Doing things right, or doing them wrong

Conditions remain dry on this side of the country, which statement must provide cold comfort for those on the west: Ffos Las was vergeing on unraceably heavy yesterday, Ayr is abandoned because of water-logging today, while the M74, if I heard the radio correctly, is just about impassable in Lanarkshire because of flooding. Not so at Leicester, where the ground remains very quick on the hurdles track and where the steeplechase course remains, presumably, unraceably firm, the steeplechases having been abandoned for this week's meeting again. I was contemplating running Alcalde (whose ears are seen on a splendid morning on the Severals on Sunday) there on Thursday, but that fast ground wouldn't be his go, so he can instead go to Uttoxeter tomorrow, where the ground should be slightly on the soft side of good, which is OK. The Leicester race did arguably look more appealing, but the ground has taken the decision for us - which is not a bad thing from the point of view of my convenience, as Kadouchski (pictured lairizing in the field a couple of weeks ago) is set to run at Market Rasen on Thursday, and having runners at two meetings on the same day is rarely ideal. Anyway, let's hope for two good runs. Both horses seem well (which should go without saying, of course, as one oughtn't to be running horses unless one can say that about them).

I note that one of the jockeys in opposition to Alcalde tomorrow is Robert McCarth (7). I hope that he doesn't do to us what he did to one of his rivals at Sedgefield last week. I know that there is an unwritten rule about not pushing up the inside - and that this can cause problems on tracks where the inside running rail is intermittent, but that didn't apply here. Harry Haynes jumped a hurdle on the inside with McCarth next to him. The rail ended for about 80 yards, and McCarth appeared to steer so that he would be hard up against the inside rail when it resumed. The result, of course, was that Harry Haynes' horse was forced off the track and had a very nasty fall. The subsequent stewards' enquiry showed how out of touch I am with contemporary views on crime and punishment: I'd assumed that McCarth would be found guilty of either intentional interference or foul riding and be rubbed out for around six months, with his mount disqualified. I could hardly have been more wrong: I don't know what he was found guilty of, but he was suspended for either five or six days (I can't remember which) and his mount retained second position. It's hard to understand what he could have been found guilty of that could have carried such a punishment (and he must have been found guilty of something to have received any suspension): the interference clearly seemed neither accidental nor careless but intentional, and I can't see what category of intentional interference can bring such a lenient suspension when the interference has caused a fall. Still, ours not to reason why - but I just hope that he doesn't pull the same stunt tomorrow against our horse. And you couldn't be sure that he wouldn't, because the punishment has hardly been designed to get the message across that that kind of behaviour is beyond the pale.

That's the problem with youngsters nowadays: nobody tells them that what they're doing is wrong. Take, for instance, Kieran Fox, about whom a sob-story was written in the Racing Post last week. We were told that Kieran Fox is a freelance jockey who lives in Carshalton in Surrey and whose supply of rides has inexplicably dried up to such an extent that he is so short of money that he cannot afford to ride trackwork for any trainer, as he can't afford the petrol. So he just sits at home getting even poorer. This, of course, is totally misleading. He is not a freelance jockey: he is an apprentice, apprenticed to John Best, who trains in Kent, ie nowhere near Carshalton. Best used to give him plenty of rides, but doesn't do so any longer - and it's not hard to guess why: if the lad is not turning up for work, he's hardly going to give him any more rides. And if it's plain that his own stable has stopped using him (which it has) then he's not going to get any rides for anyone else either, particularly if he isn't riding out for anyone. The Racing Post probably thought that it was doing Fox a favour by highlighting his supposed plight, but in reality it was doing nothing of the sort. If it had said, "No, we're not going to write about how people should feel sorry for you. We're going to tell you to pull your finger out, move back so that you're living in the stable you're working in, and turn up for work every day. You'll find that your boss starts using you again, then other trainers will start doing so, and in another six months we'll be writing an article about how you've pulled yourself together and are doing well again." Kieran Fox is a talented young rider, but if nobody tells him what to do he'll remain a rudderless ship adrift. Compare and contrast Richard Callendar's wake-up call in last week's Winning Post to Josh Parr and Taylor Lovelock-Wiggins, two talented young riders in Sydney who, like Fox, seem to be sending their careers in the wrong direction through stupidity: "Josh Parr is no kid anymore and he must not continue to make dumb mistakes that cost him, owners and punters money. He is a better rider than the opportunities he is currently getting. Last Thursday at Hawkesbury, Josh rode Kiev for Peter Snowden and he must have been the only person who was at Hawkesbury or watching the program on television who didn't know the area hard up against in the inside fence was a no-go area. Kathy O'Hara partnered the winner Breeze Up, who had only won one from 21 heading into the race. O'Hara steered several horses away from the inside and even though Breeze Up didn't seem to want to win, he did. Meanwhile Parr and Kiev were on the worst ground near the fence. Then, two days later at Rosehill, Parr was fined $500 by the stewards for failing to ride out his mount , Sea Lord, over the final 100m. Josh, you are a good rider who I continually praise. But that will stop, as may the rides, if you don't pull up your socks and be more careful. Speaking of riders who seem to find drama wherever they go, Taylor Lovelock-Wiggins was also fined ($400) by the Rosehill stewards for failing to ride his mount, Mentality, to the line. The gelding finished seventh, but only a neck behind fifth placegetter Fitness Fanatic. Racing is full of trainers or jockeys who could have or should have. But you know what? So is every other sport and life in general. And nobody cares, so you need to make the most of your opportunities." Wise words - and kind ones too, because to tell youngsters that irresponsible or just plain stupid behaviour is anything less than totally unacceptable is to do them no favours at all.

