An Emotional Festival

Racing is a sport, more than any other, that can tear at the emotions and the Cheltenham Festival 2013 certainly played the entire gamut of emotions.

From the highs of the scintillating destruction of a high class field by Sprinter Sacre to, just over 25 hours later, the gut wrenching numbness as jockey JT McNamara was airlifted to hospital.

The highs began on the opening day, where after the weather scare, Hurricane Fly regained the Champion Hurdle chased home by last years chanmpion.

Quevega

Then we had Quevega winning the Mare's hurdle for the fifth time. It was a run which reminded me of Sea The Stars winning the Arc. A horse emerging from a seemingly impossible position to run on to glory. The sort of run which makes the days spent watching Class 6 plodders all the more worthwhile.

On Thursday we saw a new World Hurdle champion as Solwhit took, or is that borrowed, Big Bucks crown.

Whilst on Friday we saw an epic Gold Cup, a Gold Cup worthy of its status, as Bobs Worth came home an impressive winner. It was a contest where it was impossible to call the winner until the very final stages. There may not have been no Kauto Star (although he looked superb as he led the parade), Imperial Commander or Denman but, being brutal, the race did not need them.

Our Conor

Friday also saw the next generation, both equine and human come to the fore, with the two coming together in the opener as Our Conor and young Bryan Cooper both made a striking impression in the opener. Our Conor, arguably, doing the second best demolition job of the week.

Sprinter Sacre

The consummate demolition job came from Sprinter Sacre who made it eight from eight with his imperious victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase leading to many dubbing him the Frankel of jump racing.

It wasn’t just the manner of his victory, it was the impressive way he cleared his fences, spring heeling his way to victory in a near faultless display of jumping.

Sizing Europe, a previous winner of the contest, is no mug, yet he was well and truly mugged by the Nicky Henderson trained winner and listening to the emotional post-race interviews with Henderson it was evident he is in awe of the horse.

On Thursday though, we saw the other side of our sport. On the equine front we lost the talented, promising Matuhi. Who paid the ultimate equine price in the Byrne Group Plate, despite vets battling for almost an hour to save him. Earlier in the afternoon had Davy Russell being taken to hospital with his punctured lung.

But when we though things couldn’t get much worse, the danger of this sport was no more firmly underlined by the horrific injury suffered by top amateur rider JT (John Thomas) McNamara. One moment he was riding Galaxy Rock to the first fence, the next he was prostrate on the turf with a broken neck.

There were not too many concerns in the crowd or media centre as the fence was by-passed on the second circuit but as time progressed the news began to spread.

When we heard an air ambulance had been called there was a realisation this was no ordinary fall and although there were some updates over the public address system it was only when contact was made with those more closely involved the full realisation of what had happened became apparent.

Eventually airlifted to hospital in an induced coma, he has undergone surgery and we all hope and pray the outcome is positive.

JT was certainly been to the forefront of the riders thoughts on Friday and there were no exuberant celebrations.

It must had been a difficult day for the riders for although JT McNamara is an amateur rider as a 37 year old he has been in the weighing room longer than most of the riders and the lieks of AP McCoy and Barry Geraghty have been friends with him for near on 20 years. Also in the back of their minds must has been the thought "there but the grace of God go I."

The accident has demonstrated how, in a split second, a jockey can one moment be in control of his mount and the next sustain a life threatening, life changing injury.

On a positive front the treatment given to both Matuhi and McNamara shows how seriously racing treats the welfare of its participants, both equine and human. They must be the only workers at the racecourse who hope they do spend the day doing nothing at all. Thankfully most days they have to do very little but on the days when they do have to do their job there are none better.

Seeing the air ambulance circling the course also reminded me of the excellent job they do. What is so wrong is all the air ambulances in this country rely solely on charitable donations and sponsorship. They do not receive any money from central Government.

The Injured Jockeys Fund rightly gets a huge amount of support from those in racing and those who follow the sport and the IJF will be closely involved in JT McNamara’s journey ahead.

However if you had a successful punting week at Cheltenham perhaps you would also like to give a few quid of your winnings to your local Air Ambulance service – it may be you, a love one or a friend who needs a big red or yellow helicopter one day in the future.

A Bad Festival Prep

It’s funny how you change in your ways as you advance in years.

There was a time when spontaneity was my middle name. Very often I would finish work on a Friday afternoon and go straight to a travel agent (yes that’s how long ago I’m talking about, the Internet hadn’t even been thought about in those days) and see what flights were available to any European destination that evening and within a few hours I would be jetting off to visit some random city for the weekend.

As I have “matured” I have become more organised and more of a planner, there is still some spontaneity but I like to be more organised.

For example I know, weather and unforeseen circumstances permitting, where and when I will be racing for the remainder of this year.

