The write stuff

A couple of results last weekend gave me a lot of pleasure. I really enjoyed watching Restless Harry and Henry Oliver gain a typically gutsy victory in the Grade Two three-mile hurdle at Haydock (the Rendlesham Hurdle, which always used to be run at Kempton on what is now known as Racing Post Chase Day). Restless Harry is one of my favourite horses. He's such a trouper. He dodged a bullet when the failure of the jockeys around him to keep their mounts straight at the last hurdle caused him to suffer a terrible fall at the Cheltenham Festival when he was a novice, but he bounced straight back from that awful incident and keeps bouncing back. He's a credit to his excellent trainer Robin Dickin, and his jockey Henry Oliver rides him with the same bold spirit with which he runs. So that was good - as was the victory of Bourne in the valuable handicap hurdle at Ascot. I'd have liked William and Swincombe Flame win, but they could only finish third; and if they couldn't win, I was very happy to see Bourne salute. I've enjoyed following his progress all the way through. When Clare Lindop was staying with us three years ago, she rode out for Luca Cumani one or two mornings, and he was one of the horses she rode. He was a three-year-old maiden at the time, and I've followed his progress since then. He was a natural horse for us to ear-mark as a potential hurdler at the Horses-In-Training Sale last October, but he didn't take up his place in that. The reason for that is rather a nice one. Bourne was bred and owned by the Chapman family, who have patronized Luca's stable for many years. When Donald McCain and I worked for Luca in the '80s, Donald looked after and regularly rode out a chestnut horse owned by the Chapmans called Main Objective, by the disappointing chestnut Mill Reef stallion Main Reef, in whom I think the Chapmans had a share. Main Objective must have been one of Main Reef's best horses, and won a good handicap at Epsom at the Derby meeting. Anyway, roll on 25 years and Donald made enquiries about Bourne when he saw that he was in the H-I-T sale. The Chapmans, no doubt remembering Donald from all those years ago, responded by saying that if he made a realistic offer, they'd rather sell the horse to him there and then instead of having him go to a sale and the uncertain future that that could mean, because they knew that he would be in good hands if Donald bought him. I thought that that was a lovely story which reflected very well on the Chapmans, and I'm enjoying seeing the horse do well now.

Another of the horses whom we'd earmarked as a potential high-class hurdler won last week, Lyvius winning very easily at Kelso on his National Hunt debut. He was consigned at Tattersalls by Danedream's trainer Peter Schiergen, and boasted decent, but not top-class, form in Germany. I ought to be able to say that I was underbidder to Lyvius, but that would not be strictly true. When Lyvius went through the ring, he was knocked down to the bloodstock agent David Minton while I was trying frantically to attract the attention of the auctioneer and the bid spotters, but was being ignored. It was a true debacle, but in effect did not alter the destination of Lyvius: when I approached David Minton after the sale, he reported that he had bought Lyvius for Trevor Hemmings and that the horse was going to Nicky Henderson, and that his upper limit had been a lot more than he had had to pay for the horse. So my bids not being taken did not alter the identity of the purchaser, merely the sum at which he bought him. That cheered me up a bit, but I was extremely pissed off about the whole debacle - and especially after David Minton said to me, "Yes, I think that you're entitled to feel aggrieved - I saw you trying to bid!". The auctioneer was a man regarded as a very good auctioneer and famed for his snappy turn of phrase, but I was left to reflect that wise cracks from the rostrum are merely the jam on the bread and butter, and if you can't get the bread and butter right - ie if you can't keep your eyes open to notice the bids that are being signalled extremely clearly to you - then the jam is a very poor substitute indeed.

These reflections put me in mind of one of the best newspaper articles I have ever read, in which the great Age journalist Les Carlyon wrote a synopsis of a speech he had made when accepting a journalistic award. I thought that my tale was the auctioneering equivalent of Les Carlyon's point, which was that "the main problems with journalism are technical, not ethical". We're all too used to agonised ethical debates on the problems of modern-day journalism, the balance of freedom of speech set against the right to privacy, and all the shite that the Leveson Inquiry is addressing so earnestly. (For example, I note that two hours ago a story went up on the Guardian website, presumably with a completely straight face, that 'The Leveson inquiry is creating a "chilling atmosphere" towards freedom of expression, Michael Gove has claimed' ...). Anyway, Les Carlyon's point was that such philosophical navel-gazing is of no use whatsoever if the press collectively can't get the basics right (which consistently it can't): "The main troubles with journalism are sloppy writing and sloppy editing, advocacy masquerading as reporting, gossip masquerading as reporting, stories that abound in loose ends and cliches, stories that are half-right, stories that insult the reader's intelligence.". Incorrect grammar, bad spelling, faulty punctuation, factual errors, inconsequential nonsense being treated as serious news - however mighty a juggernaut the Leveson inquiry is becoming, its brief would be massively wider if it were to tackle these more basic problems which reached the stage of an epidemic in British journalism years ago.

And it's not just in print that the English language is so abused on a daily basis. Returning to where we started this chapter, with a review of the racing which I watched on the television on Saturday, I can offer my brahma of the weekend: this phrase was tossed at the viewers on Saturday, "He's got all the right sort of credentials in terms of his abilities". What would be wrong with "He's good enough"? That's like something you'd find in one of those instruction manuals for a Japanese gadget, written by someone who has no familiarity with the English language, no concept of its potential elegance, but who can find his way around a Japanese-English dictionary. You might say, "Look who's talking", especially bearing in mind that I'm sure that I will express myself consistently poorly in the Trainer File which is about to be aired on Racing UK. But, really! The mystery of the moment is why it is becoming increasingly common to watch racing on television and find oneself wondering whether the presenters have English as their first language or their second.

If you would like to read Les Carlyon's words, by the way, you'll find them through this link: http://www.theage.com.au/news/Opinion/The-write-stuff/2005/03/20/1111253883620.html