Another Year Over

Do you remember when we were children how time seemed to drag? It seemed like eons between Christmas’s and even school holidays seemed to last for ever. (Although there are many parents who still say school holidays drag on far too long)

Now, as I approach my twilight years, time just flies by. It seems only yesterday we were moving from the frozen desolation of December 2010 into the frozen desolation of January 2011, a period where we were seriously bereft of racing.

It is really a year ago that the entire Boxing Day program was wiped out?

I have this theory about “quickening” time as you age.

When you are 10 years old one year represents 10% of your entire life. When you reach 50 one year represents a mere 2% of your life so, relatively speaking, it is a much shorter period of time.

So will 2011 be a classic year for racing, despite some great equine performances it will probably be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

The 2011 renewal of the Grand National was not the best showcase for the sport, run in hot conditions we saw horses finishing exhausted and the winner being very much on the wrong end of his riders enthusiastic use of the whip. If that wasn’t bad enough viewers were “treated” to some appalling BBC camera work which showed two dead horses, one just covered by a sheet of tarpaulin.

We then had the controversial new whip rules. I have no intention of re-igniting the debate here, suffice to say I think it has been universally agreed, by both sides of the argument, that the timing of the implementation – just one week before British Champions Day was the biggest, of many, own goals by the BHA.

We also had the ridiculous, ill conceived,  tariff system from the Horseman’s Group, the incredulous delay to the issuing of the 2012 fixture list, the conclusion of a huge corruption investigation as well as innumerable smaller embarrassments.

Luckily we had some great equine starts to more than compensate for the ills delivered by racings administrators.

The brightest star in the racing firmament is undoubtedly Frankel.

Even those of us who prefer the “twig jumping” side of the sport cannot help but admire this exceptional beast. Unbeaten, he still seems to be able to win, even when impossible situations.

His victory in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket must rate as the most devastation demolition of a filed in a Classic ever. Even the, normally emotionless, tones of Ian Bartlett reflected what an awesome performance it was.

There are, as always, some detractors who say Frankel has only performed over a mile and to be a great horse he has to perform over further and show versatility.

I know I was embroiled in a debate as to whether Sea The Stars or Frankel was the greater horse.  In the end I narrowly sided with Sea The Stars simply because he has demonstrated a greater versatility in terms if distance. It was a close call.

In 2012 it seems connections will be willing to step Frankel up to 10 furlongs. If he continues to dominate at that distance I will willingly place him on top of the pile – I am really looking forward to seeing him again next season.

British Champion’s Day was heralded with strong views both for and against.

Fortunately for the organisers the racing Gods were smiling on the big day. Yes there was the controversy over a certain whip ban but even the most curmudgeonly person will agree the day was a success. The sun shone and the presence of a superstar, Frankel all helped to make the day a great one. I have to say it was only the second time I have seen a spontaneous round of applause as a flat horse entered a parade ring before a race. (The other, also as Ascot, was when Yeats ran his final Gold Cup).

Much as I love Ascot I do, however, think organisers Should consider alternating Champions Day between  Ascot and a northern course to give racegoers based in the north to see such high class racing.   

On the twig hoping side we saw the, possibly brief, emergence of the younger generation as Long Run took the delayed King George and The Gold Cup.

However the old guard were still to have a big say and the first indications actually came in The Gold Cup.

Although Long Run came home the deserved winner it was the continuing battle between Kauto Star and Denman which caught the imagination.

It was strangely ironic this was the first Gold Cup for a few years which had not been dominated by the Kauto / Denman clash in the build-up. Yet this race gave up the best battle between the two. It was the battle between Kauto Star and Denman which really did get the hearts racing that Friday afternoon in Gloucestershire.

The pair had mixed fortunes later in the year with Denman being retired and Kauto Star performing near Lazarus style performances.

Many, including myself, had called for Kauto Star to be retired after his seemingly poor performance in the delayed King George. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight I should have listened more closely to Lee McKenzie. When we were discussing the January King George he pointed out that Kautoi Star’s time for the race was within a going adjusted half second of the times he had recorded in all but one of his previous King George runs and that Long Run had recorded an exceptionally fast time.

The Betfair Chase was to be make or break for Kauto Star. As we all know he won that day, holding off a late challenge from Long Run.