My Cheltenham “routine” has changed over the years. There was a time when I would begin my ante-post punting the previous December. Sometimes it would be spectacularly successful, my best ever being Voy Por Ustedes in the 2006 Arkle who I backed at all prices from December until the day of the race, giving me my biggest winner ever. For the rare successes it also turned out to be an expensive long term approach, not least due to the seemingly increasingly large number of multiple entries and it’s impossible to second guess plans. Consequently I no longer bet ante-post.    

My routine nowadays is not to start looking at Cheltenham until the weights announcement, usually the last Wednesday in February.

The first week in March I look at the early closing races then the week before I put three days aside to look at the remainder of the card.

That was my approach this year but it almost went completely wrong. The Championship races went fine but part two came off the rails.

I had put Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday aside to look at the non-championship races and finish my preparation for the festival, followed by a day racing in Carlisle on Thursday.

Monday morning I woke up to a rare mild, sunny day – such a relief after the depressing weather of the past few weeks. So lovely it was I decided to be spontaneous, I forgot the racing and decided to have a day at the seaside.

Unfortunately I live in one of those rare places in the UK which is miles from the coast, so it was almost three hours later I arrived in Cromer, looking forward to some lovely fresh crab. It wasn’t to be Cromer was closed, with only a handful of eateries open and then came the devastating news that the crab will not be “in season” until the end of the month.

So there was little else to do than walk and get some sea air. I do love the Great British Seaside but, having said that, there can also be nothing more depressing than a seaside resort off-season.

After Cromer it was a case of following the coast, through equally desolate, closed, resorts until Hunstanton at which point I gave up.

So I still had two days to finish off the Cheltenham prep. Granted it would be two long busy days but hard work never hurt anyone.

Tuesday was an early start, at the laptop by 07:00 but by the time I finished at 22:00 I had done all the non-handicaps and had done one handicap as well.

So Wednesday was just a matter of doing the fearsome handicaps and second guessing the trainers plans.

That’s when the fun started. I powered up the laptop to be greeted with a message telling me I had a hard drive fault and Windows was trying to repair the problem.

An hour later Windows told me it had done its best but there was still a potential problem. I soon found out what the problem was when I, unsuccessfully, attempted to open the software I use to run my website. It wasn’t playing.

In the immortal words of James Lovell “Houston we have a problem”. The next two hours was spent getting backups of all my critical files.

I needed a new laptop and fast. Now that was annoying as normally I am very fussy with my requirements and have my laptops custom made to my requirements but that takes time and with Cheltenham less than a week away, time was something I did not have on my side.

Whilst the backups were running I made a scouting mission to the dreaded PC World to see what they had in stock and built a shortlist of possible candidates.

Luckily I was still able to get online on the ailing laptop and I checked out the specs of the candidates online and I narrowed the choice down to two.

Back to PC World just after lunch to find, since I had been in the store earlier, they had sold the last remaining first choice laptop – typical as it was a bargain. So it was down to the second choice.

Here is an edited version of what ensued.

Me: I would like one of these laptops please.

Salesman: Fine. Would you like any software with it?

Me: No thank you.

Salesman: What about anti-virus?

Me: I already have anti-virus thank you.

Salesman: What anti-virus do you have?

Me: That’s irrelevant – I have anti-virus and I am not interested in the one you are selling.

He then went off to get the laptop but was gone for nearly ten minutes. I was about to walk out when he re-appeared.

I knew what was coming next.

Salesman: Would you like an extended warranty?

Me: no thank you.

Salesman: Why not?

Me: Because I don’t want one.

Salesman: What happens if it goes wrong?

Me: If it goes wrong in the first year it is covered by the manufacturer’s warranty, after that I can either repair it myself or get a replacement.

Twice more he asked me if I wanted a warranty after my final curt no I think he got the message.

He then scanned the laptop into the till.

Salesman: Can I have your name and address?

Me: Why?

Salesman: For the warranty.

Me: I’ve told you I don’t want a warranty. I am happy with the manufacturer’s warranty.

Salesman: But I need your name and address for the manufacturer’s warranty.

Me: No you don’t, all I need for the manufacturer’s warranty is a proof of purchase.

Salesman: If you don’t give me your name and address I cannot sell you the laptop.

Me: Why?

Salesman: because the law says you have to provide your name and address.

Me: I’m only legally obliged to provide my name and address if the laptop has a TV tuner which it doesn’t.

Let’s just say the conversation progressed to a level I cannot repeat in a family forum and needless to say I did not purchase the laptop from PC World and apologies to the person who does buy it if the salesman followed my advice as to where he could stick his laptop.

Luckily there is a Staples nearby and they had the exact same laptop but out of stock. However with a completely different level of customer service they said they could get one in for me by 16:00.

The laptop duly arrived and, guess what, when I paid for it there was no offer of an extended warranty and no requirement for me to provide my name and address ….. strange that.