On the subject of pointing youngsters in the right direction, I was delighted last week to gallop with an ex-jockey whom I greatly respect and who spends quite a lot of time doing just that nowadays. Michael Tebbutt was never a high-profile jockey, but he enjoyed a long career because of his professionalism, a large part of which involved keeping his weight in check. He's probably more a jumps jockey's size, but after he'd ridden a few bumper winners and in one hurdle race in his youth, he decided that he'd rather stay hungry and on the Flat. When I arrived in Newmarket 24 years ago, he'd only just come down from Middleham, where he'd been apprenticed to Chris Thornton, to join William Jarvis' stable. And I think that he only packed up race-riding four years ago, his final career-ending bad injury coming not from a racing fall, but when Cockney Rebel reared over with him in the yard a few weeks before winning the 2,000 Guineas. Anyway, I've always liked and respected Michael, and I was very pleased a year ago tomorrow when Hannah had her first ride at Kempton in a hands-and-heels apprentice race to find that he was the ex-jockey charged with briefing and de-briefing the riders, which is what happens in such races. Hannah is riding in the same race again tomorrow (for Julia Feilden) so I'd imagine that Michael might be on duty there again. And I was pleased also last week when I galloped Asterisk with one of Michael Wigham's horses on the Al Bahathri to find that Michael was on board. As these photographs show, he's lost none of his poise. Good on 'im - he's a man from whom these youngsters could learn plenty if they opened their eyes.

Hennessy Day

I really enjoyed the trip yesterday to that most rurally English of all tracks, Towcester. The weather was good, even if the wind, being strong, was chilly enough on an otherwise mild and benign day. Gus (seen before the race) did too, as did Asterisk, who is really thriving on her National Hunt racing. She ran a good race to finish third. She was beaten a fair way and wasn't as good as the two mares who finished a reasonable distance ahead of her, but that's no disgrace. And, because of the course's stiff finish, the margins tend to be quite exaggerated there anyway. Asterisk (seen before the race, during the final furlong, in the unsaddling enclosure, and then doing today what she loves best, ie rolling in the mud) is a different horse now that she is running over jumps and away from tape starts, rather than out of starting stalls. She was really content and relaxed both before and after the race, and during it she jumped well and tried hard. And you can't ask for more than that. As we were in an early race, we were off home before the best races were run elsewhere, but I watched them in the evening and really enjoyed the Hennessy. There's not really a lot that can be said about that splendid result which has not already been said, but even so it would be wrong to touch upon yesterday's racing without mentioning how lovely it was to see that splendid horse Carruthers winning for his owner/breeder, the hugely respected Lord Oaksey. It is probably fair to say that, in truth, there are very few participants in any sport who give more to their sport than they take from it - but I'd say that Lord Oaksey has been the exception to this rule, as he has hugely enhanced racing, and National Hunt racing in particular, by his presence in it in various roles over the past sixty years. If you haven't read his book 'Mince Pie for starters', then you should do so - and that's a rare piece of good advice handed out on this blog. It's lovely; and it ends with him remarking that he has a home-bred yearling by Kayf Tara from his old steeplechasing mare Plaid Maid who will in time join the stable of his son-in-law Mark Bradstock with the aim of giving him one last shot at the big steeplechases in the twilight of his life. That horse, of course, is Carruthers, who has now won the Hennessy aged eight, giving his owner/breeder victory in the race which he won as an amateur rider in 1958. Lord Oaksey clearly is in bad health and could not be there yesterday, but I hope that he will have been able to learn of the horse's victory and to rejoice in it, because the rest of the racing community is certainly rejoicing in it on his behalf. So that was grand - as was the fact that Carruthers was (extremely well) ridden by the excellent Mattie Batchelor, one of our several grossly under-rated jockeys. That was only Mattie's third win of the season, which is remarkable as the season is now seven months old. He's as popular as he is effective, so that was grand. I can't help recalling and chuckling over his response when a journalist, when Paul Nicholls was going to have several runners in one big steeplechase and might have been looking for a jockey, asked him whether he thought that he might be in line to get the ride on Denman: "Ride him? I'd be 33/1 to lead him up!". With self-effacing humour like that, it's no wonder that the fact that Mattie (pictured on Douchkette at Uttoxeter early last year) was the jockey made a special win even more special.

