Well, Gina had her final pre-Cheltenham hit-out on Saturday and, as we haven't got any runners there ourselves, the next best thing to giving a Cheltenham candidate a searching gallop was subjecting the dogs to the rigours of Holcombe beach. Yesterday was the perfect day for this because, even set against the high expectations of a promising forecast, the day was a stunning surprise. Emma and I had been up to Holcombe in the week of perfect weather in late
September with our visitors from Ballarat, and yesterday's conditions were just as splendid. We really couldn't have timed it better because there would hardly have been a day as good in the intervening period. When we went up in September, we didn't take any of the dogs with us, but this time we took them all (and we went up with our friend Janet Anderson and her Labrador Madge so that made four) and they had a ball. For Gus it was his first trip to
the seaside - and he LOVED it. A trip to the beach, of course, needn't in theory necessarily be a searching gallop for a dog, but in practice it is: they just run, and run, and run, like Forest Gump. Gus in particular ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran. So what I'll do is just whitter away for a while for no reason other than to give myself enough space to include a few photographs of the delights of Holcombe on a perfect early spring day.
So that was as perfect a start to Cheltenham week as one could possibly get. There were even some horseback-riders on the beach for the dogs to supervise, so that made things even more Cheltenhamish. And to add an extra dimension of jumping splendour, I managed, quite accidentally, to do what I'd failed to achieve during the past year. Gus makes a terrible fuss about getting his feet wet (and after a mini-breaker had broken over his legs he was very tentative about getting in the sea yesterday, unlike the other dogs) and whenever he finds himself charging at a puddle in the
yard he puts in a mighty leap to clear it. I've always thought that I must get a photo of him in full flight, but have never managed it, which isn't surprising as it's a real blink-and-you'll-miss-it thing. However, yesterday, quite by chance, I managed to get just the shot which I've craved, and the funny thing was that even when I was taking it I didn't realise just how perfect it was going to be. So, anyway, the last of these photos is of Gus in full flight, keeping his feet dry; and you'll see what I mean when you come to it.
Anyway, so that's got us nicely (if tenuously) onto the subject of Cheltenham. I only hope that Cheltenham lives up to its billing (which I am sure that it will do). Meydan's "Super Saturday" was a classic example of the dangers of over-promotion. Dubai World Cup Night will, as always, be a mighty evening of racing, but Super Saturday fell so far short of its standards that its over-promotion really ensured that it was a massive let-down. Virtually none of the world-class horses whom we are looking forward to seeing on World Cup
Night were in action, and we were left to see a very uninspiring lot topping the bill and gaining very questionable Group One qualifications in races which, in true Dubai fashion, were almost Maktoum trials. How on earth the Emirates Racing Association managed to persuade the International Pattern Committe to grant Group One status is a mystery (along the lines of how on earth did Qatar persuade FIFA that it would make a good World Cup host) but it really has backfired badly:
the races fell so far short of their billing that it really was just a major let-down. Cheltenham, of course, won't fall into that trap - but it speaks volumes for the meeting's excitement that it won't, because its over-promotion has been so intense that one almost feels as if one's had enough of it, and it hasn't even started yet. We hit rock-bottom in the silly season on Friday, when the front-page headline of the Racing Post was, "I can see Rainbow running a big race". This came out five days in advance of the Queen Mother Two-Mile Champion Chase, and these
words were Finian's Rainbow's owner Michael Buckley's thoughts on the race. Really! This was the archetypal no-news headline "Small earthquake in China - no casualties" taken to extremes. When you bear in mind that Finian's Rainbow was the 9/2 third favourite for the race, one might add that Michael Buckley and nearly everyone else in the country can see him running a big race - and then one could point out that one would hope that the connections of every horse who ever runs in a big race could see their
horse running a big race, otherwise why the f*** is he running in it, rather than staying at home or running in something weaker? Anyway, the downside of the run-up to Cheltenham is that the trivial and the inconsequential becomes news, while real news - if there is any - is relegated to page 56. However, we all know that when all's said and done, there's a lot more said than done - but hopefully all the saying's been done now, so now we can get on with some doing. Come 2.00 tomorrow afternoon, the phoney war and the talking will be over. It'll be great.
