin Bradshaw appeared on a horse on his own. Kevin - who of course is best remembered for winning an apprentice race at Ascot on the Mill Reef horse Marooned, who subsequently won the Sydney Cup and then became a good stallion in WA, although I think of him primarily as one of the two regular jockeys, along with the former Ray Hutchinson employee Ray McGhin, of Grey Panel's prolific winning dam Minnie's Mystery - has worked for Michael Stoute all his career, bar a few years after he'd finished his apprenticeship to be a jockey for Richard Whittaker. He's now one of Michael Stoute's main work-riders, but also performs assistant duties, and as such can sometimes been seen riding a hack to supervise the string.
As he was on his own and appeared to be heading out on the grass into the middle of the Heath, I presumed that he was on hack duty - except that the horse he was riding looked like a really high-class galloper rather than a four-legged grandstand. So I called to Kevin, "That horse looks rather good to be a hack", which Kevin (pictured recently riding on his own - but not on Ask) seemed to find very funny. And the reason for his amusement became clear when he revealed the horse's identity: Ask, as you'd probably guessed. That made it clear to me just what a lovely horse Ask is, in both physique (I think the TV pundits would say 'physicality') and demeanour, so I'm really pleased that he's won 'the French St Leger' today.
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