Another chapter begins

It's been a(nother) busy week, but a good one. The highlight has been the arrival of a lovely horse, who emerged from the first day of the December Sale (Monday) which is the day of the sale given over to yearlings. We'd looked at several on the Sunday and of, the ones who passed muster on inspection, the one to find his way here was a very well-bred and very handsome colt. He's by a very good stallion (Nayef) and is closely related to quite a few decent horses, most obviously his half-brother The Geezer, who was second to Scorpion in the St Leger six years ago after winning a Listed race at Haydock and the Gordon Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. You might recall that The Geezer then formed part of a multi-million-pound package sold by Jeff Smith to Godolphin, which also included the Prix Jean-Luc Lagadere runner-up Opera Cape. It transpired that Jeff Smith got substantially the better part of that deal, but at the time The Geezer did look like a realistic Gold Cup candidate for 2006 and beyond. So that's really good, and I hope that these photographs of him being taken off for his post-sale wind test make it easy to understand our excitement at his arrival. In case, by the way, the man leading him looks vaguely familiar, you might be interested to know that that is Dickie McCabe, whose claims to fame are that he was a multiple stable lads' boxing champion and that he did the Derby winner 30 years ago. And as the Derby winner 30 years ago was Shergar, you can understand why Dickie's place in Newmarket's folklore is secure.

This horse when he arrived here was, of course, a colt. He's no longer, which is great as it maximises the chance of his fulfilling whatever potential he has as a racehorse, as well as ensuring that his life while he does so will be as enjoyable as possible. (And that latter aspect, of course, helps us to achieve the former, as horses are no different to humans: you function best when you're enjoying your life). Of all the horses we looked at, this seemed arguably the least biddable, but one can't read much into that as horses who seem very docile at the sales can end up quite fiery, and vice versa. So that's not an issue - we just go back to an area upon I've touched previously, in that as I see things horses should be gelded at the first opportunity rather than the last. Basically, the arguments in favour are that it is much easier for geldings to focus on their work, for obvious reasons. There is an argument to say that it's easier to keep geldings sound, but I'm not sure about that and I'm not really that bothered in agonising over that one. But basically, the geldings can have a much more enjoyable life while in training: they can go out in the field every day with other geldings and with fillies, but the life of a colt in training is really rather wretched. In practice, colts have to be confined at all times other than when they are exercising as you just can't allow them to socialize with other horses. It's obvious why you can't let them socialize with female horses, and if you let them socialize with other males you usually end up with fights on your hands. So the colt doesn't have a nice life in training at all. And so he gets frustrated; and you very often find that he's harder to handle because of it, so finds himself at odds with his captors, which just makes his life even less pleasant. So it's a no-brainer as far as I can see.

There is, of course, one reason for keeping colts as colts, and that is because gelding them takes away the chance of their becoming stallions at studs. But, in practice, the chances of that coming to pass are, even at the outset, so miniscule that if you're living in the real world, you shouldn't be factoring this into your equation. I think and hope that this horse will be very good. But good enough to become a stallion? Well, his half-brother The Geezer wasn't. He won a Listed race and a Group Three race as a three-year-old and was second in a Group One, but he couldn't be found a place at stud, and was instead gelded and given away on the Darley re-homing programme. So this horse would need to be considerably better than The Geezer to be considered for stud. He's going to be a stayer, and basically there is just so little demand for stayers at stud that we'd be kidding ourselves if we said that he was at all likely to develop into a stud prospect - which is, of course, a view universally shared, because he would have fetched considerably more than 24,000 gns (or would have been unsold at that figure) if either other bidders or his breeder had felt that he was a realistic stallion prospect. And, if by some miracle he does end up considerably better than The Geezer and we are ruing his lack of testicles, then I'll silently be contemplating the fact that that lack of testicles has probably been a major factor in helping him to achieve as much as he has achieved. There is, of course, a more general point that, if everyone maximizes their chances of turning their colts into durable and successful racehorses by gelding them, then you can get into the situation that the breeding industry in general finds itself bereft of stallions to keep the lines going, as has happened on occasions in New Zealand when they've found that many of their best sires (eg Star Way, Noble Bijou, Zabeel - and it was probably just lucky that two of the best sons of Sir Tristram - Marauding and Zabeel -were owned by Robert Sangster and Sheikh Hamdan respectively, as otherwise they'd have been geldings and, although they would have enjoyed more fruitful racing careers, they wouldn't have become stallions) don't become noted sires of sires simply because their best sons are all geldings. That, though, isn't an issue in this side of the world, where the vast majority of nice colts remain colts until they've proved that they are not potential stallions, so we needn't be worrying about that and I thus don't think that we need to be losing any sleep about not doing our bit to keep the Mr Prospector sire-line alive!

