Sunshine in Wessex

"A fair handicap, although something of a slow-motion finish and doubtless a few of these were unsuited by the conditions". So began the Racing Post analysis of the race from which I scratched Silken Thoughts on Friday. I was very relieved to see that, because it satisfied me that I had been correct not to run her in it. (And I suspect a few others were wishing that they had followed suit, bearing in mind that of the 12 horses taken out of the meeting because of unsuitable ground, she was the only one in that race). This was a relief because Friday turned out to be such a lovely day that, in the middle of the afternoon, I was thinking that perhaps I had acted too hastily in scratching because of a wet track. I had plenty of time to enjoy the day's splendour as I spent Friday afternoon driving westwards, passing at one point within a few miles of Sandown, as I headed down to Salisbury to collect our new arrival, Dr Darcey. By the standards of summer Friday afternoons, the traffic wasn't too bad: I spent one hour longer on the M25 than I should have done, but that wasn't too bad, and that was the only hold-up. And I was in no rush anyway. All in all, the drive was such a pleasure, because on a golden summer's afternoon it was glorious to be heading westwards into the sinking sun along a route beside which the countryside became ever more splendid. I love going to Salisbury, for the getting there as well as for the being there, and when I have time I do what I did on this occasion, leaving the main roads once I get down into Wiltshire and taking the meandering side roads through the most idyllic countryside and villages. And it was particularly nice on this occasion, not only because it was the perfect day, but also because I was on an exciting mission. Dr Darcey, who ran in the last race at Salisbury (before which he is pictured), is a nice young stayer who has run several very good races, albeit without winning any of them, and has been sent here by his owners, Aristotle's Elements, to begin a jumps career, his previous trainer Richard Hannon nowadays rarely training any jumpers. This is particularly exciting from my point of view because it brings back memories of a very good jumper with whom I formerly worked who had started his career on the Flat with Richard Hannon: Tracy's Special, who was trained by my first employer Andy Turnell during a very successful National Hunt career which included a win in the National Hunt Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 1984 and fourth place in the Grand National, behind his stablemate Maori Venture, in the 1987 Grand National. I can't remember what Tracys' form was on the Flat, but I doubt that it would have been significantly better than Dr Darcey's; while it's long odds-against Dr Darcey matching Tracys' achievements, it's a useful reminder that anything's possible. And don't say that things like that don't happen any more, because I'm sure that's just what they'd have said when Katchit, who'd been just a middle-of-the-road young staying handicapper with Mick Channon, started out on his jumping career, had anyone been silly enough to suggest that he might be set for National Hunt stardom. So that's all very exciting - and Salisbury has been added to the list of tracks which have received the paws-up from Gus, who admittedly visited it at the perfect time of year for a dog, ie shortly after the massive wheat field out the back of the stable-yard has been harvested.

Elsewhere, York was obviously the centre of attention. While the stand-out races obviously had to be the Juddmonte, the Yorkshire Oaks and the Lowther Stakes, which each featured tremendous winning performances, two results which were particularly noteworthy from my perspective were the wins of Secret Asset and Dazinski, trained in this neck of the woods by Jane Chapple-Hyam and Mark Tompkins respectively. 'Elvis' (as Secret Asset is invariably known) has really thrived since joining Jane's stable, having previously been an under-performing handful, having got far too buzzed up during his two-year-old campaign. Elvis (the grey horse pictured here on the Heath outside Jane's yard a couple of months ago, ridden by Lewis Walsh) has shown his toughness as well as his speed, running plenty and winning more than his fair share. This summer he's won at both Glorious Goodwood and and the Ebor Meeting, which is a tremendous achievement by the horse and by his trainer and her staff. And by George Baker, for whom he always seems to run particularly well, which makes sense as his fiery nature is probably offset by George's sympathetic horsemanship. Dazinski, too, is a terrific horse. I was at Yarmouth the day he won his two-year-old maiden, thus becoming the first winner ever sired by one of my all-time favourite horses, Sulamani; and now, three years on, he's won the staying handicap at the Ebor Meeting as a five-year-old. That's great, and again a tribute to the horse's trainer and to those who look after him, particularly Mark's assistant Steve Avery who rides him most mornings and who is pictured on him here on the Severals on a cold, damp March morning last year. Mark (pictured above at the bottom of the Moulton Road on Friday morning, waiting for his red-jacketed string to arrive) always seems to do well at the big meetings in his native Yorkshire, and he had another great run at the meeting when last year's Galtres Stakes winner Brushing ran really well in the Yorkshire Oaks.

Just one closing thought. I'm sure that I remember Bangor as being one of the first tracks at the outset of the tarriffs to come out and say that it would meet tarriff on every race. If that is indeed the case, it was surely an ominous sign that a few days ago Bangor ran a meeting at which every race fell short. Maybe there is a reason for this being a one-off, but I do rather worry that my fears have been proved valid that the non-existent response by the National Hunt training fraternity to the introductions of the tarriffs would mean that they achieved nothing other than to demonstrate to courses that there is no benefit to them whatsoever in offering decent prize money, because people are going to run come what may. There's no need in naming and shaming those who led the ignoring of the tarriffs from the outset as they know who they are, but it does look worryingly as if they have helped the well-intentioned Horseman's Group to score a massive own goal - an own goal which would not have been scored if people who should have known better had been able to see farther than the ends of their own noses, and beyond the end of next week.