The turf
A sorry saga
Robin Oakley
The racing world is managing to keep its perspective on sex around the stables, even if the tabloids can't. At a recent Lam- bourn dinner party one racing figure was heard to inquire of another, 'I didn't sleep with my wife before we were married, did you?' only to receive the reply, 'I'm not quite sure, what was her maiden name?'
I am trying to regain my perspective on Lady Luck after three successive weeks of making what looked like sensible invest- ments and ending up posting cheques to my bookmaker. I am especially sore after receiving a hot tip from Epsom, backing the horse twice to no avail and then discov- ering it had won at 14-1 on the third outing on a day I was out of the country.
Last weekend continued the sorry saga. I had really fancied Paul Cole's Son of Snurge to win Ascot's two-miler and Richard Quinn rode a magnificent race on him. Forced to make the pace, he went off carefully, slowly turned the screw and pushed on coming into the strait. It was a perfect example of how to ride a race from in front, a clear demonstration of why Henry Cecil was so wise to choose him to replace Kieren Fallon for next season.
There had been significant support for David Elsworth's fine big gelding First Bal- lot, backed from 25-1 down to 16-1, but the last thing you want when trying to land a gamble is to find a determined `Quinnie' up against you. When apprentice Alan Daly came at him on First Ballot and head- ed him, Quinn had cannily kept enough in the tank to conjure one last effort out of his mount. With First Ballot too coming again they flashed past the line together.
Commentating, Willie Carson insisted that Son Of Snurge had won: 'I don't wear glasses for nothing.' But he hadn't allowed for the Curse of Oakley. From the photo First Ballot was called the winner by a short head and I was struggling again. Richard Quinn won't ride a better race on any winner this season. And I would love to see what First Ballot can do over obstacles in time.
I had been heading for Haydock at the weekend but, after fighting three rounds with a suspect Rogan Josh and losing, it had to be a rare day of telly racing. The one winner I did back was Roo, whom I had noted in Newbury's Supersprint, but the reason I cheered her home was not my insignificant reward at 6-4. It was the salute from jockey John Reid as he passed the post on his first winner since returning from a badly broken leg. There is no nicer man in the saddle and for me there are few jockeys more guaranteed to give a horse a ride. But racing memories are short and the freelance life can be hard even at John Reid's superior level. As any jockey will tell you there is nothing like a Saturday winner on television to boost your bookings.
But the real eye-catcher of the day was the good-looking Sadler's Wells colt Greek Dance, tipped here in 1998 as one of my ten for the season. He won two races and was then injured finishing fifth in the Derby. In two races this season, at Sandown and St Cloud, he had run decent- ly without making the frame. But in Hay- dock's Group Three Rose of Lancaster Stakes the four-year-old positively oozed class. Gary Stevens brought him up to the leader Prolix with contemptuous ease and went away the moment he chose to engage the after-burner, looking both ways behind him.
They have not hurried him and I remain convinced that Lord Weinstock and trainer Sir Michael Stoute have a top-class horse in Greek Dance. I would expect to see him next in a suitable Arc trial. And I hope he will run on for a season or two. If you would send a sprinter to David Nicholls and a filly (of the equine variety) to Henry Cecil then the best stable for an older horse to be aimed at the international races is surely that of Michael Stoute. Greek Dance might not be quite another Pilsudski or Singspiel. But here's hoping.
In case regular readers are wondering what has become of Rhapsody in Blue, so often the subject of musings here, then let me tell you that he is fit and thriving in the capable hands of Richard Ford, whose Tar- porley, Cheshire, yard was once the home of some famous gambles when owned by handicap specialist Eric Cousins. After a series of poor runs we Eternal Optimists finally decided that it was time to part com- pany with Rhaps and he went to the sales, where we expected somebody to buy him as a potential hunter.
Instead Richard Ford, who used to train point-to-pointers in the Lake District and his wife Carrie, last year's leading lady jump rider, took him on for new owners. Their small yard, with conditional Nathan Horrocks part of the team, has had over ten winners in their first season with the likes of Barley Meadow and Zamhareer, who've won three races apiece. Picking their targets carefully they are getting results and with Rhapsody in Blue kitted out with an Australian tongue strap for his first run for the new stable they advised the owners to back him each way. He finished third of 23, at 25-1. Needless to say, I wasn't on. But good luck to them, and to Rhaps, in his new surroundings.
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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