The past and the present

I might have been wandering around Fontwell Park racecourse in a dream on Tuesday, but I did at least notice that Ron Atkins, forever remembered for bearing the initials 'RA' on the front of his helmet, was present. I was pleased to catch sight of him because he was a great character of yesterday, as well as a top-class jockey. I believe that he once had a ride for the late Bob Turnell, who of course rarely had to use outside jockeys, having Jeff King, Johnny Haine and his son Andy in the yard, and then subsequently Steve Knight and Ted Waite to fall back on as Andy's deputies. Anyway, 'RA' rode Bob Turnell's horse predictably well, but the length of his hair didn't go down well. The trainer's verdict? A grudging compliment: "You'd be a good jockey if you got a hair-cut!". Anyway, my thoughts when I saw 'RA' were firstly wondering what he does for a living nowadays; secondly considering that he's probably retired as he must be about retirement age; and thirdly thinking how well he looks for a man of 65 or so - he'd easily pass for at least ten years younger. So that was nice - and very timely, because Ian Watkinson wandered into the yard this morning while I was tacking up Alcalde (pictured). I was delighted to be able to tell Ian of my sighting of 'RA', against whom he would have ridden umpteen times in the late '60s and through the '70s. Following on from this, Ian, who is remembered as the one-time rider of such jumping legends as Tingle Creek, Sea Pigeon and Night Nurse as well as for having won a Hennessy on Zeta's Son, reported that he was due to leave today for a brief visit to his apartment in south-east Spain, and that while he's there he would be paying his usual visit to see the great David Mould, who now lives nearby. He said that when he came home after seeing David Mould for the first time there, someone had asked him what the latter is up to nowadays, to which Ian had had to confess that he had no idea as they'd spent the entire time swapping brahmas from 40 or more years ago, and hadn't got round to discussing the present. And that's just the way it should be. Who says that nostalgia isn't the same any more?

To move to the present, though, and to riders of a considerably more recent vintage, I was pleased to see Rose McKee give Well Mett a very nice ride in the bumper at Huntingdon today, holding a good position throughout the race and running well to finish fourth. Rosie has worked for Lucy Wadham for quite a while now and is an excellent girl. She has only just taken out a conditional jockey's license, and today's outing was her first ride. She and Lucy's horse General Ting came home with us from Market Rasen last week: their box broke down on the return journey down the A1, so we retraced our steps to bring them home, which was no problem. It delayed our return by a short while, but came with the added bonus of meaning that, while listening to my favourite station BBC Radio Norwich for longer than would otherwise have been the case, I caught Hot Chocolate's 'It started with a kiss'. Anyone who appreciates the brahma of Alan Partridge will understand why hearing this song on BBC Radio Norwich is a very special treat: the sight and sound of Alan singing (if you can call it singing) along (with his microphone turned off) to this song on his radio show was one of the series' many unforgettable joys. "You don't remember me, do you? You don't remember me , do you? ...". Aaaaahh!

Finally, shock of the day came when I discovered from the Racing Post that Newbury has been voted the ROA's Racecourse of the Year. How the hell can this have happened? Newbury has been probably the worst offender for failing to meet tarriff. It set the tone from the outset, holding the feature meeting on the first Saturday after the introduction of the tarriffs and having all its races that day (which didn't even take place after two horses were electrocuted in the pre-parade ring) bar the Tote Gold Trophy set below tarriff, by a total of around 60,000 pounds. Come the flat season it continued in the same vein, kicking off with Frankel winning a Greenham Stakes which fell well short of tarriff. This continued on through the summer, meeting after meeting, and off the top of my head I would guess that Newbury fell short of tarriff by the greatest sum of any course through the year. This is not in any way a criticism of the staff at Newbury, who are unfailing pleasant, hospitable and welcoming when one goes there. However, one can't run a racecourse on courtesy alone - and one can't forget that the fatal electrocutions did take place. Furthermore, its final jumps meeting last season was run on some of the worst ground I saw anywhere bar Hereford all year, as Alcalde (who stumbled badly on the frighteningly poached ground, losing his rider after jumping a hurdle cleanly) and a horse whose name I forget who is owned by Nick Luck's mother and who sustained what I think was a career-ending injury in similar circumstances the next day, will testify. So, while Newbury must have scored highly in several categories in the voting process, it can have picked up 'nil points' in what I would have thought are nearly the two most important areas. Racecourse of the season? Well, if the ROA has decided that prize money and ground conditions are of no relevance, as this award would seem to imply, perhaps we'll have to have a long, hard look at whether the Horsemen's Group, of which the ROA is a key constituent, has any purpose at all. Which is a shame.