The turf
Oozing quality
Robin Oakley
Quite why John Reid has not been champion jockey several times I shall never understand. Willie Carson is all effort. I have seen him, by sheer perseverance, coax an animal into winning over a mile and a half that I wouldn't have backed to last that distance in a horse-box. But Willie has those rays, too, when his route to the finish can only be described as individualistic. The stewards have been known to use a harsher word. Pat Eddery is the answer when a whirling dervish finish is required to lift home a horse of doubtful resolve. Kieren Fallon, on his present form, is a man you would want astride the horse on which you had invested your last fiver in the world. But day in, day out, J. Reid is the most reassuring name I can see listed against a horse entrusted with the Oakley family housekeeping. At Sandown on Coral Eclipse Day, he confirmed it. The only trouble was that that was the day I chose to oppose his mounts in almost every race.
Doing his brown envelope job for the guests at the sponsors' usual excellent lunch, Charles Benson had advised us to back Gretel in the two-year-old opener and Lord High Admiral in the sprint handicap: `Like me he's getting on a bit but can still do it when the price is right.' (A touch of insensitivity there perhaps, since Lord High Admiral is a gelding.) John Reid rode both, winning on Gretel with a nicely timed last furlong effort and jumping out first in the sprint to turn it into a procession on Lord High Admiral. But it was in the big race that he excelled. For the second year running, Hailing led all the way to win the most thrilling of races by a neck. In a ride reminiscent of the old 'head waiter' Harry Wragg, Reid had dictated the pace he wanted and kept the horse comfortable while holding enough in reserve to fight off Bijou d'Inde in a pulsating finish. We will not see many better rides this season.
Nor will we see many better races. Shaamit's connections sadly decided against running in the Eclipse after last week'f column had been sent to the print- ers. Their privilege, but one that had plenty at Sandown on Saturday crying 'chicken' about the Derby winner's owner and train- er. But fortunately the connections to the season's other leading three-year-old, train- er Mark Johnston and owner Stuart Morri- son, proved they were made of sterner stuff in letting Bijou d'Inde take his chance. Chance it had to be, for the St James's Palace Stakes winner and 2,000 Guineas second was stepping up to ten furlongs for the first time and was unproven on the softer ground that the rain had brought. Johnston told us after the race that he had walked the course not once, but twice, and finally decided to run the horse when Ian Balding, who trained the great Mill Reef to win the race, had urged him to do so. His courage was rewarded with a truly gutsy performance from Bijou d'Inde which thrilled everybody who saw it and which will have race crowds flocking to York to' see the first two in the Coral Eclipse renew their rivalry in the Juddmonte Internation- al next month.
The Eclipse was the perfect answer to those who believe that you need 17 handi- cappers strung out in a line across the course to provide a thrilling race. Only seven contested the £250,000 prize (where were some of dime Owners who whinge about the poor returns available?) but there was quality oozing from every pore in the parade ring. The horses looked pretty good too.
The Aga Khan, who did not withdraw Valanour although the going had turned against him, reminded the race sponsors that, despite the field cutting up, they had still attracted the highest-rated horse in France, the highest-rated in Ireland and two of the top three rated horses in Eng- land. They gave us a race to treasure and, to put the achievement of the first two in perspective, remember that Pentire, who finished third, ran Lammtarra closer in his brief racing career than any other horse. During Saturday's racing I was making spirited efforts to pay back single-handed most of the sponsors' entertaining costs for the day. After six races I had not even sniffed a winner. But then I noted that Edan Heights, recommended weeks ago when this column visited Simon Dow's Epsom stable, was running in the last. Fan- cied at Kempton a while ago with Pat Eddery up, the gelding failed to come good, but with the able apprentice Alan Daly aboard it seemed worth one more chance. So he was, obliging at 16-1 on the books and 20-1 on the Tote. So don't turn your back copies into firelighters too quickly.
As for the week ahead, Lady Carla should win the Irish Oaks on Sunday. At Wimbledon I met the real Lady Carla, wife of Lady Thatcher's former foreign affairs private secretary Sir Charles Powell, after whom Wafic Said named the horse. She tells me the filly is in fine fettle, if a touch temperamental. Nature imitating art, per- haps? Sir Charles tells me that Lady Carla 'can be quite co-operative, given a couple of smacks on the backside and no carrots until she's done the business', leaving it diplomatically open which one he meant. Let us hope, just in case, that Sunday's jockey takes a firm line.
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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