Beer and skittles

I'm afraid that Gus couldn't work his magic at Newmarket on Friday as Batgirl finished last. We've run her at Newmarket once as a two-year-old, once as a three-year-old and now once as a four-year-old, and with a different jockey each time - and each time she has dropped herself right out as soon as she encounters the downhill sections of the undulations. She's a big, cumbersome mare and clearly doesn't find galloping downhill easy, but I think that, over and above that, she probably votes with her feet when it comes to giving her view on being asked to do so. Still, no harm done: she's bounced back from a poor run previously, and she'll do so again. And we really can't blame Gus - for that, at least. That, of course, didn't stop Bean from justifiably putting the young whipper-snapper in his place later that evening as I was doing evening stables - and that was without knowing of his low act of the previous evening. As Hannah and I had been driving back from Folkestone, I had heard a gnawing from the back seat - and looked around to see Gus getting stuck into the cover of my Aga Khans book, written by Mihir Bose. That was unforgivable, particularly for a dog who lives in a house which has (much cherished) books strewn everywhere. Thank God I heard him so was able to prevent any serious damage being done, but we certainly don't want him to make a habit of it. It's particularly good that this book remains readable because it is a rich source of brahmas. From a racing point of view, we don't hear too much of the non-racing background of the Aga Khan, which is probably just as well as many punters might struggle with the concept of divinity personified. Anyway, this book doesn't really concentrate much on the current Aga Khan (the fourth), instead devoting most attention to his predecessor, the third Aga Khan (his grand-father). Basically, where the Aga Khan differs from the human heads of most other faiths, eg the Pope, is that the other leaders are regarded as God's representative, rather than as God, which is how the khojas (who pay an eighth of their income to their leader) see the Aga Khan. Anyway, the third Aga (he of Mumtaz Mahal, Bahram and Mahmoud fame) seems to have been a truly brahmatic man. Once, when walking in the south of France with one of his English friends, he was accosted by one of his followers, who naturally prostrated himself by the Aga's feet. The Aga duly blessed the man and carried on walking. One would have thought that this incident would not have been too onerous from the Aga's point of view, but as they walked away from the worshipper he turned to his friend and observed, "See - being a God is not all beer and skittles!". On another occasion, at a dinner party in London, he was asked whether he believed in God, to which query he replied, "I have to - it's my business!". This book is actually very heavy going and I struggle in the most part to read more than about two pages in one sitting - but when one stumbles upon nuggets such as these brahmae, all the tedium seems worthwhile. Anyway, I've been carried well off course, and can't end the paragraph outlining Friday's (non-)events (and Thursday's non-destruction of a book) without saluting the day's hero, Tom Queally. I'm not going to prostrate myself at his feet, or pay him an eighth of my income (which is academic because, as we know, 12.5% of f*** all is f***) but I will hail his winning ride in the Falmouth Stakes on Timepiece. Tom was criticised in many quarters, including in the International Report in Winning Post, for going too hard too soon in both the Coronation Cup and the St. James's Palace Stakes (and my Coronation Cup verdict was particularly harsh, bearing in mind that I hadn't, and still haven't, seen the race, having merely worked out that he'd gone clear too early from listening to the call on the radio!). Anyway, praise where it's due - and he stole the Falmouth Stakes, winning a race despite not being on the best horse (which was probably the Christophe Lemaire-ridden runner-up Sahpresa, whose pre-race picture follows Timepiece's). Good on 'im.

Moving on. I rarely go, nor wish to go, to the races when we don't have a runner, but it was a very easy decision to head up to the July Course on Saturday afternoon to watch the July Cup. Thus, for me, Saturday was a day of beer and skittles. It started in appropriately brahmatic fashion when, following hard on the heels of Baldrick's appearance earlier in the week, we saw 'The Stig' as we rode on the top of Warren Hill. Strange but (possibly) true. This was the cause of great excitement, even for someone like me who has never watched Top Gear and who had never heard of The Stig. Anyway, on top of Warren Hill, a white three-wheeler was parked alongside the Moulton Road, and The Stig was posing for photographs. There were, of course, a few unanswered questions (such as why he wasn't at Silverstone, and why did he appear to have gained a bit of weight and lost a bit of height) but we won't worry too much about those. Instead we'll just rejoice in a sighting of The Stig which almost caused the reading on the brahmometer to go off the scale. He even gave us the thumbs-up as he drove off!

