Flat judgments
RACING CAPTAIN THREADNEEDLE
Useless: of little account: poor handicapper nowadays: cost 9,000 gns as a yearling, moder- ate form in four races: tailed off twice and refused to start in other outing: well beaten in handicaps at Bath and Wolverhampton : gelded after fourth outing and beat only two horses home in big fields for nurseries in October: disappointing: dead . . .
When you're tempted to buy a racehorse, consider these Rhadamanthine judgments on the racehorses that others before you have bought. Up and down the country these dismal creatures are sopping up money like sponges. For—and this is something that you should always remember through life—a bad race- horse has just as much appetite as a good one. As Mr Jorrocks remarked in the same connection : 'Confound all presents wot eat.' The judgments themselves racegoers will recognise as Timeform's. It is now twenty-two years since Mr Phil Bull, then a Yorkshire maths master, decided that his knowledge would be better applied on the course than in the classroom. Timeform was the result; and though a large team now prepares its ratings and comments, the style remains magisterial. 'We have always expressed ourselves' (reads the introduction to Timeform's Racehorses of 1968) 'in as critical a manner as possible, en- deavouring to say just as much, and no whit more than the facts seem to warrant. Where there are clear indications, and definite con- clusions can be drawn with fair certainty, we have drawn them: if it is a matter of proba- bility or possibility we have put it that way, being careful not to say the one when we mean the other; and where real conclusions are not to be drawn, we have been content to state the facts.' It could be the preface to Johnson's Dictionary.
Racehorses of 1968 (published by Portway Press at £4 lbs) lists. describes and assesses every horse which ran under Jockey Club rules, from Abbey Pride ('poor form in six races) to Zuccomo ('of little account)-761 pages of them. With this come a commentary on the year, honours lists, notes on continental, racing, the names of all trainers and jockeys with their telephone numbers (if you want to engage Lester Piggott, dial Newmarket 2584: he has had a disagreement with some stewards, so you'll probably find him at home), tables of horses entered for the Classics ...
Of particular interest is the account of Ribofilio, current favourite for the 2,000 Guineas and Derby, who reappears this week at Ascot Heath. Timeform agree with the Jockey Club handicapper in calling Ribofilio last year's best. English two year old, and add: 'For the first time since Gulf Stream in 1945, a colt bred to stay and be suited by a mile and a half headed the Two-Year-Old Free Handi- cap.' He may or may not be a stayer of ex- ceptional merit, but as a stayer he was much the best of his year.
For his Derby prospects, that .bodes well. Barring the French 'it is impossible at this stage to foresee anything troubling him at Epsom, let alone beating him, unless it's Blue Yonder.' That, given Timeform's rigour of expression, deserves to be closely read. But before you rush to take a short price in April aboUt the event of the' fourth of June, just Compare Ribo-
filio's rating with the French colt Yelapa's. (Blue Yonder, by the way, was lightly raced last year, and still inexperienced when finishing second in a sub-standard Observer Gold Cup:' 'he is the one we should most like to recom- mend as a long shot for the 1969 Derby.')
There's one figure in Racehorses of 1968 that speaks for itself: Vaguely Noble's rating of 140, implying that the colt was 71b better than the top weight in an average Free Handicap —that is, the best horse of a year. It puts him five pounds better than Sir Ivor, nine pounds better than Royal Palace (who seems harshly rated), and within two pounds of Ribot—often considered the best horse to race in Europe since the war.
For the third year running, the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner could be shown, by a clear line of form, to be two stone inferior to Arkle.
It has been a moderate National Hunt season,. relieved by the brilliance of the champion
hurdler, Persian War. And at least a horse with some pretensions to class—over his preferred distances, which are extreme—won the Grand National. What a freak the National has be- come! The richest race under NH rules, and the richest handicap under any rules, it is normally won these days by an out-and-out stayer far down the weights, and of corresponding de- merit. How long since a National winner went on to win any subsequent race at all?
But the whole Liverpool scene is depressing. Liverpool Corporation has ambitious plans for the course, and its negotiations with Mrs Top- ham are said to be far advanced. -But Aintree would not be the first institution to have been so run down that putting it right has ceased to be economic.
There may have been symbolism in Mrs Top- ham's Christmas card, depicting what she calls the 'Victorian horse ambulance' but is, in fact, the knacker's cart.
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