A Great Week For Racing

Well that was quite a week wasn’t it?

I came into this year’s Royal Ascot expecting a somewhat unbalanced week with Frankel on day one, Black Caviar on day five and, frankly, very little in between – how wrong I was.

It turned out to be one of the best Royal Ascot meetings I can recall – even the weather was relatively kind.

Even without Frankel I always think day one of the meeting is the best, with three group one contests. Of course the presence of the best racehorse in the world made it even better and to add a thick layer of icing on an already rich cake he, arguably, put in his best performance ever.

He certainly laid to rest the ghost of his run in last year’s St James’s Palace Stakes and he stamped his authority as the best living racehorse and depending on whose ratings you choose to believe he is either be best or second best horse ever.

My only grouse about his run was it was the first race on the card and to use the old cliché, an impossible act to follow.

It was known some time in advance that Frankel would be heading to the Queen Anne Stakes – could Ascot not have changed the running order so The Queen Anne was the feature race at 15:45, so we would, at least, have had an even bigger build-up to the contest?

He certainly was a hard act to follow and the favourites in the Kings Stand and St James’s Palace Stakes all disappointed. Indeed in the St James’s Palace Stakes the winner was the aptly named Most Improved.

For me it was a profitable day in that I backed Excelebration to win in the “without Frankel” market and my bet of the day was Simenon in the Ascot Stakes – more on him later.

After Tuesday and Frankel Wednesday’s card was going to struggle to live up to the same billing and with four of the six races going to horses with double digit odds it was a day for the layers.

The big race was the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes where there were hopes for a Royal Winner in Jubilee year as the improved Carlton House, owned by The Queen was a well backed second favourite. However, not for the first time, the Ballydoyle team came along as the party poopers, although there can be few complaints as So You Think chose to finally show his full potential and he came home a very worthy winner.

After two days of sunshine there was an almost certain inevitability the weather would change for Ladies Day and it sure did, luckily the precipitation was showery as opposed to the forecast persistent variety, however it was blowing a howling gale, making life difficult for racegoers with hats and horses (without hats) alike.

For me it was to be a second losing day on the trot, with only a couple of placed bets.

On the course we saw some great performances. Princess Highway in the Ribblesdale and Energizer in the Tercentenary both put in scintillating late runs to win their respective contests, the former being one of the most eye-catching runs I’ve seen from a filly in a long time.

Thursday’s feature race was The Gold Cup, note not The Ascot Gold Cup, it’s the one Gold Cup race which doesn’t need a location descriptor.

Fame And Glory was sent off the odds-on favourite to retain the cup, looking to give the Ballydoyle team a sixth win in seven year – it wasn’t to be and their old “enemy” Godolphin claimed a 1-2 with Frankie Dettori on Colour Vision edging out, literally, Opinion Poll ridden by up and coming Mickael Barzalona.

The pair had a “coming together” in the final stages and in a televised Stewards Enquiry Dettori was given a fairly easytime by the stewards. Of course Barzalona wasn’t going to criticise his “team mate” but the Stewards could have been more probing. There was never any danger of Dettori losing the race but by not switching his whip through to his correct hand he was arguably guilty of careless riding and he should have picked up a two day ban. Instead the Stewards deemed the interference accidental and no action was taken.

For me Friday was the day I clawed the money back from the bookmakers as Newfangled, Estimate and, my banker of the week, Gatewood all obliged.

I was really impressed with Gatewood at Epsom who ran on late to win from an almost impossible position. He adopted the same tactics again here but with it being his first time on ground with the word soft appearing in the going description he didn’t seem to accelerate as well. He only got home by a neck but a winner is a winner.

For the rest of the world the big result was Estimate as she is owned by The Queen and it meant she had her 21^st winner at the Royal meeting but, more importantly, a winner in her Jubilee year. An almighty roar went out as Estimate hit the front and the commentary was drowned out as she came home five lengths clear.

By a strange quirk of fate the prize for that race was presented by The Duke Of Edinburgh – it’s a shame he didn’t give the winning owner a kiss.

Saturday, of course, was all about the one horse and a capacity crowd created a fantastic atmosphere, for me the best atmosphere I have even encountered at a flat meeting and I thought the atmosphere at last year’s Champions Day would not be beaten.

Of course we all know what happened and there is no point in dwelling on it to long here.

I will stick with what I wrote immediately after the race when I said “for me Black Caviar is still a great horse despite the best efforts of her rider to ruin her chances.”

It’s very easy, although justified, to be critical of Luke Nolen, however to his absolute credit he held his hands up and admitted his mistake and anyone who saw him in the aftermath could realise how upset he was at what happened. No private rollicking from a trainer or owner would be as harsh as Nolen was being on himself.

My biggest fear was what the reaction been had Black Caviar been beaten due to Nolen’s error – how would the crowd have reacted? Thankfully we never got to find out.

It is a great pity that Nolen’s ride overshadowed the race. At the end of the day she is still unbeaten, 22 from 22.

She may not have been 100% - she cannot tell us – but she still won, it wasn’t her fault she only won by a head.

