Gifts

I meant to put up a chapter yesterday but our internet went down early in the evening.  It's (sort of) working again now, so here we go.  What I would have written last night was that I was really pleased with our trip to Kempton on Thursday night, when Gift Of Silence made me very proud by handling her first raceday really well.  One never knows a debutant(e) will cope with things, but she looked really in her element all day, seemingly enjoying everything, so that was lovely.  And she ran fairly well too, so things were very satisfactory all round.

It was a particularly nice day because conditions were very spring-like, which always helps.  Admittedly we started with a slight frost, but the cause of that (the clear sky) was the reason why it was such a lovely day once the sun was up.  Lucinda and I had a minor frost brahma first lot when, having passed the Godolphin horses whom you can see here, we got to the start of the Bury Hill Polytrack on Douchkirk and Alcalde, only to find it shut.  This was baffling, but turned out to be an illustration of just how diligent are the Jockey Club Estates Heathmen.

The  Bury Side foreman Colin Driver appeared around the corner and rather sheepishly admitted that when he'd sent a tractorman off to harrow the track "because it was white on top" he hadn't expected any strings to be along that early.  We were actually the second string to arrive (there were four of William Haggas' horses waiting to go round it) and it was no problem to wait a few minutes for it to re-open from its unnecessary closure - and it was a nice reminder that the Heathmen generally go the extra mile to make sure that our facilities are just so.

My next trip up to the Heath was with Simayill.  The sun was well above the horizon by this time and it turned out that I had timed my crossing of the Severals very well, as I found one of my favourite horses coming out of the sun towards me.  You can see Red Cadeaux's little face bearing down on me in the previous paragraph, and Steve Nicholson was kind enough to pose him for me for a proper picture, as you can see here.   They'll be off on their travels again soon (Dubai and then Japan) and the horse certainly looks in terrific shape, physically and mentally - and the sight of him was a very good bit of inspiration for the day's task of taking a daughter of Cadeaux Genereux off for her debut.  Can't see that she'll ever win a Curragh Cup, Yorkshire Cup or Hong Kong Vase, or finish within an inch of the winner in a Melbourne Cup - but one never knows!

Just before I close, I should remember the phrase 'credit where it's due'.  In a recent chapter I highlighted the Racing Post coming up with the one of the worst headlines ('Festival Records Tumble') so it's worth highlighting that today they've come up with one of the best.  Willie Mullins seems to train most of the most obvious Grand National chances (eg Prince De Beauchene, On His Own) while Paul Nicholls has a few likely contenders too - which means that Ruby Walsh is spoilt for choice as regards what to ride in the big race.  Anyway, some light was perhaps going to be thrown on the cloudy picture of his decision today, with Nicholls' National entry Join Together running at Doncaster.  So, on seemingly a no-news day during which the televised racing, as you can see, doesn't seem to have kept all viewers on the edge of their seats, the evidence which Join Together's running would provide seemingly meant that 'It's Ruby Cluesday'.  Forced and inconsequential, yes - but it did bring a smile to my face!