A Tale Of Two Meetings

Saturday 28th November is one of those racing days which really shows the contrasts in the sport, perfectly illustrated by two meetings, geographically only 61 miles apart but a world apart in terms of the racing on offer.



On the one hand we had day three of Newbury’s Winter Festival, the highlight being the Hennessy Gold Cup. On the other we had Towcester, where the highlight was a 3 mile novices’ hurdle.



By rights I should have been at Newbury, however I also knew the course itself and the press room in particular would have been heaving and being a grumpy old man I would have spent the entire afternoon moaning and complaining.



Towcester by contrast was very quiet, crowds comfortable, only three others in the press room. Still plenty of chances to complain though.



Course commentator Richard Hoiles and I had a good moan about race planning.



At Towcester there was a 3 mile handicap hurdle due off at 2:35, a race that should take around 5’ 49” in good conditions and today they were far from good. Yet the big race of the day, the Hennessy at Newbury was scheduled to start at 2:40.



We were both miffed we were going to potentially miss the start of the big race. Indeed we agreed that given a spreadsheet we could easily organise race times ourselves without overlaps.



In the end it was potentially even worse, as the Towcester hurdle took 6’ 33” to run. Luckily the Hennessy was late off.



Anyway back to the contrasts. Newbury had a really top class card and it wasn’t just the Hennessy – the undercard was also cracking.



Lough Derg put in his usual brave performance in the long distance hurdle but even his bravery could not hold off the simply scintillating performance of Big Bucks, who took the contest without even getting out of bottom gear.



The real superlatives, however, were saved for Denman, carrying 11 stone 12 lbs and giving between 12 and 26 pounds to his rivals on his seasonal debut. He defied top weight to take the competitive contest although supporters may have had a few flutters approaching the last as his stablemate What A Friend, carrying 22lbs less, looked to be a danger. However contrasting jumps sealed the contest with Denman putting in a good leap and What A Friend looking as though he wanted to run out.



Paul Nicholls has two brilliant champions in the shape of Kauto Star and Denman and I hope above all hopes they both arrive at Cheltenham on March 19th fully fit – if they do the hyperbole of two years ago will look like a maiden aunts’ afternoon tea.



Towcester by contrast had the most uncompetitive racing I have seen in a long time. Now Towcester is renowned for its exciting finishes but not today. The first three races were won by 23, 24 & 13 lengths respectively. The “closest” finish of the afternoon was 2½ lengths.



There was some good riding with conditional rider Bernie Wharfe winning the Velcro award after finishing up round Double Dash’s neck at the last and somehow managing to get back in the saddle to take third place.



It says a great deal about the standard of racing that the most memorable aspect of the day occurred in the parade ring before the final race.



Caroline Bailey’s Qayak had been feisty in the preliminaries, having two handlers. Suddenly he bucked broke free of his handlers and careered around the parade ring, scattering assorted connections.



He then demolished a nine foot section of the parade ring rail. Running loose again a racegoer had to run as it looked as though he was going to jump the far rail in the ring.



Instead he turned, charged across the ring in the direction of the main enclosure , sending racegoers scattering in all directions. Fortunately he did not jump the rail but hid did damage another section.



As he headed towards the far end of the ring his lass bravely stood in his way and luckily he stopped and was caught.



I had just left the parade ring when the incident happened and I have to say it was very frightening incident, which had the potential to have been very serious with potential for injury to horses, connections and the general public both inside and outside the parade ring and full credit to the lass.



It brings home just how dangerous the sport is.



As I said a day of contrasts but it is these contrasts which make our sport so exciting and interesting. It is the “bread and butter” meetings which make the big ones stand out even more.



It isn’t very often I agree with the BBC’s erstwhile Racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght but this afternoon he said “Yet another fabulous Saturday; truly this is a golden period for jump racing.”



Do you know what – he is spot on.