Anyway, that's our latest recruit. We'll get him broken shortly and then turned back out again to get a bit older before we ask him to do very much, but he's already off at Colton Stud to spend a week or so unwinding from the sale and getting used to being a gelding before we bring him back and break him in. There wasn't going to be a suitable mate for him there so I've sent my own yearling Roy (another gelding) off to keep him company, which is lovely for Roy. As these photographs show, the two already look the best of friends, which is great as I'm sure that they'll be spending a lot of time together over the forthcoming weeks, months and years. And they look more than happy with their lot. I'm delighted that this horse is here and delighted to be able to say that we're giving him the best chance both to achieve his utmost and to enjoy his life as he does.

In the meantime, we'll go to Towcester tomorrow to see if Asterisk can build on the glimmer of promise which she showed on her hurdles debut at Lingfield a couple of weeks ago.

Mentioned in dispatches

We had another pleasing trip yesterday. Admittedly finishing 11th of 13 isn't pleasing under all (many!) circumstances, but yesterday such a run represented a heartening outcome. The racecard yesterday kindly and sensibly pointed out that Zarosa (pictured coming back in after yesterday's race) had "showed nothing but greenness" on her debut at Newmarket, so it was very pleasing to see a much more polished performance yesterday on her second run. On the day, she wasn't fast enough, but that was no surprise; but the race was as competitive as one would expect to find in maiden company at any Grade One track on the turf, and she showed plenty of grit to run into the kick-back and pass the post just behind the mid-fielders, with well-bred colts from stables such as Cecil and Fanshawe just ahead of her. She really seemed to thrive on the experience, looking very much in her element at every stage of the outing, and she showed that, physically and mentally, she has now got to the stage where we can say that she has had a very worthwhile grounding from her first season in training. She's really been thriving recently and has really learned to relish her work, and I am sure that she is set to develop into a lovely tough, genuine and consistent filly/mare. So that was good; as was the fact that the second division of the same race was won by the Toby Coles-trained Lycidas (pictured with his jockey Stevie Donohoe, being led in by Toby after the race) . That was the second winner in two days for Toby, who is doing really well with his small string. Lycidas, a Zamindar half-brother to the Group One winner Lady Marian, seems to have the potential to become his stable's star - which would no doubt please Lycidas, who has quite a high opinion of himself. We were trotting up through the trees along the edge of Southfields on Racecourse Side a couple of months ago, and trotted past Toby on a brown horse who was standing bolt upright on his hind legs most elegantly. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to swap places with Toby, but fortunately he's an extremely good rider as well as a most diligent horseman, so he was just sitting there, calm as you like. I'd say that Lycidas is in very good hands, so let's hope he can progress from here.

I can't end the report of Saturday night without saying how typically helpful Zarosa's jockey Jimmy Quinn was. He gave her just the positive ride I sought, ensuring that she ran as well as she could and learned as much as possible from the race. He remains one of the weighing rooms most conscientious and respected professionals, and predictably has been continuing through the summer and autumn to do his job well despite the worry of a BHA enquiry hanging over him. I'm sure that there was a reason for charging the jockeys months before the case was going to be heard, just as I'm sure that there's a reason why we're now more than two weeks since the case's hearing was finished, and yet there is still no sign of a verdict. On the face of it, that does not suggest the rule of law being applied well, because it has ensured that the jockeys have already suffered a stiff penalty (in the form of lost patronage) irrespective of whether they are found innocent or guilty. That is not right, and Jimmy for one (a man in whom I remain more than happy to place my trust) has deserved better. It was good to be able to use him on this occasion, just as it was good to see him ride two winners (at 40/1 and 12/1) earlier in the day.

