My favourite racecourse-bar story this year involved a towel-clad jockey who had enjoyed his game of golf so much that in the shower room he demonstrated the iron shot that had gained him an eagle. Hearing a clunk behind him he discovered that his backswing had connected forcibly with a dwarf, who was lying prone. ‘Oh, my God,’ he said, ‘I’m so sorry. How are you?’ ‘I’m not happy. I’m definitely not happy,’ said his groaning victim. ‘Oh, in that case which one are you?’ inquired our golfing friend, whose parents had clearly brought him up on Snow White.
Hopefully followers of this column are a little more chuffed than the golfing victim. As the Flat season closed, our Twelve to Follow showed a decent profit. On more than half the 41 occasions on which they graced a racecourse, they finished in the frame with 12 first places, four seconds and six thirds. The return to a £10 level win stake was a profit of more than £28.
Winners among the Twelve (two never made it to the racecourse) included Akeed Mofeed, Aljamaheer, Baccarat, Bated Breath, Melvin The Grate, Starboard and Mince. After a nice win at Cork, Akeed Mofeed was sold off to race in Hong Kong. Bated Breath was often unlucky, running a close second at Royal Ascot to Hong Kong sprinter Little Bridge, and so was Roger Varian’s Aljamaheer, going down by just a head and a neck in Goodwood’s Celebration Mile. Something clearly went wrong with Baccarat. He won first time out at 5–1 but never appeared again after fading tamely on his second outing. Our star was Roger Charlton’s Mince, who won five times including her 6–1 victory under international star Matthew Chadwick in Ascot’s Shergar Cup.
Dragging down the average were Richard Fahey’s Mirio Bianco, who ran six times without winning, and William Haggas’s Harris Tweed, who turned out on five occasions without scoring. Since Fahey is one of the sharpest operators in the north, I went for the wrong one there (although since Mirio Bianco finished third on one occasion at 50–1 each-way backers would have got their money back for the season) but I make no apologies for Harris Tweed. William Haggas is both one of the nicest human beings in racing and a cracking good trainer and Harris Tweed is a really honest horse. He ran his heart out every time but sadly often succeeded only in setting up the race for a faster finisher.
It has been a momentous Flat season. We all relished the Frankel phenomenon. We were privileged to see Australia’s Black Caviar on our soil when Ascot tempted her over and at last we have been able to celebrate the talents of Richard Hughes, the best jockey riding in the world today, as Britain’s champion. No disrespect to those like Seb Sanders and Paul Hanagan who have won the title in recent years, but as his intuitive column in the Racing Post reveals Richard Hughes is in another class, even if it has needed Alcoholics Anonymous to help him realise it.
This was also the season that saw an end to the riding careers of both the Hills twins, Richard and Michael, to the training career of John Dunlop and to one of the most successful long-term associations in racing, that between Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin empire and the ultimate big-race jockey Frankie Dettori.
Richard and Michael were never high-profile or fashionable, thanks partly to their upbringing by trainer-father Barry. In childhood a string of gymkhana rosettes never earned them more than a grunt. Low-key they may have been in consequence, but both were ornaments to racing, professional to their fingertips. If every jockey rode like them there would never ever be a question about the integrity of the sport.
The fact that John Dunlop’s business went bust as he quit after a stellar Classic-winning career made one wonder how close to red the needle is flickering in many other ostensibly profitable yards. Where are staff in his area going to find new jobs in racing? But on John’s abilities I will simply quote an astute fellow trainer who told me once, ‘I go to the sales and buy cast-offs from many a blueblood yard. But I don’t buy horses that John Dunlop has handled. There’s never an ounce of improvement to be found from them.’
As for Frankie, currently facing wider problems, I like to think that Sheikh Mohammed, a proud man himself, would understand how hard it was for Dettori to see the youth brigade in the form of Mickael Barzalona and Silvestre de Souza brought into Godolphin and taking rides he would have expected. Yes, Godolphin’s team needed to make provision for a Frankie-less future. But old lions, even middle-aged lions, have their pride. Frankie isn’t perfect. But he remains a supreme big-race jockey and, disciplinary procedures completed, he will prove it again for other trainers. I’m running out of space here but I will try to prove in the next Turf column that I can find jumping winners too.
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