For followers of every sport there are trigger words, often in pairs, which immediately bring great moments to life. ‘The Thriller in Manila’, Muhammad Ali’s third fight against Joe Frazier, probably does it for boxing. Any bracketing of ‘Coe and Ovett’ brings back famous finishes for athletics fans. No true cricket supporter can hear mention of ‘Lock and Laker’ without recalling the Old Trafford Test when the last-named spinner took 19 wickets — and went home to his Australian-born wife to meet the puzzled inquiry: ‘Jim, did you do something good today?’
The yellow and russet leaves still on the trees beside the A11 to Newmarket last Saturday reminded me that two words in racing hold a special magic for me. The ‘Autumn Double’, the joint title given to two big Newmarket handicaps contested in early October, starts with the Cambridgeshire, run over one mile one furlong. A fortnight later comes the Cesarewitch, run over twice that distance, two miles two furlongs, and named in 1839 in honour of the then Russian Crown Prince or Tsarevich. The two races draw big entries of tough and proven horses racing towards the Flat season’s end with the form mostly out there for all to see. With big prices on offer for many they are tempting betting mediums and linking the winners of both races at multiplied odds can bring handsome profits.
The coupling seized my imagination early. The occasion when I pushed my way into an Oxford betting shop past a fringe of plastic streamers to write out my first Autumn Double wager with the stubby pencil provided remains in my mind’s eye as an essential rite of passage, along with my first legitimately ordered pint in a pub and the first time I was asked by a lady of the streets if I wanted to do business. (I did not and escaped around the corner in confusion. But, being barely 17 at the time and on a holiday-job income of less than £5 a week, I was also immensely flattered to be rated a potential customer. She must have been the motherly type.)
My quest, for the Autumn Double I hasten to add, has now continued for 40 years and I am still awaiting the big payout. I was excited early on when Ryan Price’s Dites took the Cambridgeshire in 1966 at 33–1. It meant that for £2 I had £68, more than two terms’ grant, going on to my Cesarewitch selection. It was placed but mine was only a win bet.
I was backing each way when in 1970 I had half up again as the 33–1 Scoria, prepared on the Wirral sands by Colin Crossley, took the Cesarewitch. But alas my Cambridgeshire selection had finished just out of the frame with a bookie who wasn’t paying on fourth place.
The nearest I have come yet was with Barry Hills’s pair in 1990 when Risen Moon took the Cambridgeshire and Further Flight finished second to Trainglot in the Cesarewitch. Barry now blames himself for making Steve Cauthen ride too confident a race on Further Flight. But the each-way odds had gone anyway for small punters like me — owner Robert Sangster having won £300,000 on Risen Moon.
This year it all went pear-shaped again. My two hopefuls for the first half of the Autumn Double were Michael Jarvis’s pair Almiqwaad and Alezayab. After some thought I had discarded Hughie Morrison’s Supaseus. My two flattered but finished down the field. Bravely ridden by Travis Block, Supaseus led all the way and won by a nose at 16–1. For what it is worth the two I had permed for the Cesarewitch were Ajaan and Swingkeel.
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