Salutations also from Saturday for local conditional jockey Mark Marris (pictured here on one of Neil King's horses a couple of winters ago) who rode his first winner in the UK (having already ridden one earlier this year in the south island of New Zealand when on a working holiday over there). Mark's an excellent lad who is in a very good stable (that of Sarah Humphrey). I haven't seen the race yet, but I will; but I'm told that he rode very well, so hopefully he will be able to move onwards and upwards from here. Salutations also to Chloe Madgin, who had ridden her first winner earlier in the week. Chloe has worked for James Eustace for years now, and she put that experience to good use when giving stable stalwart Baan an extremely well-judged ride to win an amateurs' race at Lingfield by a head. It would have been a good ride whether or not the horse won - and that he did was the icing on the cake. That was a victory which she really deserved.

Another local boy (sort of) who had a first winner in the week was Tom Symonds. He isn't, of course, a local boy at all, but he worked for James Fanshawe for a while and made a very good impression while he was in town. I was delighted to see him send out his first winner at Hereford on Thursday. I'm sure that that will be the first of many. And finally, another former James Fanshawe-employee who deserves a pat on the back is Colin Bolger. Colin remains one of the most under-rated jumps jockeys, a fact of which we were reminded when we were at Folkestone on Tuesday with Dr Darcey. We were amused to note that an hour after our race there was a steeplechaser running called Master Darcy. We thought that that set up the potential for a nice double. Unfortunately, the Doctor scuppered whatever chance there was of that happening, but Master Darcy landed the second leg, which was remarkable as he was a 16/1 shot in a three-horse race. The AP McCoy-ridden favourite fell early on, and that left the door open for Colin to get young Master Darcy home by a head. If you ever see Colin (pictured earlier this year in Rayes Lane on a horse trained by Mark Tompkins, to school for whom Colin comes up to Newmarket regularly) down to ride a long-priced horse (which is pretty much any horse he rides) you can always be assured that the horse will be ridden as positively and as well as if he were the favourite. And you can't say more than that.

A good run and good weather

Our trip to Kempton was indeed a pleasant one, largely thanks to the fact that Karma Chameleon ran really well on his first run for us, finishing second behind a horse who clearly was fairly well handicapped. It would be wrong to go overboard about the Baby Doctor's run as we were well beaten and only beat the third horse in a photograph, but even so it was very pleasing and encouraging. Furthermore, over and above where he finished, he confirmed the very positive impression which he had made on his in everything he had been doing at home, all of which had suggested that he is just a wonderfully honest, straightforward and willing little horse. That, of course, reflects very well not just on the horse himself, but also on the way he had been brought up in his previous stable. I can't overstate how important it is that a racehorse should have a willing and calm nature: if they just get on with things and try to do well, they should fulfill whatever potential they have, but if they don't, they are very unlikely to do so. Soundness, of course, is the key, and he's a sound horse - and it's obviously much easier for a sound horse to be genuine than an unsound horse. So when one's got a sound, genuine horse, you've always got half a chance. And getting hold of sound, durable horses, funnily enough, can at times seem easier said than done, because a frighteningly high proportion of thoroughbreds really aren't as resilient and sound as they ought to be. So that was good, as was the weather: you wouldn't have known it from these benighted photographs, night having fallen well before our 5.20 post time, but it had been yet another lovely warm sunny day. Similarly tonight (Saturday) we'll be racing under lights with Zarosa at 7.50, but it's a lovely sunny afternoon now, as this photograph (of the view which I enjoyed going up Long Hill AW at the back of a string of four at 9.00 this morning) clearly suggested might be going to be the case.

I wouldn't say that the horses are enjoying this lovely week of weather as much as I am, simply because that would be hard, but they're enjoying it a lot. It's the best of every world for them: as we're into autumn and have had a good amount of rain in the past two or three weeks, the surface of the field is damp soil, rather than dry dirt. So that's great for them as they love it to be muddy for their rolling - but, of course, with muddy ground usually comes miserable conditions above. Not so at present, though: mud on the ground, warm sunshine above, so they have been in seventh heaven in the afternoons: rolling, rolling, frolicking and rolling again, and then just enjoying the pleasantly warm, sunny conditions. I could bore on about this for ages, but pictures say a thousand words, so these shots of Asterisk (with Kadouchski in the background), Kadouchski and Dr Darcey enjoying themselves in the field yesterday afternoon say it all. When the horses are rolling in the mud like this every day, it's neither feasible nor sensible to try to ensure that they become spotless every evening, only to get filthy again the following day. The fact that we'd have horses go out at exercise still with some of the previous day's mud in their coats used to raise a few eyebrows, but it's become an accepted fact of Heath life now. And, seeing these photographs, who would wish to deny these horses what is clearly a very special and valued source of daily pleasure?

