Good nooz

We previewed this week's runners in the last chapter and things are very good in parts so far.  The week started in the best style possible when The Rocket Park won at Thirsk on Sunday.  Most good results are all the better for coming after you've worked towards them for a long time - one could, of course, if one had unlimited money, buy the Derby favourite on the eve of the Derby and then rejoice the next day that one has owned the Derby winner, but really you'd have to be fairly unquestioning of the concept of achievement to regard this as a mighty triumph - and with Rocky any success has been a long time in coming for all involved with him, particularly his ultra-patient and ultra-supportive owner, Lawrence Wadey.

So that, belatedly the stable's first win of the year, was wonderful.  If we'd had our character slightly tested, though, by an 11-month gap between visits to the winner's enclosure, for his jockey Howard Cheng this triumph was an even longer time in coming.  Howard has ridden plenty of winners in Hong Kong but this was his first success for 50 months, so you can imagine how much this meant to him.  He had a long spell on the side-lines when he lost his license there and, having firstly been able to start work for William Haggas and then being allowed to apply for a license here, it took him long enough actually to be granted a license, longer still to get any rides and even longer to get on a horse who could win.  Thankfully Rocky, his 40/1 SP notwithstanding, proved to be such a horse, so it was a day of joy all round.

We went to Leicester the next day and didn't enjoy any success, but I was less disheartened than one might expect by a pretty moderate run by The Simple Truth.  It's taken forever to get to the stage where he could show that he could relax in a race and thus have prospects of running in the types of races which he should be contesting (ie not the sprints in which he has been participating this year) so I should be (and am) pleased that he has shown that the penny has finally dropped that one wants to be saving one's energy for the second half.  I could just have done with him giving such a demonstration without finishing among the also-rans!

The third intended runner of the week cut even less ice than that: Roy, who should have been going to Kempton today, was eliminated.  At 9.55 on Monday he looked set to be the last one in; one more horse was declared in the closing minutes and at 9.58 he was instead the last one out.  (If that makes sense).  Ah well, no harm done: if they don't run, they can't run badly.  (And I know that the proper version of that, as voiced by Clive Brittain so many times, was that if they don't run, they can't run well).  I haven't sorted out where he'll go next, but he's fit and well so hopefully won't have to wait too long.  That race, though - in the absence of any options at Brighton - did look about as suitable as we could get.

I was in a similar situation this morning as I was on Monday morning, ie monitoring the declarations minute-by-minute as 10 o'clock approached.  (And I don't want you to think that I'm one of those trainers who spend the morning sitting in front of a computer - I was on board Hidden Pearl at the time - the glorious time-savingness of the innovations which have brought internet access to mobile phones).  In this case we got the result which we wanted: Dereham, whom I rated 60:40 against getting a run, did manage to squeak in at Chester on Friday. So he and Kryptos can go up there on Friday.

We could find more suitable races for Dereham (well, it's a suitable race, but there will be less competitive but suitable races around) but Chester seems to be the one course which is making it a pleasure for a horse's owner(s) to attend, so Emma (whose horse Dereham is and whose birthday Friday is) thought, as there was a suitable race for Dereham on the card at Chester on that day, that it would be a lovely way to spend the day, if he got in the race.  And if the company is too hot for Dereham (although that isn't guaranteed as he will be running off his correct handicap mark on a course and distance that should be suitable) then we can lower our sights a bit next time.

Then I hope that we shall have Das Kapital (pictured this morning in the last paragraph and in this one) in an apprentices' race at Chepstow on Saturday night.  He finished second in an apprentices' race over course and distance around this time last year (I'd say that it's the same race, but it may not be, particularly as I think it was a Friday last year - but then the programmes have all been changed to a greater or lesser extent) on good ground, and I'm hopeful that the ground will be more suitable for him (ie softer) this time.  That's hard to say, though, as it's currently much firmer than good, and with thunderstorms (which are predicted) it is very hard to make an accurate prediction of how much (if any) rain will actually fall.  He's not sure to get in.  And the amount of rainfall which will hit Chepstow in the next three days is uncertain.  And he won't run if it's faster than good whatever happens.  But he might run.  We'll see.

Looking outside these four walls, the big racing news has been that Julie Harrington has been appointed as the next chief executive of the BHA, to succeed Nick Rust at the end of the year.  Will hers be a successful tenure?  God knows.  I certainly don't, not least because I have never met her and don't know that much about her.  It's also hard to say exactly what constitutes success, bearing in mind that most of the many problems are unfixable.  However, what I've read sounds encouraging.  Her background suggests that she should already have a good understanding of the sport (which should be essential) and a very keen interest in it (ditto).  And she seems a brainy person who can get things done.

So that's all good.  All we can do at present is wish her all the best and pledge her our support; and hope that she is spared the bulk of the generally ill-informed criticism which seems to be part and parcel of the job, and that she can so the job as well and as diligently as Nick Rust has done it.  I don't know what the future holds for him, but I hope that his acumen and commitment won't be lost to the sport.  I'm sure that it won't as he's a racing man through and through - his existing in an orbit which didn't involve racing would be about as unlikely as a fish existing in an orbit which didn't involve water.