Disappointment On The Downs

Well another Derby weekend comes and goes and I have to admit I’ve come away from the 2013 renewal feeling slightly flat and deflated.

It wasn’t all bad, of course, the horrible weather of the previous few days  finally relented and the sun shone on the Downs. The crowds were healthy, 120,000 on the big day itself but those large crowds bring inherent problems as an annoying minority seem to be unable to control themselves after a few drinks.

Friday didn’t get off to a good start as it finally saw the return of Frankie Dettori after serving a six month ban after being caught with traces of cocaine in his system after a drug test in France last September.

With the delays in the returning of his licence I was beginning to find the whole affair more than tiresome.

Of course when he finally did return the frenzy in certain parts of the media was frankly nauseating and one of the worse offenders was Channel Four.

You would think we were witnessing the return of some long lost hero – we weren’t.

Let’s get this straight Dettori was banned after taking a drug which it is a criminal offence to both possess and use. This is not the action of some immature youngster this is the action of a supposedly mature and responsible 42 year old man, father to five children – what a wonderful example to set to them.

He then moves the Dettori PR machine into overdrive claiming it was a moment of madness, a one of mistake. Towards the end of a ban he agrees to the softest of soft interviews with Clare Balding, who by her own admission has been a friend of his for years – so  no danger of a Paxmanesque interrogation there then?

Also, let's not forget Dettori has previous when it comes to cocaine .... he must be a very unlucky person to have only had the drug twice and to have been caught both times. 

Remember Dettori is a shrewd PR operator – switch on the TV cameras and he is the jolly chirpy Italian jockey, away from the cameras and the big meetings the story is different.

I have witnessed, first hand, the other side of Dettori and frankly I think he is an objectionable, obnoxious individual.

For me, after all the fuss about his return, I was actually two of his three mounts came home last.

One of the biggest smiles about his overblown return actually came courtesy of Channel Four.

Emma Spencer, clearly employed for her supposed good looks rather than her racing knowledge, interviewed Neil Callan the winner of Resurgent  and then proceeded to ask him about his “ride” in the next race on Sri Putra – a ride where he had been jocked off by one L Dettori.

He soon put Ms Spencer in her place but how ironic that one of the star presenters of Channel Four was unaware of the jockey change, when the broadcaster she is employed by were having the broadcasting version of an orgasm over Dettori’s return.      

Racing in Friday was good with the aptly named Talent winning The Oaks giving trainer Ralph Beckett an amazing 1-2 in the race, although not in the order expected and it gave Richard Hughes a second classic win in a few weeks.

Saturday dawned and the two feature races were starkly different.

In the Coronation Cup we had St Nicholas Abbey looking for an unprecedented third consecutive win.

With around £9.5k on offer for finishing fifth it was disappointing to see only five runners, especially when two of the five were simply in the race as pacemakers. With trainers complaining about the lack of prize money you would have thought more would have had a pop, even if it were for the decent place purse.

In the end the script worked out as planned with St Nicholas Abbey coming home, barely breaking sweat, followed home by Dunaden.

He can only beat what is put in front of him but with almost £5m in winnings he has been a credit to connections.

Before I turn to The Derby I must mention The Dash over the fastest five furlong course in the country.

Ryan Moore gave Duke of Firenze a sublime ride. I 9^th place and behind wall of horses a half-a-furlong from home, he weaved through rivals to go on and record a neck victory.

Even more impressive was the run of the runner-up, Smoothtalkinrascal, under  Daniel Tudhope, who was as far back as 14^th at the half furlong pole.

Well in the big race itself we had a well touted favourite in Dawn Approach. I have to admit he is a horse I have long admired and I really wanted him to do well in The Derby – as we now know it wasn’t to be.      

I think it's the worse Derby I can remember, a very messy race and I can't recall the last time there were six stewards inquiries into a single race.

Poor Kevin Manning didn't stand a chance in the race - Dawn Approach ran as if a pot of mustard had been shoved up his backside, he took off like a horse possessed and it would have been no surprise if Manning had not returned with arms six inches longer than when he had set out.

Full credit to Ballydoyle who employed perfect tactics, in not employing a pacesetter  they played on the perceived weaknesses of the favourite. Although looking at Dawn Approach I think he would probably have blown up whatever tactics had been employed.

French raider Ocovango probably would not have won but would have been possibly been placed were it not for him getting mullered twice. I wonder  would a jockey with more experience of Epsom have done better on him?

Mars, fancied in some areas, didn't get the best of runs either.

OK The Derby is always a rough race but this one just didn't seem right at all.

Did the "best" horse win - possibly but even that is open to debate.

It was a fantastic day for Ryan Moore though.

Moore often gets slated for “not having a personality” but I would rather have him ride a horse of mine than the coke snorting showman Dettori.   

Another Year Over

Well another year comes to an end and it is worrying, as one gets older, the years seem to pass by faster and faster.