Here comes the night

We'll be back this evening to the routine of racing at night with which we became so familiar last winter. Thankfully, common sense is again prevailing and the winter midweek evening meetings are being run at a sensible time. For too long they persisted with a last-race time of 9.20, which made no sense from any point of view: after all, it isn't only the participants who have to be up for work the next day, but potential racegoers and punters too. Those winter late evening meetings used to attract virtually no spectators, and it's easy to see why. Plus, from an off-course point of view, there was no sense in having a massive hiatus between the end of the afternoon racing and the start of the evening meeting. So now procedings start shortly after the afternoon fixtures end, wind up at a civilized hour, and I'm sure that any audience is (nearly) as pleased by this time-table as are those who put on the show. So tonight we'll be running Karma Chameleon (pictured following Dr Darcey around Side Hill AW on Monday) at 5.20, which will be the third race on a 7-race card which starts at 4.20 and ends at 7.20, which is grand. The day's last afternoon race, incidentally is at 4.00 (at Hereford) so all works well - not having the first evening race until 6.20, as would formerly have been the case, would have been madness.

Let's hope that it's an enjoyable trip, like our visit to Folkestone on Tuesday. Monday was a pretty grim day - dark, damp and cold - but Tuesday and Wednesday (ie yesterday) were lovely days, with warm sunshine after a very foggy start. Admittedly on Tuesday the murk had reappeared by the time that racing was run, but the second half of the morning had been truly glorious, allowing Gus to enjoy his inspection of the course in lovely sunshine. Dr Darcey ran well. He'd finished miles behind the Seamus Mullins-trained Hi Samana at Kempton last month when they made their debuts in the same race, with Hi Samana finishing a close second and Dr Darcey finishing a distant fifth. The margin between them was massively reduced this time as Hi Samana, unsurprisingly, won, while Dr Darcey (pictured heading out boldly towards the track before the race) finished third. He jumped much more positively and did everything right, being very calm but perky before the race, travelling and jumping with enthusiasm in it, and looking very content afterwards. His run at Kempton had been a bit of a let-down as (largely because of circumstances out of our control, ie a horse falling in front of him at the second) his performance was much less polished than I'd have liked it to have been. However, this was a massive step in the right direction - and when a horse puts in one of those, one has to be pleased. Let's hope that he can continue to progress from here, that his mini-me (ie Karma Chameleon) can run well on his first run from the stable, and then that Zarosa (seen here yesterday morning through Asterisk's ears at around 9.15 just as the fog was starting to lift) can be inspired by the Doctor to follow in his foosteps by running an awful lot better at Wolverhampton (late) on Saturday night than she did on her debut at Newmarket last month.

Sunshine and sadness

We're continuing our creep towards winter, with the temperatures gradually falling and the incidence of damp, grey days rising. Friday was a particular offender in this respect, but we had some respite over the weekend, with yesterday (Sunday) in particular being a lovely springlike day. I had three horses to ride and these three photographs, taken through the ears of each of them in turn, give you some idea of how the morning progressed. I'm rarely in a hurry on a Sunday so I didn't get out on the first one, Dr Darcey, until around 8.00, by which time the sun was properly above the horizon and was beginning to poke through the mist as we trotted around the Severals. An hour or so later, the day had really brightened up as Frankie (Douchkirk) and I came up the Al Bahathri. And then conditions were even balmier by the time I took Karma Chameleon onto the bottom of Long Hill for a canter along the side of the Heath. As I think that this triptych of photographs indicate, it was a fairly pleasant way to start the day. The next three days, though, will tell us whether it was a worthwhile way: two of those three horses are running, with Dr Darcey heading to Folkestone tomorrow and Karma Chameleon (aka Baby Doctor, on account of him being Dr Darcey's mini-me) to Kempton on Thursday. I'd like to think that both can run well. The doctor didn't run particularly well on his hurdles debut, but it's a weaker race tomorrow, and horses often improve from their first to their second runs anyway. Let's hope that he'll be one of them. As regards the baby doctor, it's hard to know what to expect on his first run for us, but he has a good run over seven furlongs to his name from his days in Richard Guest's stable, but he seems well and a seven-furlong nursery is clearly the obvious place for us to start him off.

