Comings and goings

One thing which I should do before I go any farther is to salute one of our favourite trainers, James Eustace, on the outstanding win in the Al Shindagha Sprint at Meydan last Thursday of War Artist, who is clearly thriving out in Dubai under the care of Chloe Madgin. It was tremendous, and a well-deserved advertisement for James' skills. His victory was the highlight of an interesting evening of racing there last Thursday, even if it is harder to appreciate the UAE racing now that we seem to be denied the punditing skills of James Willoughby on Racing UK. (And when one sees shots of the empty stands there). James' wit and wisdom were formerly easily the highlight of the UAE coverage, but we haven't heard him at all this year so far. He was also missing from the station's coverage of last autumn's Breeders' Cup, which was also poorer for his absence. I can only presume that he has been too busy finessing the facts, the figures and the form to appear on TV (and to do much writing). (And, by the way, I'm not going to waste any time in agonising over whether or not there should be a second 'e' in finessing/finesseing: if one starts using finesse as a verb, one is already on such stony ground linguistically that one's crimes against the language can be neither compounded nor diminished however one spells the word).

The funny thing is that we haven't laid eyes on James Eustace's string for weeks now, which is odd as we usually see plenty of them. We must just have our times such that we and they do not coincide. Another string which appears on the Severals from his direction, though, of which we do see plenty is that of Jeff Pearce, who is enjoying a superb winter. Jeff has sent out stacks of winners, several of them ridden by the under-patronized Saleem Golam, which is very nice to see. Another string, though, which also used to appear on the Severals from the Heath was Gerard Butler's, and we don't see that any longer as he has moved across town to share Egerton House with David Elsworth. That's good news for Gerard, but less good for us as I always enjoyed seeing him and his string - and it always was a case of not seeing one without the other, because he is never far away when his horses are around, being an extremely conscientious trainer. Even in the pre-Christmas snow, as shown here. Speaking of David Elsworth, he is to be congratulated for snaring a win last weekend in one of the weakest Listed races ever run. I don't know why the all-weather racing is going backwards so much: it really is considerably less good than it was a couple of years ago. I can only presume that this is because the prize money has been cut back so much and that the majority of people with a nice horses (at any level) now prefer to take the chance of saving the horse for the turf, rather than tackling the much softer, but considerably less well-endowed, winter option It was formerly the case that winter racing was increasing in quality and prestige, but that scenario applies no longer and, on the evidence of this winter, it has peaked and is already declining. That's a shame - but the courses and the authorities know what to do about it if they would like to reverse the trend.

Having spoken in brief about the late Fred Rickaby in the past two chapters, I should also salute another two heroes who have died recently. I never met Terry Mills but I admired what he achieved in his life and I admired his passion for racing and the competitive manner in which he raced his horses. He was a true asset to the sport, which is the poorer for his passing. I was delighted to see the stable, now presided over by his son Robert, have a winner soon after his death, and I hope that they have plenty more. I was lucky enough to spend a few weeks in that stable, Loretta Lodge, during the holidays of my final year at school, when the yard was owned by the late Brian Swift, from whose executors Terry was subsequently to buy it. Brian Swift's head lad Wally Carter, from whom I learned a lot, was Terry Mills' first trainer there, and I have enjoyed seeing winners come out of the yard from those days to these.

Even more of a hero was Dick Francis, who died a couple of days ago. There is nothing which I can say about this great man that hasn't already been said, other than to remark that I am one of many, many thousands of people for whom his writings have been a solid and valued thread through life. One of life's gentleman, he invariably conducted himself with modesty and honour and he did an awful lot of good for the sport of racing, as well as bringing pleasure to a vast amount of people. He was truly one of racing's towering figures of the twentieth century.

And finally I should salute Ronan Lawlor, the Irish apprentice who was killed today in a fall during morning exercise with Pat Fahy's string this morning. I previously knew nothing about Ronan, but he was clearly an admirable young lad who has lost his life in tragic circumstances. There but for the grace of God go any of us, and I can only offer my sympathies to his family and to his many friends.