The turf | 25 April 2019

There are people I know who regard racing as a cold-hearted business that exploits animals and achieves little besides putting money into bookmakers’ pockets. Sadly for them they will never ever see the passion, subtlety or teamwork that goes into persuading fragile, sensitive or complicated horses to produce their best; the almost parental pride that trainers can’t help but show when an objective is achieved by one of the specially talented ones in their care.

We witnessed it in the winning enclosure a few times this past winter when Warren Greatrex’s zestful, bold-jumping mare La Bague Au Roi was winning her races. And it was obvious, too, at Kempton on Saturday when Agrotera, owned by breeder Bjorn Nielsen, won the Listed Snowdrop Fillies’ Stakes in the silk-smooth hands of the veteran jockey Gerald Mosse. In a thinly populated winners’ enclosure I was intrigued to hear Gerald tell trainer Ed Walker approvingly in his debriefing: ‘She was controllable in the mind.’ As chuffed as a parent whose child has just collected the victor ludorum in the school sports day, her trainer explained that the fine big Mastercraftsman filly had been physically and mentally knocked back by the effort involved in her Royal Ascot success last year and had never shown the same form afterwards. ‘It’s so nice to get her back,’ he explained. ‘She’s very well bred and she’s got a huge engine but she really is difficult to train. For her to come here and behave like that is massive, a real credit to all the guys at home.’

To get Agrotera relaxed enough to show her best on the track she had popped briefly into the parade ring at Kempton, then headed off early to the start with her equine companion Dannios, the now 13-year-old ‘pony’ who had himself won five races for Ed at the start of his career.