So it was back to Kempton, with the King George back where it belongs on Boxing Day. Another clash between Kauto Star and Long Run, with the youngster sent off favourite.

Well we all know what happened next. The packed house at Kempton almost blew the impressive Kempton stand all the way to Heathrow as the Star really was the star and he recorded an unprecedented fifth King George win. How long before his statue is alongside that of Dessie beside the Kempton Parade ring.

There must be special mentions too for Big Bucks as he continues his domination of the staying division and for Carruthers, who was a great winner of the Hennessey for the wonderful, delightful but sadly ailing Lord Oaksey.

So a curates egg of a year but one where the equine heroes managed to salvage the poor efforts of the humans.

May I wish all my readers a Happy New Year and let us hope racing makes the front pages for all the right reasons in 2012.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have received quite a few e-mails following my last article about the commentator’s review, every single one agreeing with how poorly they are being treated and how badly the situation has been handled.

A few people have asked me about the so called “fifth man” as some reports had mentioned five commentators under review. The four names I mentioned in my article were already in the public domain, having been published in the Racing Post.  As far as I am aware the fifth name is not in the public domain which is why I made no mention of them.

You Are The Weakest Link .......

It isn’t very often the world of racecourse commentating makes the Racing Post news pages, usually it happens on one of those very rare occasions when some poor caller mis-identifies a runner and some mug in-running punter burns his fingers.

However the 2012 commentator’s rota seems to be steeped in controversy.

First of all it was announced all three of the 2011 “trainees” would have 15 days commentating in the first half of 2012, as a trial.

Now that does seem to be a departure with tradition as normally a yes / no decision is made at the end of the year.

Of the 2010 trainees, only the exceptionally good David Fitzgerald was given a place on the rota in 2011, despite there being three” vacancies” following the death of Doug Fraser and the “retirements” of Dave Smith and Graham Goode.   

However even more surprising is the news that four of the existing commentators are going to be on a six month reviews in the first half of 2012.

Now it’s clear the powers that be wanted to keep this news quiet but they did not count on veteran commentator Jim McGrath venting his spleen on the pages of the Racing Post.

With Jim blowing the gaff, as it were, it was inevitable the names of the other three would come to light and soon the names of Darren Owen, Iain MacKenzie and Derek Thompson were in the public domain.

Now those who have made this decision about reviewing the commentators have obviously had their cages rattled as it has been reported that they have warned any commentator talking to the press about the matter will have his contract terminated immediately. That seems rather Stalinist and it strikes me as being a tacit admission they have screwed up, which indeed they have.

Mindful of the threat of instant termination for the commentators concerned I am going to have to be circumspect in what I write here.

However it is my belief, and the belief of many of my press room colleagues, that the four commentators have been treated appallingly.

The manner and timing of their notification beggars belief. They were warned by letter they may be reviewed and were told they would be notified of the final decision by phone, just before Christmas as well. Merry Christmas lads!!!

They have been told their performance is being reviewed yet they have not been told what they have supposedly doing wrong or are not doing correctly or what is required to achieve the right standard. That surely cannot be right?

They are effectively saying, "We don't like what you are doing but we won't tell you what you are doing wrong."

All four are long serving members of the commentary team and for them to be treated in this way is an absolute disgrace, whether their performance justifies monitoring or not.

   

Jim McGrath as well as being a racecourse commentator is  BBC televisions lead commentator and I believe that role may not have helped his cause. I think it is universally accepted that when he came to the UK in the mid-eighties he was a breath of fresh air and his commentaries were excellent and refreshing.

He joined the BBC in 1993 as No 2 to the legendry Sir Peter O’Sullevan and it was no surprise he replaced Sir Peter as the senior BBC commentator.

However upon taking up the BBC role he stopped doing on-course commentating. Initially this wasn’t a major problem but as the BBC racing coverage diminished he was increasingly missing out on “match practice” as it were and eventually re-joined the  rota. However since his return he has never had the same edge to his calling as he had previously and, arguably, he has paid the price for not continually commentating over that period.

Derek Thompson is very much a Marmite ™ character yet he is very popular with the courses, especially when they hold family days. He is a standing dish at Newmarket’s Friday evening music race nights and is a regular caller at Yarmouth, Fakenham and Musselburgh amongst others.

He was summed up by Musselburgh chief executive Bill Farnworth, who told the Racing Post “Just as you have horses for courses you have commentators for courses and Tommo definitely has a place among the commentating team.

