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."

A Veritable Banquet

We may be living in the age of technological change and advancement but racing is still at the mercy of Mother Nature, where even the purported “all weather” courses have fallen victim to the harsh winter conditions.

Of course it’s the turf racing which is suffering most of all and if it isn’t snow and frost throwing the racing program into disarray then it is standing water from the melting snow and subsequent heavy rain – racing doesn’t seem to have a chance in the battle with Mother Nature at the moment.

There was some respite at the weekend where, following a Herculean effort by ground-staff, Cheltenham was able to stage its Festival Trials Day. A meeting which was the brainchild of Edward Gillespie and one which has grown in significance year by year. This year all the cancellations helped the day even more as, with the dearth of racing, many of the big guns were not able to avoid one another.

The day before the meeting a friend of mine called the Cheltenham card “the feast after the famine” as, with due respect to Ayr who managed a mid-week turf meeting, us National Hunt Fans had been deprived of our staple diet.

As it turned out the feast description turned out to be somewhat understated, it wasn’t a feast at all, it turned out to be a veritable banquet.

I have to admit the day did not start well from a racing perspective. In the opener we saw a defeated odds-on shot in the shape of Irish Saint, although it has to be said his vanquisher Rolling Star was a worthy winner.

It was in the second race where it looked as though it was going to be “one of those afternoons to forget” and everything was going to go wrong. The Novices’ Chase went to the most unexpected winner, in the shape of Vino Griego, a win that left most observers speechless as the horse who has been called so many bad names in the past sluiced home in the testing conditions.

Were we going to be destined for an afternoon of shock results as the weather, once again, seemed determined to play havoc with our sport?

The answer was no as the card really picked up. Katenko confirmed his recent Sandown win was no fluke, even prompting trainer Venetia Williams to suggest he may have a go at the Gold Cup.

Potentially overshadowing that victory was the fall of Lucinda Russell’s rising star Bold Sir Brian who was beaten when falling at the last. It was one of those falls which makes your stomach knot as the horse was motionless on the turf and the screens were quickly erected.

It was one of those falls where you instinctively fear the worse but there was some hope as the screens remained up but the van which removes stricken horses remained resolutely where it was parked up.

Then the screens wobbled, came down and Bold Sir Brian had risen Lazarus like from the turf, hopefully to fight another day, with the crowd applauding as his handler took him back to the stables.

It lifted the atmosphere greatly even in the press room, usually the most cynical place on the racecourse there were smiles as the horse walked back.

Next up was the bonus race, the Victor Chandler Chase, postponed from a snowed over Ascot the previous week.

One of the things about racing is we are always looking for the “next big star” and the VC featured on in the shape of Sprinter Sacre. Nicky Henderson’s charge was an impressive winner of last years Arkle and has taken to chasing like a duck to water. Beating a high class Tingle Creek field last time out this was his run on heavy ground.

I suppose the sign of a good horse is he treats all conditions equally and he showed no problems with the testing conditions as he sluiced home to a 14 length victory, giving him an aggregate winning distance of 95 lengths in his seven chase runs. His “narrowest” victory being a “mere” six lengths.

The appreciative crowd knew they were watching a star and he was roared home.

The roar that greeted Sprinter Sacre was absolutely nothing compared to the roar which accompanied the finale of our next contest, the Argento Chase, considered a Gold Cup trial.

Imperial Commander is something of a fragile horse. Runner up to Kauto Star in the 2009 Betfair Chase at Haydock, a race which many will say produced the most epic finish ever and winner of the Gold Cup in 2010 he hasn’t been seen in a competitive race since pulling up in the 2011 renewal of national hunt racing Blue Riband.   

Yet despite a 680 day lay off he cleared the final fence of the Argento in front and it looked as though we were going to be in for a fairy-tale finish at the course Imperial Commander loves.

It’s an oft used cliché  but the roar from the crowd was deafening. Certainly nobody in the stands could hear Richard Hoiles describing the finish.

Maybe it was the cacophony of noise, maybe it was being off the course for 680 days, maybe it was the testing conditions, maybe a combination of all three but the Commender was tiring on the tough run-in and, as the form book will attest for time in memorial, he had no extra in the dying strides as Cape Tribulation edged past him to deny him a perfect return.