The pleasant conditions of yesterday were, I'm afraid, in marked contrast to the mood of a couple of recent events. You might recall that nearly a year ago tragedy knocked on our door when Chris Watson, a lovely man who rode as an amateur, suffered a fatal fall when riding out in this string. In what was a shocking reminder that freak accidents can and do occur, Chris lost his stirrup while cantering around Side Hill (either through the pin coming out of the hole or through the stirrup leather becoming detached from the saddle) and consequently lost control of a horse whom he used regularly to ride with no problems. Last Friday, the 11th day of the 11th month, saw the inquest into Chris' death, held, strangely enough, in the magnificence of the Athenaeum Club in the main square in Bury St Edmunds. The bleakness of the occasion was matched by the day's weather, but if I can say anything positive about a day which did at least bring some element of 'closure' (if there is such a thing) to an awful event, it is that the way things were handled by officialdom was exemplary. Those in charge of sorting things out - including the police and PC Nik Chapman in particular, the HSE officers Steve Gill and Martin Kneebone, and finally the coroner presiding on Friday - have all handled things throughout with dignity, sensitivity, consideration and kindness, and that really was much appreciated as it helped to make an awful saga no more awful than it had to be.

A more recent tragedy which has appeared on our radar was the death at the weekend of Corey Gilby. You might have read that Corey suffered a fatal fall at Julia Creek racecourse in northern Queensland on Saturday, galloping a horse after racing. Corey will be forever remembered by me as rider of Somewhere Safer, the mare whom Michael Tidmarsh and I own together and whom Michael, when he was living in Deagon in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, trained to win six races. Corey was in Deagon at the time, used to ride some trackwork for Michael, became particularly friendly with Michael's eldest son Liam, and rode Dolly (who recently gave birth to her first foal, a colt by All Bar One) in a few of her races, including in her final victory at the Gold Coast. Since then, Michael has moved back to New Zealand and Corey had moved farther north, but he'd remained in our thoughts. There's nothing which one can say to lessen the tragedy of the life of a good man cut short way too soon. All one can do is to remember that death will claim us all sooner rather than later. We can't defeat it by avoiding it, but we can defeat it by ensuring that whatever time we have while we are alive is well spent, and by being remembered fondly after we have gone. Chris and Corey both spent their time well, died doing what they loved, and are both remembered with great affection; and that, at least, is something.

A good twelfth!

I enjoyed my trip to Lingfield on Tuesday, even though it was a gloomy, wet day. And I'm pleased to say that Asterisk seemed to enjoy it too, which was great as she hadn't really enjoyed her previous visits to the races. Mind you, this was easier for her: what she hadn't enjoyed in the past had been the starting stalls, and of course there were no stalls for her hurdle race, hence her being aimed at it. Unfortunately she had developed a massive aversion to starting stalls before she arrived here two and a half years ago, an aversion which we have never been able completely to overcome. However, when we took her to Newmarket in the summer I was pleasantly surprised by how relaxed and settled she was in the preliminaries while being saddled and while walking around the parade ring - but when she got down to the start and saw the stalls she become a different, and far less relaxed, horse. After that it was an easy decision to wait for the autumn and send her hurdling - and I'm delighted to say that on Tuesday she was ever so relaxed being saddled and in the parade ring, and still ever so relaxed when she arrived at the stalls-less start. We could see her on the TV walking around perkily at the start, rather than jig-jogging nervously, and she really looked in her element. And she was very unstressed afterwards too, so that was all good. And the most important part, the race? Well, she ran OK. (In fact, by the standards of horses who finish 12th, beaten 50 lengths, she ran very, very well!). She wasn't far away from the leaders, and still going OK, when a horse fell in front of her at the second last hurdle. She was nearly brought down and that ended her chances of finishing close to the place-getters. So no harm was done. It was actually something of a low act by the horse (the favourite) who nearly brought her down: she cut in front of Asterisk approaching the hurdle, which wasn't a very nice thing to do - and then fell, causing even more (considerably more) interference to Asterisk than she already had. Still, that horse is owned by one of my favourite musicians/singers, Roger Waters, so all is forgiven. If I were going to make a weak pun, I'd say that this horse's jockey, when waiting beside the track afterwards for his lift back to the weighing room, was picked up by the ambulance so promptly that he didn't have time to consider the pros and cons of hitch-hiking; but I'm not, so I won't. And I won't mention that, when he got back to the weighing room and wanted to find out exactly what had happened, he did so by watching TV.

So that was Tuesday, a damp, dreary, drizzly day - which was at least an improvement on Monday, which was a very wet one indeed. But the good news is that, having in a few days gone a long way towards catching up on our rainfall quota after the prolonged dry period, we've returned to more pleasant conditions today. It was like a spring day, which was lovely, and a couple more like this should dry the place out a bit. I happened to be up at the far end of Waterhall at around 3.50 this afternoon, and as you can see, from under an oak tree which is doing remarkably well at retaining its leaves this far into autumn, we were getting set for a magnificent autumn sunset at the time. Let's hope that we see as much of the sun again tomorrow.