“Musselburgh and Derek have a close relationship and he seems to go down well with the crowd. He might not be the right person to call the Derby but for many of our days he is spot on."

Should Tommo be dropped from the commentators rota I have no doubt many courses will still use him as their on-course commentator to the exclusion of the "official" Racetech caller.

Indeed the courses may well be happier with that approach as Tommo would not be constrained by the Racetech rules (which he does already ignore on occasion and could possibly be the reason for him being "reviewed" - although that is just conjecture on my part.)

Before turning to Iain MacKenzie I should perhaps “declare an interest”.

It is no secret in the press room that Mr MacKenzie and I are not the best of buddies and are certainly not on one another’s Christmas Card list. I’m still not totally sure how the animosity started and it is unfortunate, but it’s one of those things.    

However, I have to say, whatever differences we may have had in the past his inclusion on the review list is as manifestly wrong as it is in the other cases.

He restricts his commentating to National Hunt only but I cannot think that is a reason for including him in the review.

He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the National Hunt scene and I don’t think there is another person with a greater knowledge of the point-to-point scene.  (He also, apparently, totally dislikes Christmas – so there is, at least, one thing we have in common).

I cannot recall any major cock-ups in his commentaries recently, although the term cock-up may possibly be a reason for his inclusion.  At a meeting at Folkestone earlier this year an unfortunate rider pulled up a circuit too soon and MacKenzie actually referred to it as a “cock-up” during commentary.

Personally I though it to be an honest summation but I wonder if that got him a black mark with the powers that be?

The fourth member of the list is the most bemusing to me.

The inclusion of Darren Owen has to be one of the most perverse decisions I have heard in a long time, even the BHA could not make such a crass, stupid decision.

Darren is a perfectly capable, technically competent, good, what I would call "safe" commentator. That his performance should be under any sort of review absolutely beggars belief.  

So why has this happened?

I think there is a big clue in the fixtures being allocated to the three new commentators. All three are being given commentary slots at ATR courses.

A strange decision but it underlines something I have heard through the grapevine that there is a great deal of political (no pun intended) horse trading going on between the ATR / SIS and RUK / Turf TV camps on the committee which appoints commentators.

I have been told RUK/Turf TV are unhappy with what they seen as a strong bias towards “ATR people” on the commentary rota.

If this is true and I have no reason to doubt my multiple sources, then it is a disgrace that Messer’s McGrath, Thompson, MacKenzie and Owen are being used as pawns in this particularly nasty “game”.       

You Don't Fully Appreciate It Until You No Longer Have It

It is a sad fact of life that you tend not to fully appreciate something until you no longer have it.

So it is with my (formerly) trusty car.

We had gone a long way together, when I purchased it as a one year old it had a mere 13,000 miles on the clock. Last month, some three years later, the clock rolled round to 126,000 miles, meaning we have travelled 113,000 miles together or, put another way, 4½ times round the world.   

If the cars computer is to be believed I averaged 48mph in the time I had the car, which equates to me spending some 2,300 driving the car – some people spend less time with their spouses.

You will note I used the expression “formerly trusty” and I am speaking in the past tense.

Yes, a fateful Sunday, just over two weeks ago, everything changed. Normally one press of the START button was all that was required for the car to burst into life. This time nothing, the engine turned over and over but would not fire into life.

Thinking back the car had been a little bit sluggish for a couple of weeks but I wasn’t overly concerned and it was about to have its 126,000 mile service.

So it was time to finally use the breakdown cover, the very same cover I question renewing every year because “I never use it”.

Now I am not one to give free advertising gratuitously but I must give a mention to Britannia Rescue. Within seven, yes SEVEN, minutes of my calling them out a mechanic arrived – I did not even have time to make myself a warming cup of tea.

I left him to it and 20 minutes later there was a knock on the door, “it’s not good news I’m afraid, No3 cylinder is full of oil. It looks like a major engine problem.”

Not the news one wants to hear when you have a house full of visitors from Australia and you are relying on the car to ferry them around and, as importantly, get them to the airport for their flight home a few days later.

To cut a long story short the car was recovered to the local main dealer.

Next morning, once the service department were in, I spoke to them and they wanted, at least, £225 just to investigate the problem.