Indeed Imperial Commander looked so tired, for a brief moment I though his rider Paddy Brennan would jump off him straight away.

It was a brave performance and if the race has not taken too much out of him he must again be a serious contender for the big one in March.

It wasn’t just the horses who stole the limelight. Multiple champion jockey AP McCoy once again showed why he is the best we have ever seen with two totally contrasting victories.

It is often said McCoy will somehow get a horse home where others wouldn’t and At Fishers Cross was a perfect example. The New One is another of those touted about rising stars and he looked set to take the novices’ hurdle and without McCoy being around he may well have done.

However McCoy managed to get something extra out of At Fishers Cross and with a late final thrust he got his mount home by a neck.

By contrast he rode Mr Watson from the front in the final contest of the afternoon. By the final flight it looked as though Kings Lad was going to pull off a shock as he came upsides.

Some jockeys would have panicked, not McCoy, he knew exactly what he had under him and on the run-in he opened up the throttle a little bit more and won pulling away.

It was a sublime afternoons racing, it is what racing is all about.

 

It was “only” Festival Trials day, in truth it wasn’t “only” anything – it was an afternoons racing which would have been worthy of The Festival itself – those of us fortunate enough to be there were able to feast at the top table.

Let It Snow

Just in case you haven’t noticed, or you are reading this outside the UK, it’s been snowing outside.

Apparently racing is “suffering” as a result with meetings being abandoned left right and centre, although I fail to see how a meeting can be abandoned if it hasn’t actually started, as far as I am concerned unless the meeting has actually commenced it is CANCELLED.

Even the supposed “all weather” meetings have been called off due to, ahem, the weather. Those of you who follow my web site will know I stopped referring to it as “all weather” racing a few years ago and I refer to it as “artificial surface” racing. Surely it is time the racing authorities took the same approach?

I’m very tempted to find some advertising material extolling the virtues of all weather racing and passing it to the Advertising Standards Authority to see what they think of the use of the term.

It isn’t simply a matter of semantics, it makes racing look absolutely stupid, having a product it calls all weather racing, when it patently isn’t, is absurd.

Of course, some would argue that racing is a past master at making itself look stupid, so it should not be any great surprise.

Reading some of the racing forums you would think the loss of racing is the end of the word – well it isn’t – life will carry on. For those working in the industry it’s an annoyance but an occupational hazard which has to be accepted as a fact of life.   

For those compulsive gamblers who cannot survive without their betting fix it seems the bookmakers are going out of their way to accommodate them with betting available on real horseracing from such diverse locations as France, South Africa, United States and even Chile!!

Let’s face it, who in the UK, with any modicum of common sense, would want to bet on racing from Chile unless they have a serious gambling problem?

Then again judging by the sheer number of “races” being shown people are obviously happy to bet on cartoon racing otherwise there would not be such a proliferation of it in the betting shops.

Looking at one leading bookmakers website, between 12:45 and 13:30 this afternoon there are no fewer than 22 virtual horse races being shown, in other words one every two minutes!!!

Another bookmaker has virtual cycling, tennis, horse racing, greyhound racing, football and motor sports.

Why would anybody in the right mind want to bet on these events? Talk about “a fool and his money.”   

Yes it’s snowing but it isn’t the end of the world. It’s highly unlikely anyone is going to die because there isn’t any racing taking place.

I’m old enough to remember the winter of 1963, where racing was shut down for months yet the industry survived.

OK I wasn’t old enough to notice the lack of racing – but I remember the months of freezing.

Listening to the news this morning I am astounded at the number of schools across the country closed as a result of the snow.

I don’t recall schools being closed back in the winter of ’63. In those days we were not ferried to schools by car, indeed most families did not even own a car – my parents never had a car.

We had to walk to school and even my infant school was a two mile walk which we had to do in all weathers.

Nowadays the "precious little darlings" have to be ferried to school by car, quite often even less than half a mile, usually by mothers with complete disregard for traffic regulations.

Heaven forbid children, or even the parents come to that, should have to use their legs and actually walk somewhere.

No wonder there is an obesity crisis amongst the children of today - especially as they are also pumped full of burgers and other junk food.