By 22:00 I had a near working new laptop, although it still needed some work, so the trip to Carlisle had go but by mid-afternoon on Thursday I had a fully working laptop again …. but unfinished Cheltenham prep.

So I’m still going to Cheltenham without having assessing the handicaps in advance.

There is one consolation though – at least the laptop went into terminal decline the week before, rather than during, The Festival.

A final thought, isn’t it frightening just how much we depend on technology nowadays?

 

Clerk Of The Course and Darlan

I suppose after watching the news and seeing three feet of snowfall along the eastern seaboard of the United States it is rather churlish to begin complaining about the weather back here in the UK.

However I must confess I am beginning to get more than a little fed up with the ongoing weather we’re having this winter.

If it isn’t snowy and icy it’s persistent rain and even if the racing does survive the elements, the conditions are so testing the form book gets thrown out of the window.

Life is even more difficult for racings favourite whipping boys / girls, the Clerks Of The Course.

Sulekha Varma is Clerk at Huntingdon and Warwick and she would be forgiven thinking the weather Gods really have it in for her.

Having lost far too many meetings to the weather last year 2013 had started reasonably well but this week the weather twice caught her out. Racing at Huntingdon on Thursday looked to be fine until the temperatures decided to drop at the last minute forcing an unscheduled inspection at 10:00, which the course thankfully passed.

Two days later, at Warwick, Sulekha called a precautionary inspection for 10:00 due to a forecast of frost and fog. In the end neither materialised and the inspection was called off and racing given the go ahead.

A wet but snow free Warwick

Mother nature was only playing games though as within half an hour of the inspection being called off it began to snow. Initially it wasn’t a problem as the snow wasn’t settling but as time went on it began to settle. Again another impromptu inspection had to be called. Again luck was on Sulekha’s side and the meeting passed the inspection, with the caveat of there being no more significant precipitation as the ground was becoming saturated.

I know it is easy to criticise Clerks and let’s face it I’m one of the biggest critics of the rolling inspections, but they do have a difficult job at times.

As in all walks of life there are varying standards of Clerkship, some clerks you trust implicitly, a few have taken so many happy pills their optimism verges on the obsessive and their utterances are taken with a cellar full of salt.

I can think of one clerk who, even if the course was under three feet of water, would still manage to find one patch of “good” ground.

Sulkekha is definitely one of the clerks who falls into the first category so it’s a great sham she’s the one the weather Gods have chosen to play around with.

Any discussion about Clerks would be incomplete without giving a mention to Fakenham’s redoubtable David Hunter. His going reports are legendary amongst the racing media and have been known to include heartfelt pleas for the snow to go away, he’s even resorted to verse on occasion – at least with David you know even if the weather is going to win, there will be something in his going report to make you smile.

AP McCoy

The unfortunate loss of Darlan at Doncaster on Monday has caused a great deal of debate, some of it frankly nauseating to the extent that some are blaming AP McCoy for the accident.
McCoy is a very driven jockey with a strong will to win, however he is also an excellent horseman and the finest judge of what he has underneath him.

Yes he can somehow get horses home to win when they “shouldn’t” but he also knows when a horse he is riding has no more to offer and when that point is reached he does stop pushing the horse.

Whilst the loss of Darlan was, of course, sad it has been almost forgotten two other horsespaid the ultimate price the same day.

Sadly losing horses is something which goes with this sport of ours and it doesn't, indeed shouldn't, ever get any easier, when it does happens.
If I ever reached a stage where I wasn't moved by an equine fatality, no matter how good or bad the horse, then I know it would be time to walk away from the sport.
Darlan has hit the headlines because he was a horse with great potential and we will now never know how great he would be.
It's human nature that we concentrate on the "high profile" casualties.
Hundreds of people die in car crashes every day across Europe, most barely get a mention in the local rag, but if a Princess is killed in a Parisian car crash it makes headlines round the world. Why? because of who she is - it does not mean any of the other deaths in car crashes are any less poignant or tragic.
In the same way when a high profile horse gets killed it hits the headlines more than one known only by its connections and a few punters.
I also don't think constantly looking for someone or something to blame is the answer. These things happen.
Darlan's loss was upsetting but, frankly, I was a lot more upset by the loss of Function Times at Catterick on the Friday before in what was simply a freak accident in a bumper - her leg went as they turned for home and that night, in bed, every time I shut my eyes I could still see her leg dangling as they waited for the vet to arrive.
One thing to bear in mind is horses can be killed by accidents anywhere. At Leicester the week before last, a runner broke down and had to be put to sleep.
I mentioned to the judge, Di Clarke, that was one side of the sport I really dislike but her reply was very sensible, she said, "at least at the racecourse the vet will be will be straight away. I had a horse break a leg at home and had to keep hold of it for 45 minutes before the vet arrived."