Once again I have failed in my quest to visit every racecourse in the UK in a calendar year, I only managed to visit 53 different courses during the year.

Although the cause wasn’t helped this year by the appalling bad weather, missing several weeks racing due to illness and a few weeks due to the Olympic Games.

I cannot remember a year where there have been so many races lost to the weather throughout the year, if memory serves me correct March is the only month where we didn’t lose a meeting due to weather related incidents.

There have been plenty of racing highlights choose from this year and although I am, at heart, a National Hunt man the two days that really stand out were both at Ascot flat meetings.

The Saturday of Royal Ascot and the UK début of Black Caviar, the anticipation and expectation then the sheer tension of the race itself as her rider seemed to do his utmost to throw the race away and the long, palpable, almost eternal pause as we waited for Nick Bostock to call the result. Followed by the relief we were not going to witness a jockey lynching.

Then there was Champions Day and the dénouement to Frankel's career. Even that was not without drama with the testing conditions and the final decision about his participation not being made until mid-morning. I've never experienced an atmosphere like it on a racecourse and Frankel seemed to know he was the star and the centre of attention. 32,348 people there and almost every one wanting to see the one horse.

He was cheered out, cheered in the race and cheered home. Barely a dry eye in the house. Even wizened hacks had tears rolling down their cheeks as he won.

 It was also appropriate that in the race before Excelebration, for whom Frankel had been a nemesis, arguably ran the race of his life to deservedly win the QEII. 

It was the perfect racing day.

Of course it hasn’t been all roses in the racing world and this month we have seen the closure of two racecourses with both Folkestone and Hereford staging what may well be their final meetings, although there is the very slight hope racing may again take place again at one or even both venues.

The closure of racecourses is a very emotive issue. I confess with both Hereford and Folkestone I do not have any emotional attachment to and being an unapologetic, fully paid up, capitalist I can see the financial logic and business reasoning behind the closure of the courses.

However I can also fully understand the emotional responses to the closures. BBC Radio’s erstwhile racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght first went racing at Hereford and is a local lad. I can understand the bond that can exists with your first and / or local course – I feel the same way about Fontwell, almost to an obsessive degree.

I know I would fight tooth and nail if there was any suggestion of closing Fontwell, even if the economic case was compelling. So I would be hypocritical if I were to criticise those who fight to preserve Hereford and Folkestone.

What has irritated me though are those who suddenly jumped on a bandwagon to support Hereford and Folkestone.  There are still no official attendance figures available for either of the final meetings but, by all accounts, the courses were almost packed to the gunnels.

Where were these people when other meetings were taking place? Hereford often struggled to attract 1,000 racegoers, just 548 attended Folkestone’s meeting on 31^st January this year.

How many of the great and good in the racing media, quick to criticise the closures, actually turn up at the “smaller” courses on a regular basis?

Are the vast numbers turning up at the final meetings those who really care or are they the same rubberneckers who slow down to have a look when they encounter an accident whilst driving.

I have to confess I deliberately avoided the final meetings at both Hereford and Folkestone for that very reason. Indeed I would never knowingly go to a “final meeting” at any course because I know those final memories would not reflect the reality.

Note I said I wouldn’t knowingly go to a final meeting at a track, I have once attended a “final” meeting unknowingly.

It is quite ironic, knowing how much I dislike artificial surface racing, that I was at what turned out to be Great Leighs final meeting back in January 2009.

Of course none of us knew it at the time, it was only after racing had finished we found out.

In keeping with the incomplete facilities at the course there was no press room so John Holmes office used to double up as a “press room”. It wasn’t a big deal as there were only three of us working there that evening, two from the Racing Post and myself. It was only as we were packing up after a nondescript evenings racing that we were “tipped off” the course would be going into administration the following day.

It was a good way for a course to close as ones final memories were of a “normal” race meeting and not of a contrived wake.       

So 2012 has gone so what does 2013 hold?

We certainly have quite a few potential stars to look forward to in the jumping world, plus will Dawn Approach be the next big flat star?

I’ll have another attempt at doing every UK course in a calendar year, maybe my final attempt, as 2013 may be my final year racing.

I’m finding putting in the mileage in is getting increasingly difficult, not just the ever increasing fuel costs entailed in driving in excess of 30,000 miles a year but it is, frankly, knackering. I’m not a youngster anymore and my body is telling me to slow down and I’m paying the price for ignoring it.

I had planned to give up the racing at the end of 2015 but I now have some other, non-racing, writing projects on the horizon and, frankly, they are much more financially lucrative than writing about racing.

In addition one of the planned projects will need three months dedicated work.

So 2013 may well be my racing swansong, all the more reason to visit every course this year, as I have always said once I write my final racing report, I will walk away from the sport for good.

Happy New Year to you all may it bring all that you wish for.