It was decision time. It was clear I would see little, if any, change from a grand with this problem. I also knew the car would need a new set of rear brakes (£525) soon.  Add to that the upcoming service (£290), it still had the original exhaust which would not last forever and, finally and at the service after next it would require a new cam belt (£700).

So I decided not to spend good money after bad and I, reluctantly, decided to scrap the car. I managed to get a few hundred quid for it which, at least, covered the new set of tyres I had purchased less than a week earlier.

However I was left without a car, something of a problem when you spend your life zipping round the country attending race meetings.

The visitors were taken care of by them hiring a car, which had the advantage of them taking themselves off to Heathrow at 06:00 whilst I was able to go straight back to bed.

My first non-car race meeting was to Sandown Park on the Friday, in theory a relatively simple journey. A train to Clapham Junction followed by a train to Esher, which adjoins the course.

A simple plan, in theory, ruined, in practice, by the driver of the second train failing to stop at Esher.  I wasn’t the only passenger looking out in dismay as the railway fences flashed by outside the speeding train. Eventually the train stopped two stations down the line and a couple of hundred discontent racegoers alighted, charged across to the other platform to wait for a train back to Esher.

The next day it was Aintree, I managed to book some cheap rail tickets but the return journey was slightly convoluted, involving coming back via Wigan, where I was booked on the 19:12 train.

Wigan is an “interesting” place if you have a couple of hours to kill in the rain.

Its one redeeming feature is the fish and chips are incredibly cheap. I bought some fish and chips for £3.60, back home it would be £2.20 for the chips and £5.90 for the fish.

I had reserved a table seat on the train home thus giving me the chance to do some work on the journey home, that is one big advantage of travelling by train.

What I had not counted on was the train being full of football fans returning to London, who had decided the coach I was booked in would be ideal for them and they somehow seemed intent on singing as many foul, crude and offensive football song as they could.

Eventually the “train manager” a mere slip of a girl, probably in her twenties, came down and told them to stop singing offensive songs. After getting some abuse they did eventually quieten down.

However after she had left the ring-leader of the football supporters came through the carriage asking passengers if they were offended by the singing.

Typically even those who had been tut-tutting and moaning to one another meekly said to him “of course not.”

Then he came to me. “Excuse me sir are you offended by our singing?”

I replied, ”No I am not offended but you singing is totally inappropriate and out of place on a train where there are women and children.”

I was half expecting to get thumped but wasn’t that worried as I knew there was a CCTV camera in the carriage.

To my surprise he actually apologised to me. It was also interesting to note that once I had said something the other passengers he asked all agreed with me, whilst those who had earlier said nothing looked suitably shamefaced.

My third foray into racing by public transport was Huntingdon for Peterborough Cup day, surely it would be third time lucky.

By car Milton Keynes to Huntingdon is 39 miles and it takes about 40 minutes.

By public transport it is either a train to London then back out to Huntingdon or a bus to St Neots and a train to Huntingdon.

I opted for the latter.

Now driving it takes me about 25 mins to get to St Neots, by bus it takes 90 and they charge you £11.40 return for the privilege.

So it was off on the 8:25 bus and I arrived at St Neots station in time for the 10:13 to Huntingdon.

Nope – the 10:13 was showing delayed, until just before 10:30 when it changed to “cancelled”.

The next train due was the 10:39 but literally every minute I waited the expected arrival time increased by 2 minutes, until it was rolling past 11:00.

Of course the railway staff were of no real help . . . . in the space of 15 minutes four different excuses were given for the delay and when I finally found the station manager he admitted he had no idea when a train would arrive.

So it was back home and a wasted day.

My next planned foray into the world of public transport was last Saturday and Lingfield. The problem with that one was I would need to set off 15 mins before the first inspection.

One big advantage with Lingfield is its close proximity to Gatwick Airport, which means by monitoring the ATC Met broadcast you can get real time weather reports.

Before I retired to bed on Friday night I decided not to go as the temperatures had already dropped lower than forecast.

I’m glad I changed my mind as I would have been at Clapham Junction when the meeting was finally called off.

My next planned racing trip using public transport is Ascot on Friday – I see the forecast is for storms – I wonder what the travel Gods will have in store.

Friday should, however, be a more auspicious day as that is the day I will have transferred the money for a new car into my current account.

I really miss not having a car – you really do not fully appreciate having one until you have to do without.