Autumnal ramblings

I sort of gave a tip in my last blog, only I didn't realise it at the time. In previewing the Caulfield Cup, I happened to put up a photograph of what would become the winning jockey, because of course Brad Rawiller, seen alongside Michelle Payne in Luca's string, found himself on what proved to be the best of Bart Cummings' trio, giving last year's Melbourne Cup winner Viewed a perfect ride to get home ahead of his stablemate Roman Emperor. I'm really glad: not only was it great to see Bart take home another Cup and to see a Melbourne Cup winner go on to further glory, but it was great also to see Brad win yet another big race (his 2009 haul already, of course, included the Golden Slipper) because he is as professional and diligent a hoop as you'd find. He struggles so hard with his weight that that alone makes him deserving of any success which comes his way.

Another tip which I gave, only not on this site, was that Twice Over would win the Champion Stakes. I have voiced that opinion umpteen times over the past four months or so - so naturally I found it rather a mixed pleasure, shortly after we arrived at Wolverhampton, to watch the television coverage of that lovely horse bounding up the last ten furlongs of the Rowley Mile (if that isn't too paradoxical) to take that race at 14/1, with not a penny of my money on his back. Ah well, it's nice to be proved right, even if on this occasion slightly frustrating.
The trip to Wolverhampton was good too, even if we didn't bring home a winner. Lovely little Ethics Girl is such a trouper. She just makes me so proud every time she runs, because she invariably runs well and honestly. She's so straightforward and a classic illustration of my theory, as expounded in a recent Racing Post, that a sound horse is a good horse. And, for obvious reasons, it's much easier for a sound horse to be a genuine horse than for an unsound one to be similarly resolute.
She is naturally quite feisty and impatient, but she's really learning to take things in her stride. On Saturday she was ever so calm in the parade ring, cantering down to post (pictured) and walking around behind the barriers (also pictured, on the big screen which shone out well against the rapidly-darkening 5.50 pm gloomy autumnal skyline); while in the race she settled beautifully before running gamely to the line (pictured, with the winner out of shot on the far rail and the runner-up on this side of her), unable only to outrun two well-bred, progressive and probably well-handicapped colts (lightly-raced sons of Refuse To Bend and Montjeu, trained respectively by Mark Johnston and Jeremy Noseda).
So once again she did her connections and her stable, and herself, very proud. Credit also to her jockey Rab Havlin, who rode her very well both in the race and beforehand. The filly is by nature impatient, and standing in the stalls isn't her preferred activity. As she often does, she reared (albeit in a composed manner) in her gate while the others were being loaded, and it was a pleasure to see Rab calmly lean forward as she went up in the air and gently take hold of her ear to encourage her down, and then just calmly and kindly pat her on the neck. One could almost hear him saying, "There, there old girl - don't fuss". It was only a minor detail and could easily have passed unnoticed, but I happened to catch sight of it on the screen, and it's an episode worth pointing out, even if only to give the jockey the praise which he deserves.


The sullen skies at Wolverhampton are things to which we are going to have to become accustomed now because the gloriously golden early autumn days are becoming a thing of the past now. Still, each season has its merits, and we still have one of autumn's greatest beauties: the changing leaves. If the cold winds which seem to be arriving keep up, the leaves will all be gone in another fortnight, but right now they are very picturesque.
The belt of young trees alongside Moulton Road at the top of Long Hill provides a lovely sight at this time of year when the sun is on it, as these two photographs - one with James Fanshawe's string filing past it, one with Agent Almeida taking a closer look - taken a week or two ago on a sunny day prove. The first leaves to turn, this year as last, have been those on the horse chestnuts. Last year it looked as if these trees might be suffering from some disease, or even dying, as they lost their leaves very early, but thankfully they still seem to be clinging on to life, even if once again autumn arrived earlier for them than for other deciduous trees.
This picture of the tree by Green Lodge on the Severals was taken at least a month ago, and already its leaves were bronze while all around it were still green. Eagle-eyed readers, incidentally, might be able to identify the rider (well, that's not really true as you'd need more than eagle eyes) on the horse at the front of Mark Tompkins' string in the photograph: the former jockey and former trainer Colin Williams, best remembered for winning the inaugural Vernon's Sprint Cup at Haydock in 1966 on Sir Peter O'Sullevan's Be Friendly - and he's in good company there, of course, because the other jockey to win that race on Be Friendly (the following year) was Scobie Breasley. Anyway, Colin's still going strong 43 years later and still riding extremely well and confidently, and I hope that this sighting of him might be of interest to some.