I can't finish, by the way, without saluting a couple of recent winners. I wasn't still at Lingfield by the time the last race was run on Tuesday (in fact, I was probably considerably closer to Newmarket than to Lingfield by that time, being keen to get home expeditiously as it was the Town Meeting at 6.30 that evening and, as a councillor, I wanted to be home in good time for that; so, having run in the first race, we left shortly after the third) but, had I still been there, I would have watched a very good Newmarket-based conditional jockey, Trevor Whelan, ride a winner for his boss Neil King. Trevor (pictured in Neil's string at the bottom of Warren Hill a few months ago, behind Alex Merriam, and also riding the Toby Coles-trained Dear Maurice at Huntingdon last month, just ahead of AP McCoy) arrived in Newmarket in the summer, having previously worked for George Baker (and Ian Williams before him, I believe). He's working for Neil, as mentioned above, so we see him every day; and, while I haven't watched him ride that many races, he seems a very good rider indeed, and a very switched-on, professional and diligent young jockey. Let's hope that that victory will help him on his way, because I'd say that he deserves to get on. Anyway, I was pleased to see that horse win - and another horse I was pleased to see win recently was a sprinter trained in the same part of town. Unbelievably, Dunaden, who cost 1,500 euros as a foal, was not the least expensive Group race winner on Melbourne Cup day: Iver Bridge Lad, whom John Ryan bought for 1,000 gns as a yearling, won a Group Three race in France the same day. That was excellent. The horse (pictured in the summer with Kirsty Milczarket at the bottom of Long Hill) had been running consistently well all year and he really deserved a Group win, as did his trainer. So I was delighted to see that come to pass.

Sequence ended

Kadouchski finishing second on the last day of October meant that we reached the end of that month winless, which was a shame as we had enjoyed at least one success in the each of the preceding 11 months. We had a good summer and early autumn last year, but October was winless before we resumed the sequence in November. And that sequence, happily, continued for 11 months, but sadly we couldn't make it 12 consecutive successful months, which was a shame as I'd have liked us to have done that. Still, it wasn't the end of the world - and, realistically, it would not really have been something for which it would have been realistic to hope. We average around 80 runners per year, which is something between seven and eight a month. A busy month might see us having 10 or more runners, a quiet month only three or four. And when one's going to have several months with no more than one runner a week, it's not realistic to think that one can keep getting a win a month (although ironically our winless month saw us having 10 runners, with only three of those finishing in the first four). So now we must try to get a new sequence going, and our second attempt to get off the mark for November will come tomorrow when Asterisk (pictured being schooled by William back in July) runs at Lingfield. It's hard to know what to expect as she has achieved very little so far; but, then again, she is only lightly-raced, she hasn't run for ages, and she has never run over hurdles. So it's a real shot in the dark - but I can say that she jumps very well. We will, unfortunately, be without the bang-in-form William (three wins in the past seven days) as he has to go to Huntingdon, but - funnily enough - our record when William's unavailable is surprisingly good, and Rhys Flint (who rides her) has won on two of the three occasions he has ridden for us. William would always be my first choice, but I'm never unhappy to leg Rhys aboard. Let's see what happens.


This is probably a good time to mention a few other young riders. There are plenty of good ones knocking around, some of whom have crossed our path. Most immediately we should mention poor Joe Akehurst, who rode so well for us at Sandown two days ago. Yesterday Joe called me around noon to say that he'd just broken his collar bone. He seemed to have taken this painful setback quite well, but it must have been a big disappointment to pick up an injury at this time of year. Otherwise, local amateur Jack Quinlan is very much the man of the moment. Jack rode yet another winner today for John Ferguson, who has put together a string of Sheikh Mohammed's former horses, all now owned and trained by John. Jack went to work for John full-time in the summer and the rides seem to be split between him and Paul Moloney, which is great as the horses are very good and a large proportion of the runners win. Jack (pictured here at Stratford in June winning on Peader Miguel, trained by his father Noel - and then after the race alongside Noel and Richard Pitman) is a young lad of the highest calibre, both as a rider and as a person, and I am ever so pleased to see fortune thus smiling on him. Otherwise, the jockey who deserves to be mentioned in dispatches is Elliot Canal, whom I wouldn't know from a bar of soap but whose name caught my eye when I was reading the results from Saint-Cloud last Thursday. Dick Francis always used to come up with some splendidly unlikely names for the characters in his novels, but this one is good even by his standards. And on the subject of great names, I was ever so pleased to see one of my favouritely-named (if that makes sense) horses finally salute the judge at Wolverhampton on Thursdsay (under November Handicap-winning hoop Robert Havlin, pictured on Ethics Girl): Whey Sauce, a filly like Ethics Girl whose name is best appreciated when heard rather than read.