Unprecedentedly wet

That was a July Week to remember, July Cup Day being first day that the July Course has been described as 'heavy' in living memory.  Even more remarkably, it was apparently the first day that either of Newmarket's racecourses had had the word 'heavy' in its going description since 1987, and that previous instance was on the Rowley Mile (which, racing in spring and autumn as opposed to the July Course's summer sport, is far more likely to have very wet ground than its neighbour).  The Heath does drain extremely well, but when it rains as solidly as it has done during the past few days, it can't stay 'good' forever.

I suppose, though, that we should just be grateful that racing took place at all yesterday (Saturday, July Cup Day): on the majority of courses where a three-day meeting starts on soft ground and then a further inch and a half of rain falls before the start of the third day, the meeting wouldn't be completed.  Still, it did stay sunny in Newmarket for most of Thursday (as we can see in the morning with Ex Con and Many Levels walking down the side of Bury Hill - even if this second photograph of Mick Dittman's son Luke riding one of Ed Walker's horses down beside the Moulton Road yesterday morning is more representative of the week as a whole) which was good as, bizarrely, 'Ladies' Day', the only day without a Group One race, seems to the most popular of the July Meeting's three days.

It wasn't so good at Epsom on Thursday, though.  We left home early in the afternoon in glorious conditions, so much so that it was only as an afterthought that I put an anorak into the horsebox.  How fortunate that I did so, though, as it was horrible.  We had lost the sun by the time that we got to the Dartford Bridge.  The rain had arrived at Epsom before us, and it continued to rain throughout the evening, and then was still raining (ever harder) as we drove away.  The ground was as wet as you'd ever see.  Wasabi (pictured cantering to post, she and Cathy Gannon both looking a lot perkier and cleaner than they would do a few minutes later) didn't like it one little bit, but that was no disgrace as seemingly half the horses who ran at Epsom on Thursday night were, like she, tailed off.  The horses and jockeys came back so mud-splattered, and all in all it was just an outing to put behind one.

The funny thing was that I'd been sure on the way down that the filly would run well.  Sure, she seemed in good form, but the real key was that we passed a Brian Yeardley truck and saw that it was 'Frankel'.  Go back 15 years or so and  Brian Yeardley trucks were seemingly as ubiquitous as Stobart ones are now.  And they always bore the name of a good horse.  I always considered it a good omen if I saw one (as long as I was able to read its name) so now, not having seen one for ages, I was delighted as we drove down the M11 firstly to see one and then - the icing on the cake - read its name: Frankel.  Surely we were in for a good result!  Sadly it was not to be, but even so there were some very pleasing results.  Giles Bravery was the first trainer I saw (in the gents down by the racecourse stables) and he sent out the first winner.  Then Peter Charalambous, who had had a winner at Epsom when we'd been there seven days previously, won with the Eddie Ahern-ridden Agent Kojak (pictured).  And, as we couldn't win our race, I was pleased that Stuart Williams did - with a horse whose only previous win had come on heavy, which sums things up.  It's always good to see other of Newmarket's smaller stables salute - we've got to stick up for each other, because if we don't, no one else will.

The good thing about the week was that, amazingly, despite all the rain which fell, it stayed dry for Darley's stallion parade at Dalham Hall Stud on Thursday and Friday mornings.  That was really nice as Darley put on a lovely show and it is a real treat for the hundreds who attend.  Thursday was easy as Thursday was a nice day here anyway, but so much rain fell overnight and then again from Friday evening onwards, but it stayed dry for much of the day on Friday.  I was lucky enough to be there that day and it was a real pleasure.  The horse whom I was most pleased to see was Helmet (pictured), who ran his last race when finishing midfield at Royal Ascot and who has now come out of training, ready to head back to Australia to start covering in September.

With his stablemate Sepoy having won the Golden Slipper last season, Helmet completed the 2yo Triple Crown for Peter Snowden's stable last season by taking the Sires' Produce and the Champagne Stakes, and he looked a magnificent, if rather wayward, colt on the TV in those races.  He fulfilled that promise by winning the Caulfield Guineas in the spring and, although he has subsequently lost his form, I'm sure that he will make a lovely stallion (and, seemingly, a suprisingly docile one - when he was racing he seemed a strong imposing horse with a very feisty nature, but on Friday he presented as a rather lean horse with a very calm nature, which was rather surprising) just like his father Exceed And Excel (pictured) whom it was also great to see (again in his case).  (By the way, just as an aside, I couldn't help pricking up my ears when I was told that Timeform have rated Helmet a better three-year-old than So You Think had been, which adds further fuel to the belief that we hear far too much about 'ratings' nowadays and that generally they aren't worth the paper they're written on).

We had just so much more rain overnight on Friday and all through Saturday morning and into the early afternoon.  Under the circumstances, cycling up to the July Course to watch a race which I could instead watch in the comfort of my own home seemed madness - but, having seen Helmet the previous day, how could I turn down my one and only chance to see his mate Sepoy (pictured in the parade ring yesterday)?  (As these two horses have ostensibly been trained in Newmarket for the past three months, you might wonder why this was my one and only chance to see Sepoy.  The answer, of course, is that they've been trained by Mahmood al Zarooni, whose string does not use the Heath, being exercised instead on its private gallops two or three miles out of town off the Kentford road).  Anyway, it was a grotty day on which it was hard for horses to catch the eye, and he duly looked anything like a star, and then ran accordingly badly.  But I'm really glad that I have seen what was one of the best two-year-olds of the modern era and probably the only horse around who, at his best, could be fancied to give Black Caviar (at her best) a race.  It's just a pity that he was never asked to do so, and a further pity that he won't be asked to do so at Moonee Valley or Flemington later this year.

If Sepoy did nothing to fly the Southern Cross at Newmarket yesterday, his less-talented compatriot Ortensia must have made her countrymen burst with pride.  Her run was truly magnificent.  The quagmire on the July Course suited no horse, but there's being able to handle a wet track and there's being a firm-ground horse; and, on all previously known evidence, Ortensia is a firm-ground horse.  I'd walked down from Bury Hill with her and Leah Gavranich (pictured) on Monday morning and been very impressed by how fit, strong, well and content she looked.  Paul Messara clearly had her in perfect condition and she would surely be right there on the Saturday - because, after all, surely the ground would be better than it had been at Royal Ascot.

As we know now, of course, the ground was considerably worse than it had been at Royal Ascot.   Even so, though, Ortensia ran like a true hero.  She and Sepoy set off down the middle of the track together, but Sepoy was struggling after 400m - Ortensia, though, ran along all the way like a tiger, gutsing it out for a heroic fourth place.  I was bowled over by her courage because she'd never even have seen ground like that previously, never mind been asked to gallop on it.  She was clearly tired afterwards and had run her heart out, but she must be both very fit, very healthy and tough as anything because within quarter of an hour after the race, she was strolling around (ie picking her way gingerly through the mud) as if she'd just been for a picnic in the rain.  What a hero - and if it's a dry track for the Nunthorpe and if Paul Messara is able to keep her at this peak for five weeks or so, they surely won't see which way she goes.  Hope so, anyway.