The other shame of the final day is all the attention on Black Caviar detracted from a brilliant performance by Simenon who followed up his 2m 4f Ascot Stakes win on Tuesday with victory in the almost 2m 6f Queen Alexandra Stakes. Despite Ryan Moore failing to get a run against the rail and having to be switched he showed a great turn of foot to come home seven lengths clear.

That run was the icing on my punting cake as he obliged for me the second time in the week and coupled with winning runs from Sea Moon and Camborne gave me a good end to the week.

From a working perspective it was a hard week, I hardly got to see the runners in the parade ring and the media centre was rammed packed – even more than usual with all the international attention on the meeting with the two best horses in the world in attendance.

I hope Ascot do review how they deal with accrediting press at future Royal meetings, I know I am not the only one who is frustrated with the current system but that shouldn’t detract from what was a fantastic weeks racing.

It will soon be back to earth with a bump as my next scheduled racing is Worcester on Wednesday – one couldn’t ask for a bigger contrast after what has been a great week for racing.     

Not A Bowl Of Cherries

Since my last blog I’ve had a few people ask me about my comment regarding coverage of Royal Ascot, hopefully this will clarify things.

As the website has developed over the past five years so has the emphasis of the coverage. Initially it was a web site concentrating exclusively on reviews of racecourses and a beginners guide to racing.

Indeed the racecourse reviews are still and always will be an integral part of the site.

One area that has changed is the coverage of racing. Initially concentrating on race reports the emphasis has changed over the past years to also concentrate on paddock reporting as well, to this end the site also provides a Twitter feed, concentrating on paddock reports.

As well as the reporting the aim is to also add some colour to the meetings, particularly at the big festival meetings. At most meetings providing the paddock comments is relatively straightforward, it’s just a matter of popping down to the parade ring to see the runners and, if it is a particularly busy meeting and the crowds are ten deep, my press badge allows me access inside the paddock so I can still see the runners, although my preference is always to watch them from outside.

Now when it comes to the festivals it is a different matter. Due to the demand from “the media” there has to be some control and that I fully understand.

The number of people who say they are envious about me attending all these big meetings is huge, and yes it is a privilege to see all the great performers however it isn’t all a bed of roses.  

Basically there are five big Festivals in the UK and each have their own challenges. The first four all have separate arrangements in place for the media.

The year begins at Cheltenham. This meeting has a two class media set-up, the lucky ones get in the main press room, the remainder of us are in the temporary media centre in the Guinness Village.

Friday Crowds At Cheltenham

Only the chosen ones in the main press room have a vantage point from which to watch the racing with their own balcony, the remainder of us have to fight to find a vantage point to watch the racing – in reality the only option is to pay for a seat in the Guinness stand and that’s a furlong from the finish.

Regarding the parade ring now Cheltenham provide a viewing area for the press which is fine in theory but in practice is impractical as you have to fight your way through the crowds to get there, bad enough on the first three days and impossible on the Friday.

The media centre is well equipped but there is a big disadvantage with it being in the Guinness Village – the band.

Now I quite like Irish music but when you hear the band, located right outside the media centre, rehearsing at 10:00 every morning then playing their entire set four times a day every day it gets tiresome – especially when the marry ragegoers start stamping along on the metal infrastructure.    

Next up is the Grand National meeting in early April and one I cannot comment on. Aintree has a large press room /media centre but it isn’t big enough for all the demands. Unlike most of the  other Festivals Aintree don’t provide overspill areas for the media. One thing that is clear with Aintree is that if you are working for any online media outlet then you can forget getting any accreditation for the Grand National meeting. Actually that’s not quite true, you can have access to the course but no access to the media centre.

Now to provide coverage of a race meeting I carry a bag of equipment weighing around 25lbs. Now Aintree expect me to use this equipment to provide updates either sitting on a bench outside, if I can find one and it’s dry or, if it’s wet sitting on the floor of a bar and getting kicked and tripped over.

Needless to say I don’t bother with the Grand National meeting any more.

Early June brings The Derby at Epsom.  Now Epsom has a very small press room so a media centre is built for the meeting. Well-equipped and, usually, well located (this year it was inside the course which caused problems of its own as there were issues crossing the course). The press are given a viewing area in The Queen’s Stand (exempt from the strict dress rules). Now at Epsom access to the parade ring is severely restricted, however they do provide an easily accessible viewing area for all media, so paddock inspections are relatively easy.

All in all Epsom is the best festival to cover from a working perspective. There is no segregation within the media and everyone is treated equally and it works.

This brings us onto Ascot. No surprise there is segregation at Ascot, defined by the colour of your badge. The chosen ones have a red badge which allows access to the main press room on the second floor. Although not guaranteed holders of the red badges get access to the parade ring as well.

Us lesser mortals have the blue badge, it doesn’t mean we are disabled but we may as well be.  Blue badge holders are based in the media centre, or as we call it “the dungeon” a windowless,  cramped room in the bowels of the Grandstand.  The most frustrating part is just outside the media centre is a courtyard besides the parade ring but we are deemed unworthy to enter that hallowed ground because our badge is the wrong colour.         

