Happy endings

Any time I turn on the tv there's something to warm the heart. Mind you, I am only talking about Racing UK and At The Races; the situation is completely different if one tries the regular (one thousand and) "sixteen channels of shit on the tv to chose from". We've only had one race so far this Saturday arvo, and that produced a wonderful result. The splendid Dr Philip Pritchard, one of racing's true heroes and as nice a man as you'd ever meet, rode and trained the 13-year-old Ichi Beau, the complete outsider of the field, to win the opening two mile 0-135 handicap steeplechase on a bog track at Haydock. Combined age of horse and rider 62. Dr Pritchard bought Ichi Beau out of Tony Martin's stable in the autumn for 2,800 gns in the autumn on behalf of his Timber Pond Racing Club, and the prize today was around three times that sum. That's exactly what racing is about, and I haven't enjoyed watching a race as much as I did this one for ... um, around 21 hours actually, because the last race at Musselburgh yesterday was a very pleasing one too from my point of view. But more of that anon.

I hope I'll enjoy four races in the coming days even more than either of those two because all four of our forthcoming runners should acquit themselves with credit. No change from the last report, other than one alteration to the riding arrangements. Micky Fenton's agent, the former hoop Shashi Righton, rang this morning with a very polite request that Micky be released from Panto on Monday. He was down for three rides at Kempton, the other two being for Tim Fitzgerald, another of his regular patrons. However, these two horses now aren't going to run, so Micky would either go to Kempton just for Panto or to Wolvehampton for several, including I note one for Paul Midgeley, who is one of Micky's best supporters. I was happy to accede to the request, because Shashi, an excellent agent who is invariably helpful and straightforward, had gone about this the right way, and he and Micky both deserve to be treated with consideration and respect. So now we've got John Egan on Panto, and he'll be an excellent substitute. He'll give Panto every chance to do as well as he can, and it is a good thing to be able to make a practical demonstration of support for a man who's been having a tough time.

Oh yes, the other update on the forthcoming runners is that Gemma, who's been riding Millyjean, has complimented me on my description on the previous blog of Millyjean's gallop on the Al Bahathri on Wednesday ("worked like a rocket"). She says that hit the nail on the head, so let's hope that the Lingfield race-readers will be similarly effusive. Hayley Turner rode her well last time so she'll be on her again this week.

The other star worker of the week is, you'll be surprised to hear, the Diktat filly. Not for her speed, of course, but for her composure. Happily, our midweek debacle has not been repeated. We went on a long walk and trot down Hamilton Road on Thursday with Panto Prince and Emma proving to be excellent companions for us, during which, despite the fact that the wind was atrocious (I'd thought we'd stay among the trees to be sheltered from the worst of its force, but being in the trees was just too frightening because of the noise, so that was another plan which went of out the window), the filly regained her confidence, and she hasn't looked back. Yesterday and today Panto has shepherded us up the all-weather on Warren Hill at a composed hack canter, and the filly has regained her place at the top of the class. And that's a huge relief, because my nerves can only stand nasty and painful shocks if they don't come too frequently. I even tightened my girths as we approached the canter yesterday, so that speaks volumes for my returning confidence! The only way to put a fall behind you is to get back on again and get plenty of riding in as soon as possible, but that, of course, backfires, if things go badly wrong again.

After Panto has run on Monday, I think I might dragoon him into being a mate for Glen Garioch for a few days. Panto is such a lovely horse. There's not much of him, so when he's not galloping a nice gentle exercise is probably what is best for him, so if he can do that while helping another horse, that's great all round. It's funny, because on the limited evidence we've had I'd formed the opinion that Glen Garioch was an excellent ride. I was very surprised, therefore, to be told first by James and then by David that he was getting out of hand, and I must say that I have had a few awkward moments since putting my name beside his on Thursday. For some reason he appears to have panic attacks, which is strange because he's excellent most of the time. But I had a rude awakening on him when we were trotting home yesterday when he stopped suddenly, put his head down and back between his legs and ran backwards, feeling as if he was about to launch himself in any direction, possibilities including both upwards and downwards. And yet most of the time he' s as quiet and content as a lamb. So strange. So I think just a few days riding sedately on the quietest parts of the Heath with one quiet horse will be what the doctor ordered, so he can realise that there's nothing to be frightened of. Suze came with me this morning on Mattie Stokes as we went for a long meander up Warren Hill and back around Side Hill, and more of the same will do nicely.

Oh yes, and before I move on, the other distinction to be handed out this week goes to Filemot (there's another new name for you - I don't think she's up on the site yet - but when she is you'll be able to read that she's a two-year-old filly by Largesse). Although strictly speaking this distinction is shared with Martha, who's done a great job in riding her. She's only had a week's riding, but horse and rider are both going around full of confidence and in a very composed manner. The little filly seems a bit nervous of traffic, but otherwise she's really slotted into the ridden life very well. I've set Martha some stiff tasks riding recently, but she's thrived on the challenge, and her confidence and competence are both rising by the day.

So, to return to the beginning. Races which were great to watch: yesterday. There were two actually. We started early, with the pleasing discovery that the overnight Aussie action on ATR had included Benalla. I'd set the video running just in case, but it was more in hope than anticipation, as I suspected that Ballarat would be the more likely Victorian venue to be shown. But when I got up I found that I could indeed watch the 3.00 from Benalla, and I had the pleasure of watching Spaceage Juliet, aka Joolzy (you can see her and Joff in the photo gallery) resume with a very good fourth on her first start for Anne Taylor's stable. It was really good, and I'd say they'll be in for a lot of fun with her this time in. And what was also great was, not that you'd particularly know it from the pictures we saw other than that the caption said that the track was rated 'dead', that apparently there's plenty of rain falling in Victoria. Let the rain tumble down in January. (It does here, just about all of the time, so why not there too?).

So on to day's other highlight. My eye was caught by the fact that Alan Swinbank was introducing an unraced 4-year-old gelding by Royal Anthem in the bumper at Musselburgh. I dug out my Fairyhouse yearling sale catalogue from 2004, and found that, as I suspected, this was indeed the horse which I'd loved and had tried to buy. My comments written on the page are: "very nice horse", "very big", "curb O/H", "bid 12,000 Euros", "20,000 Euros, Alan Swinbank". I'd asked Alan about the horse a couple of times in the intervening period, and he'd told me early on that he'd keep him for bumpers. So I was, as you can imagine, very keen to watch the race. And the result? He won very impressively by 18 lengths as the well-backed favourite, you'd almost say 'with his head in his chest'. He's now 20/1 for the Cheltenham Bumper. So that was nice to see that I was thinking along the right lines. A pity he isn't here, but I'm very happy for the man who does have him, and also happy for the horse, because he's in safe hands. We've instead got a similar (I hope) horse 12 months behind that schedule, in the shape of the 3-year-old Ben Bhraggie, another big, staying-bred flat yearling put away for bumpers at an early stage. Wouldn't it be great if he turns out to be as good a selection? Only time will tell.

And what we also have instead is Jill Dawson, because I don't know that I'd have bought her on the third day of the sale if I'd have bought this horse on the first. And we're more than happy to have her here so, again, all's well that ends well. Apart from Jill, incidentally, the other graduate of that sale who came to this stable was Lady Suffragette, so let's see if tomorrow she can make the ending even happier ...