Wednesday, May 04, 2016
So much to do, so little time to do it in. At present, my mayoral commitments are taking up a huge amount of time, but I only have another 19 days to go before I hand over the poisoned chalice to my successor. The downsides of the post do, though, come with their compensations, the best of which came on Saturday when I was one of two guests of honour at the opening ceremony on the Rowley Mile of QIPCO Guineas Festival, with the other guest of honour being the sponsor Sheikh Fahad al Thani. That was very special - as, in another way, was being the mystery 'Mayor of Where?' on the Greg James Show on Radio One this evening.
Most special of all over the past few days, though, was the win of Indira on Monday at Bath. I wasn't there (I was at Windsor where So Much Water made her long-awaited debut, which was another special occasion, particularly as she performed with some credit) so Lucinda was in sole charge of her, and it all went swimmingly as she won extremely easily under Josephine Gordon. One doesn't often want to run under a 6lb penalty as usually one's rating rises by fewer than six pounds for winning.
In this case, however, it seems an easy decision to back up, especially as she seems to have come out of the race extremely well, so she and Josephine will aim to take their record together to three wins and a second from four outings when they line up on Friday for the final race of the Chester May Meeting. So that's all good. As is the weather: it just started to come good for the Guineas Weekend, and has continued to come really good since then. The past couple of days have been lovely. The first photograph (taken on Sunday morning from Indira's back, showing Petra on So Much Water and Lulu Stanford on White Valiant) shows what a lovely day Sunday was.
Monday was generally nicer than the photograph of So Much Water and Saleem Golam at Windsor suggests. The third photograph, taken yesterday morning of Sussex Girl and Jana relaxing after first lot, gives an accurate impression of what a perfect start to the day that had been. And then the final shot, of Indira and Lucinda this morning, gives an accurate impression not of today's heavenly weather, but also of how completely content Indira is after her win on Monday. Seeing her there, you'll understand why I'm completely happy to back her up.
Special days
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4 comments:
congrats on Indira - she won really well - not surprised you are going for a quick follow up at Chester - may see you there
I would be interested in your view on yesterdays Cheshire Oaks the C4 team eulogised over Moore's ride but I had a different point of view the winner Somehow whilst not looking anything special here may be quiet good - that isn't the point in this case had she been beaten - which looked entirely possible for most of the race would the stewards have brought Moore in for schooling in public ? As he freely admitted to doing this post race on Channel 4 said something like he tried to "educate the horse" What is the difference in what was done here and some lower ranked jockey doing similar in a race but not winning - the local stewards may have decided it worthy of a ban then (and have done on several occasions) why not here even though the horse won ?
There is little doubt that the horse was not ridden to achieve the best of its ability most ratings would suggest a run to a maximum low 90 mark when the horse could be up to 15 pounds better - not in anyway suggesting they are trying to handicap her for something like the Ebor - the question is is it satisfactory for horses not to run to their best by top stables when smaller outfits would be hung drawn and quartered for doing the same
And equally Moore was being lorded for the ride by Graham Cunningham - if as he seems to claim he is a punter's friend - surely he should be slamming the ride
similar comments apply to Moores ride in the Vase and his subsequent comments - see racing post website quotes - and that is without any comment on the ride on the second
well done John and all involved particularly Indira
Josephine looks an excellent rider and I would suggest very good value for her claim
pleased to say I put this one up as the headline bet on my www.mannisays.co.uk betting website so thanks all for making me look as though I know what I am talking about (often / now and then/ sometimes/rarely delete as applicable)
hope you all had a good day out couldn't get there unfortunately even thoughthe weather was glorious
Cheers Neil. A very happy day indeed yesterday.
Re rides at Chester, the answer is that the rule is that you have to ride to achieve the best possible placing, rather than to show your best possible form. Consequently, if a horse wins, it would be very hard to punish the jockey, even if he seemingly has achieved the best possible placing more by luck than judgement only because the horse has 'got him out of jail'. There was a case the other day (I watched the race, but I can't even remember where it was, other than that it was a course where on the TV they are finishing from left to right) where a jockey eased a horse who looked set to win clearly, and then just hung on by a rapidly-diminishing short head. Had the photo gone the other way - and it was only by luck rather than judgement that it didn't - he would justifiably have been punished quite severely. As it was, it would have been hard for the stewards to deliver anything other than a strongly-worded, stern and well-deserved caution.
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