A lovely day

I really enjoyed my trip to Lingfield today.  That, of course, ought to go without saying on account of Grand Liaison having shed her maiden status with a 10-length win in the 10-furlong handicap (as you can see); but I'd have said it anyway because it was just one of those really pleasant days.  We're losing summer (and we were so fortunate at the races because we'd only gone about 20 minutes down the road on the way home before we hit rain) but it was a very pleasant and fairly warm afternoon.  And it was just a very jolly outing at a very nice course - and it's probably worth pointing out, three days after my having observed how much I like Folkestone and how good the ground always is there, that one could make the same comments about Lingfield and observe that it's probably no coincidence that the two tracks have the same clerk of the course, Neil Mackenzie Ross, who is just about as good in that role as you'd ever find.

We'd had a great run down (and had a great run back, which was even more of a bonus on a Friday) so got there with a lot of time to spare, but I hardly had time to draw breath as there were just so many friendly faces there.  My very sociable day had actually started before I left Newmarket because I'd cycled to the cashpoint in the High Street mid-morning, and happened there to find myself standing in the queue behind one of the most distinguished ex-jockeys who lives here, the former multiple Norwegian champion Walter Buick.  Although I obviously knew of him, I'd never made his acquaintance previously, so it was very pleasant to put that omission right.  And that just set me up nicely for a day of friendly faces.

I wasn't actually that familiar with the jockey who rode for us today either, Ian Mongan.  I'm sure that this was his first ride for the stable, and I'd hardly even spoken to him previously, my acquaintanceship being restricted to saying 'G'day' to him at 7am plenty of Wednesdays and Saturdays at the top of Railway Land: I'd be heading down there to gallop and he'd be standing with Henry Cecil, Tom Queally and Eddie Ahern, awaiting Henry's string which generally arrives just a few minutes after we do.  Still, I was obviously aware of what a good jockey he is, and he was an obvious jockey to book, particularly at one of his local tracks where he regularly cleans up - as he did today, riding a treble for three Johns: Dunlop, Jenkins and Wathen-Berry.

Another very good part of the outing was finding ourselves present when Jordan Vaughan had his first ride on Magical Speedfit.  British youngsters who are hard-working, polite, conscientious and diligent are not easy to find nowadays, but we've got one here (Hannah) and Jordan is another.  He worked for Marco Botti for a while, but that's probably not a great stable in which to be an apprentice, so he transferred to George Margarson two or three months ago.  And today George gave him the ride on a decent old sprint handicapper, on whom Jordan did nothing wrong and who ran as well (5th of 10) as his 22/1 SP would have suggested.  It's nice to see those who deserve it given a break, so it was very nice to be there when  Jordan had his first ride.  Let's hope that it's the first of many.

So, all in all, a lovely day.  But it's always nice when your horse wins - and particularly nice when it's the first win for that particular horse - and and extra factor today was the fact that this was the first winner I'd trained for her owners, Barrie Catchpole (who is her co-breeder) and Mike Meaney (pictured at the presentation).  She'd been knocking on the door (her handicap form prior to today was 233) so obviously she went there with a good chance, and she was clearly in good nick so we were entitled to be hopeful of another good run.  But to win by ten lengths (and that wasn't really Ian's fault, as she just came down the hill as if to the manner born and thus found herself in front at the top of the straight without having yet really started to make her move, and thereafter nothing was going anywhere behind her - the Racing Post says "... quick move to lead 4f out, caught rest napping and clear 3f out ...") is more than you can realistically expect, so it was just a lovely day for all her connections.