Well, Gina had her final pre-Cheltenham hit-out on Saturday and, as we haven't got any runners there ourselves, the next best thing to giving a Cheltenham candidate a searching gallop was subjecting the dogs to the rigours of Holcombe beach. Yesterday was the perfect day for this because, even set against the high expectations of a promising forecast, the day was a stunning surprise. Emma and I had been up to Holcombe in the week of perfect weather in late 
September with our visitors from Ballarat, and yesterday's conditions were just as splendid. We really couldn't have timed it better because there would hardly have been a day as good in the intervening period. When we went up in September, we didn't take any of the dogs with us, but this time we took them all (and we went up with our friend Janet Anderson and her Labrador Madge so that made four) and they had a ball. For Gus it was his first trip to 
the seaside - and he LOVED it. A trip to the beach, of course, needn't in theory necessarily be a searching gallop for a dog, but in practice it is: they just run, and run, and run, like Forest Gump. Gus in particular ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran. So what I'll do is just whitter away for a while for no reason other than to give myself enough space to include a few photographs of the delights of Holcombe on a perfect early spring day.
So that was as perfect a start to Cheltenham week as one could possibly get. There were even some horseback-riders on the beach for the dogs to supervise, so that made things even more Cheltenhamish. And to add an extra dimension of jumping splendour, I managed, quite accidentally, to do what I'd failed to achieve during the past year. Gus makes a terrible fuss about getting his feet wet (and after a mini-breaker had broken over his legs he was very tentative about getting in the sea yesterday, unlike the other dogs) and whenever he finds himself charging at a puddle in the
yard he puts in a mighty leap to clear it. I've always thought that I must get a photo of him in full flight, but have never managed it, which isn't surprising as it's a real blink-and-you'll-miss-it thing. However, yesterday, quite by chance, I managed to get just the shot which I've craved, and the funny thing was that even when I was taking it I didn't realise just how perfect it was going to be. So, anyway, the last of these photos is of Gus in full flight, keeping his feet dry; and you'll see what I mean when you come to it.
Anyway, so that's got us nicely (if tenuously) onto the subject of Cheltenham. I only hope that Cheltenham lives up to its billing (which I am sure that it will do). Meydan's "Super Saturday" was a classic example of the dangers of over-promotion. Dubai World Cup Night will, as always, be a mighty evening of racing, but Super Saturday fell so far short of its standards that its over-promotion really ensured that it was a massive let-down. Virtually none of the world-class horses whom we are looking forward to seeing on World Cup
Night were in action, and we were left to see a very uninspiring lot topping the bill and gaining very questionable Group One qualifications in races which, in true Dubai fashion, were almost Maktoum trials. How on earth the Emirates Racing Association managed to persuade the International Pattern Committe to grant Group One status is a mystery (along the lines of how on earth did Qatar persuade FIFA that it would make a good World Cup host) but it really has backfired badly:
the races fell so far short of their billing that it really was just a major let-down. Cheltenham, of course, won't fall into that trap - but it speaks volumes for the meeting's excitement that it won't, because its over-promotion has been so intense that one almost feels as if one's had enough of it, and it hasn't even started yet. We hit rock-bottom in the silly season on Friday, when the front-page headline of the Racing Post was, "I can see Rainbow running a big race". This came out five days in advance of the Queen Mother Two-Mile Champion Chase, and these 
words were Finian's Rainbow's owner Michael Buckley's thoughts on the race. Really! This was the archetypal no-news headline "Small earthquake in China - no casualties" taken to extremes. When you bear in mind that Finian's Rainbow was the 9/2 third favourite for the race, one might add that Michael Buckley and nearly everyone else in the country can see him running a big race - and then one could point out that one would hope that the connections of every horse who ever runs in a big race could see their 
horse running a big race, otherwise why the f*** is he running in it, rather than staying at home or running in something weaker? Anyway, the downside of the run-up to Cheltenham is that the trivial and the inconsequential becomes news, while real news - if there is any - is relegated to page 56. However, we all know that when all's said and done, there's a lot more said than done - but hopefully all the saying's been done now, so now we can get on with some doing. Come 2.00 tomorrow afternoon, the phoney war and the talking will be over. It'll be great.
2 comments:
Brilliant photo of Gus at the water jump John well worth waiting for.
Thank you. And a complete fluke too!
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