The powers that be at Ascot have the view that blue badge holders have no need to see the runners in the parade ring or that if we do need to see them then we can stand with the crowd.

They are not in the real world – take day one tomorrow. By the time I have written my report on Frankel winning the Queen Anne and uploaded the report it will be around 14:50 – I am then supposed to go outside to a parade ring twelve deep with racegoers and carry out a proper paddock inspection – it ain’t going to work. That’s why there are unlikely to be any paddock updates this week. Very frustrating when there is a near empty courtyard just yards away.

Another interesting thing to note is with Ascot being such a large site there is a lot of walking involved – one of the days last year I wore a pedometer and it worked out I had walked six miles by the end of the day.

The final festival of the year shows why the other ones have special arrangements, namely Goodwood. At Glorious Goodwood there are no media restrictions – if you have an RCA press badge you can go in the press room and it doesn’t work. Despite being a large pressroom and Goodwood installing extra desks it does not work. Last time I tried it I arrived about four hours before racing and I ended up sitting on the floor bay the photocopier – my one and only day at Glorious Goodwood.

The other thing to bear in mind is the long hours, to get a place in the car park or media centre you need to be at the course early, any later than 10:00 am and you're in trouble. With the post race traffic it's often an hour after racing before you can think of getting away.  

So the media restrictions at the big meetings are a necessary evil, what does rankle however is how the places are divvied up. Many of those who automatically get the best badges are those who only seem to appear at the big meetings, indeed there are even some who turn up for the hospitality and don’t actually do any work. However those who attend the meetings throughout the year, come rain, come shine are effectively shunted out of the way.

It rankles, at Ascot for example, that I attend almost every meeting throughout the year, meetings most of the "glory boys" wouldn't be seen dead at, yet come the Royal meeting I'm not even allowed to stand in a courtyard to view the horses.

I do wish the courses would look at a more equitable system for the Festivals.

What happens is once you are allocated a colour or particular level then you are stuck with it, so if your needs change from when you first attended you are stuck with it and have to make do with your lot without complaint. On the other hand once you get the higher level access you have it for life, even if you no longer need the access given.        

Too Much Hyperbole

If you believe most of which you read in the press, there is only one horse running at Royal Ascot this year, the Australian superstar sprinter Black Caviar.

Whilst the appearance of an equine superstar, prepared to travel half way round the world, is undoubtedly welcome, the amount of column inches and broadcaster minutes assigned to the story is very much in the realms of hyperbole.

Interestingly, jockey Ryan Moore has said as much in his Betfair column today, as a consequence he is coming from of stick in the social media and racing forums.  Now, this is something you’re not hear me say every day but I do agree with Ryan Moore on this occasion and I think the criticism is undeserved, as he said “let the horse do the talking.”

The amount of coverage given to Black Caviar is ridiculous and in danger of becoming counterproductive, as it could well put people off.

Yes coverage of the great mare running at Royal Ascot is good for the sport, however this coverage needs to be measured and is currently in danger of running out of control.

I am very much looking forward to see her run in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes on Saturday but it needs to be remembered there are 29 other top class races over the week and they are increasingly becoming in danger of being ignored.

Indeed it seems to have been forgotten that the racecourse rated officially number one in the world, Frankel, is running in the opening contest of the meeting.  It could well be argued the opening Queen Anne stakes is the racing equivalent of a premature ejaculation, as with Frankel running the opening race of the meeting, there  is a danger of the meeting climaxing too soon.  I suppose the consolation of Black Caviar running on the Saturday is it gives us something very special to look forward to later in the meeting.

As I said, I think it is marvellous we attract these overseas runners but please, fellow hacks, try and keep some sense of perspective. 

Of course Ascot are delighted with all the publicity and it is no surprise that Saturday is already sold out,  let us all hope the capacity crowd will not be disappointed - I don’t think they will. For what it’s worth the only thing I can see beating Black Caviar is the great British weather and the ground being too soft.

Even though I have a preference for National Hunt racing, Royal Ascot is one of my favourite meetings of the year, it is certainly the one flat racing festival which has wall to wall, quality racing.

The meeting which encompasses Group One contests, with the best horses from around the world, alongside fiendishly impossible handicaps, is such there is something for everyone.

Granted many in the crowds are there simply to be seen, there are still many who simply come to watch top class horse racing.

From a working perspective is probably the hardest week of the year as it means seven am starts and if I am home for nine in the evening I’m happy.

Being at the plankton level of the racing journalism food chain I don’t get access to or anywhere near the parade ring and I have to take my chances with the huge crowds, which does make paddock inspection somewhat difficult - but I like a challenge.

I am fortunate that I am able to watch the racing from the balcony outside the main press room, which does afford the fantastic view of the action.

There is always a large contingent of overseas press at the Royal Meeting and I have a very strong suspicion this year, especially on the Saturday, there will be a large number of antipodean accents to be heard in the media centre - I wonder why?

There will be full coverage of the meeting for all five days on the web-site ORS Racing as well as Twitter feeds (time permitting) at @orsracing. 

Here’s to a great weeks racing and may the best horses win.