Allegedly the most effective rain dance in the world is that performed by Native American Hopi Indians. The biennial 16-day rite conducted by the Snake and Antelope fraternities involves participants jiving around a column of rock in feathered dress carrying snakes in their hands and mouths.
As our dry spring moves into what could be an even drier summer, the local shops in Newmarket, Lambourn and Middleham might be wise to stock up on feathers and plastic reptiles. Fortunately, before Sandown’s key evening meeting last Thursday there had been just enough precipitation to take the sting out of the ground and embolden trainer Ed Walker to run his talented Almaqam, an entry in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, in the feature event, the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes. Walker confessed: ‘I’ve never hidden what I thought about this horse but ground is the absolute key. You can tee yourself up for a big fall. We skipped a couple of Group 1s the previous weekend to come here and get the job done, get him back to winning ways. I was worried when I saw the soft-ground horses coming out. I thought “What do they know that I don’t?” It made me nervous.’
The four-year-old showed his quality in fending off the Godolphin-owned and John and Thady Gosden-trained Ombudsman who was previously unbeaten in four races. Although he could race at Ascot should it suddenly turn soft, Almaqam’s targets are likely to remain in the autumn. Says Walker: ‘I won’t be lured into the big races if they are on quick ground.’
The Upper Lambourn trainer has certainly got his team in good order. The previous Saturday his sprinter Mgheera had won the Temple Stakes at Haydock and two days after Almaqam’s success he scored a cross-card treble with Scenic winning the Brontë Cup Fillies’ Stakes at York, while at Haydock Balmoral Lady took the Listed Achilles Stakes and Ten Bob Tony scored by a head in the Group 3 John of Gaunt Stakes.
Walker’s assistant Matty Hicks greeted Ten Bob Tony’s victory by saying of the horse: ‘He’s very tough. Gelding him has probably made him a bit more of a man’. Racing really does have its own language. You know what he means, but practically poor Ten Bob Tony is two cojones less of a man.
‘He’s very tough. Gelding him has probably made him a bit more of a man’
The Gosden team looked slightly short of their normal firepower last season but this year they too are flying. There was consolation for Ombudsman’s defeat when Trawlerman set himself up for an Ascot Gold Cup without the sadly retired Kyprios by beating the reliable yardstick Coltrane by five lengths in the Henry II Stakes at Sandown.
Noting that the seven-year-old wasn’t having much of a blow after his effort, Thady told us: ‘He wears his heart on his sleeve every time and he’s part of the furniture now. He’s a cracking old boy.’ Some see the application of a hood as a critical comment on a horse but Thady explained: ‘He’s so generous he always wants to give you almost too much and the hood settles him down.’
Yorkshire trainer David O’Meara probably owes the Gosdens one. He acknowledges that the elegant grey Estrange – owned by the top quality Cheveley Park Stud – is potentially the best horse he has ever had in a yard whose fortunes were built steadily on handicap success. On ITV at the weekend Cheveley’s supremo Chris Richardson revealed that the filly had started life in the Gosdens yard but been immature and struggled to get her act together. John Gosden suggested that Estrange be moved to a smaller yard in an environment more relaxed than Newmarket.
Dropped in at the back in Haydock’s Nifty 50 Lester Piggott Fillies’ Stakes by jockey Danny Tudhope, she cruised throughout and came with a smooth run to go four lengths clear in an eye-catching victory. Her odds for the Arc were swiftly slashed to a still interesting 16-1. Racing language again: at the last count David O’Meara’s ‘small yard’ contained some 130 horses.
The victory I most enjoyed at Sandown on Thursday was that of the 25-1 Anthelia in the Listed National Stakes. Rod Millman has what you genuinely can call a small yard in Cullompton, Devon but he knows the time of the racing day. Remember his Sergeant Cecil who won ten of his 53 races including a 2005 triple in the Northumberland Plate, the Ebor and the Cesarewitch and came second in 14 more? There have been quick ones too, like Lord Kintyre who won the Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury in 1997.
Taking on the colts for the first time Anthelia had to battle up the rail to remain unbeaten after three races and will surely get six furlongs when asked. Millman went to the yearling sales with £50,000. He liked her but thought she wasn’t worth that. Hanging around he picked her up for just £6,000. As he told us with a grin: ‘She’s worth a lot more than that now.’
Comments