That was such a great prelude to a really enjoyable afternoon. I'd have loved to have seen Star Witness win, as it has been a pleasure seeing him regularly on the Heath this past month, and his trainer Danny O'Brien and strapper Paul Koumis (seen leading the horse away after the race, and also seen riding him a couple of weeks previously), not to mention jockey Steven Arnold (pictured looking understandably deflated immediately after unsaddling), are all people in whose victory I would have rejoiced. However, Star Witness' eclipse did not prevent me from taking great pleasure on the victors' behalf: anyone who has read this blog regularly over the past few months will know that Dream Ahead is one of my favourite horses. We see him most days, and he is just a lovely horse, physically and mentally. He has been thriving in appearance over the past few weeks, which speaks volumes for the care he receives from David and Jenny Simcock and from his lad and usual rider Chris Hough (whom one can see below leading his charge back in after the race). So I was delighted for him and for them - and at least equally delighted for Hayley Turner. There's not really much that I can say about her that hasn't already been said everywhere else. She's a cracking rider and very hard worker who has remained completely untouched by her success throughout her successful career - and who will remain equally untouched even if her career continues in the ascendant after that historic Group One victory, which it seems sure to do. So that was all really good. And what was even better was that I gave myself another highlight during the afternoon by being bold enough to introduce myself to a great trainer and his wife, who happened to be there. The great thing about pretending to be a journalist is that one can be impertinent enough to strike up conversations with complete strangers - and, simply because one has informed them that one is the overseas correspondent from Winning Post, they are happy to yack away as if we're lifelong friends. As Geoff Lester might have said, "Power of the press, old boy"! Anyway, Peter Snowden, Darley's Australian trainer who is about to finish second in the premiership in Sydney and who, more remarkably, has trained the winner of every two-year-olds' Group One race in Australia this season, was on course with his wife Lyn; and when I presented myself, they were as friendly and forthcoming as Peter's frequent totally unaffected from-the-heart TV interviews had led one to believe that he would be. I would never respect a trainer merely for being successful, because it would be a grave mistake to assume that, simply because a man was a successful trainer, that he was either a master-horseman or a decent human being. However, I have colossal respect for people whom I believe to be master-horsemen, and colossal respect for people whom I believe to be decent human beings - and as I feel that Peter Snowden falls into both categories, I cherish the memory of the few minutes which I spent enjoying the company of him and his wife. I trust that they had a lovely day - despite the unwelcome intrusion with which they coped so graciously.

If I'd seen some great horses on Saturday (and I surely did) then I saw an even greater one on Sunday. Colleen and Kerry Salmon organise a show near here (usually at the Animal Health Trust) each year. The fruits of their considerable efforts are a large amount of enjoyment for a large amount of people, and a large amount of money raised for charity. I am always delighted if they ask me to play a tiny part, so this year I joined Jonathan and Serena Geake as a judge in the thoroughbreds' ring for three classes (thoroughbreds aged under eight, those aged 8 - 14, and those aged 15 or above). We saw some lovely horses, with all the equine competitors paying great tributes to their keepers. The veterans' class was remarkable for how well all the horses looked (and for answers like that given by the owner of the tremendous-looking winner Columba, pictured above, who, when asked how old her horse was, replied, "He's 15. He retired from racing two years ago"). The 8-14 class was remarkable for the fact that it produced a trifecta of three really lovely horses - with its winner being the great chestnut gelding Purple Moon, Ebor winner,narrow runner-up in the 2007 Melbourne Cup and third place-getter in last year's Ascot Gold Cup. He only retired from racing less than a year ago (he bowed out after finishing third in last year's Goodwood Cup) and was making his show-ring debut on Sunday. It was a pleasure to see him - and a double pleasure to see him looking so well and clearly undamaged by the rigours of a very taxing racing career. It speaks volumes for his magnificence that he won the class because the third-place Seattle Prince (pictured) would have been a really worthy winner: a lovely 13-year-old grey who started life on the Flat with Richard Hannon and who ended his career running over hurdles (ridden by William, funnily enough) with Steve Gollings. I had gone home before the end of the show, but learned yesterday that the perfect post-script was that Purple Moon (pictured) ended the day judged to be Best in Show. Heart-warming stuff.

Looking ahead, we have two things on the horizon. One is the result of this week's At The Races 'Ride of the Week' competition, for which Hannah's winning ride on Kadouchski at Folkestone is one of the nominations (the others being winning rides by Jim Crowley, Seb Sanders and Declan McDonagh). That's a terrific honour being nominated, but if she could win that would be the icing on the cake. If you would like to vote for her, you can do so (free of charge) via this link:-

http://www.attheraces.com/article.aspx?hlid=486839

So that's an ongoing excitement, while also to look forward to is our trip to Sandown on Wednesday. Ethics Girl will resume, ridden by Hannah, in the fourth race, while the field for the fifth race will contain Silken Thoughts, who likewise will be well ridden (by Richard Mullen). I'm really looking forward to that outing. The mare and the filly are both very well (and this picture which Emma took of Ethics Girl cantering around Side Hill AW on Saturday shows that she, as spunky as ever, is raring to go) and I hope that we shall get two good runs from them. It's always a pleasure to go to Sandown, a lovely racecourse; and it's a particular pleasure when one goes taking two nice horses, and knowing that one is going to see nice people when one gets there, which will be the case on Wednesday. Let's, as always, hope for the best.