The turf
A hard time
Robin Oakley
There were as many people round the saddling enclosure before Sandown's Coral-Eclipse as you would find normally around the parade ring. Like me, most of them had come to pay homage to the Queen. Not the mere mortal with a handy tied cottage at the end of the Mall but Wafic Said's chestnut filly Bosra Sham, who rules the hearts of so many racegoers. As delicately as a picture restorer work- ing on a smoke-damaged Rembrandt, her trainer Henry Cecil washed out her mouth with a pink cloth and scratched her between the ears. The lady herself, before she resumed her imperious, head-erect stroll around the circle of her admirers, kicked out fastidiously with her white ankle socks as a fly or two had the temerity to buzz round her quarters. Her magnificent backside was turned towards us, ridged with muscle and gleaming like the patina on a cherished violin.
Heedless of the fact that only two fillies have won the Eclipse in its previous 99 years, we piled the money on to the odds- on favourite. Had not Bosra Sham convinc- ingly defeated Hailing, winner of the past two Eclipses, in last year's Champion Stakes? Had not John Gosden, trainer of Derby winner Benny The Dip, declared, `She is an Amazon of a filly, with a weight allowance. I don't think she is beatable'? The others, including the Breeders Cup turf international winner Pilsudski, looked to be running just for the place money. But though Benny The Dip made the running as expected, he did so at only a moderate pace. Pilsudski bided his time and then got first run at him while Bosra Sham's rider Kieren Fallon managed to find him- self in a traffic jam in a five-horse race. As the helicopter pictures demonstrated, he went for a gap on the inside which was, quite legitimately, closed down. He had to snatch up and switch to the outside and in what then became a helter-skelter sprint for the line it was too late for the big filly, who needs time to wind up to her top speed, to make up the ground on Pilsudski. A man talking through his pocket must always be treated with caution and though I do not normally back 4-7 shots I had done so heavily this time. But I am not one of the 'Get Fallon' brigade who reckon Bosra Sham's jockey never had the class to be Henry Cecil's first jockey. I urged read- ers to back him to become champion jock- ey this season (he currently leads the table). I have praised him before as one of the strongest riders I know in a finish. But has he yet developed the tactical racing brain he needs to complement his other skills? One racing sage I met after the Eclipse was ready to lay odds against Fallon still being Cecil's first jockey next season and the rider himself was pretty defensive in his early comments on Saturday, saying 'it would be typical of people to blame me'.
Well, yes, Kieren. Her trainer was con- tent he had Bosra Sham ready to run the race of her life. The jockey agrees he was on the best horse in the race while com- plaining there was no real gallop. But if the pace of the race was not suiting Bosra Sham, who likes to be covered up in a truly run contest, then it was up to her pilot to do something about it. We cannot be sure that Bosra Sham would have beaten Pilsud- ski in a better-run race. What we do know is that she was not given the chance of doing so. And after the traffic problems he has managed to encounter this season on Reams of Verse and Sleepytime, too, it is not surprising that questions are being asked about Kieren Fallon, because even when he wins he is giving Cecil's horses a harder race than they should have.
Since I wrote those words, Henry Cecil has himself made plain his displeasure at Fallon's riding and it seems unlikely that owner Wafic Said will persevere with the Warren Place jockey on his horses even if the trainer continues to give him the bene- fit of the doubt.
All that said, we should not detract from the triumph enjoyed by Pilsudski's connec- tions. When you have just picked up a £115,000 prize it is perhaps easier to be honest. But all praise to Michael Stoute for blaming himself for Pilsudski's defeat at Ascot in his previous race, saying that he had obviously not got the big, gross horse to his peak by then, All credit, too, to big race specialist Michael Kinane for his enterprising tactics in striking when he did. And let us not forget either what a cracker of a race it was from Benny The Dip.
On Benny The Dip, Willie Ryan once again rode a copy-book race, as he did in -the Derby. He had plotted the tactics with John Gosden, who thought that if he went too fast then 'Benny' would merely be set- • ting it up for the older horses. The irony is that Ryan, attached to Henry Cecil's stable, is not rated highly enough at Warren Place to ride the stable's top prospects except in their work.
While praise is being distributed, a healthy chunk too must go to Corals, spon- soring the Eclipse for the 22nd time. Book- makers are frequently accused of showing interest in sponsoring 20-runner plus handi- caps to help swell their satchels. Races like the Eclipse often cut up to quite small fields. So thank you, Corals, for having the courage to stick with quality rather than quantity.
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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