Juliette's Weekly Frolic
Mill Reef paraded round the paddock, Geoff Lewis donned Mr Mellon's silks and the pair streaked along ten furlongs of springy New bury turf to collect the loudest cheers of an action-packed Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, a zoom-lens camera, perched unseen on the roof of the stands, silently recorded the scene. In the past films paying homage to great horses evolved round one animal and were mainly pieced together some time after their laurels had been won. But with both Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard (unlike Sir Ivor and Nijinsky) training on for a fourth year with glowing prospects of increasing their respective statures and stud fees, the film camera in 1972 has a unique opportunity to record turf history as it happens. These two established crowd-pullers are obviously the cornerstone of the enterprise, but the film-makers are wisely leaving their options open regarding their star. Mill Reef would currently be odds-on to fill the slot, but who can say that an as-yet, unloved three-year-old would be monopolising the headlines come October?
Kit Owens, who directed the successful 'Year of Sir Ivor,' has the same role here, Albert Finney has agreed to speak the script and Hugh McIlvanney to write it, and — perhaps best of all — our Derby hero's elusive owner, Mr Paul Mellon, is to allow filming to take place on his stud farm in Virginia, and, in lighter vein, has already provided an amusing film sequence by sending his Belmont-based horse dentist to Kingsclere to do ' the stable star's teeth.
Mill Reef apart, Newbury did such a splendid PR job for the Flat that even ardent 'chasing fanatics like myself had to admit that sleek, glossy thoroughbreds on bright, sunny Saturdays have a lot to recommend them. To my eyes, Newbury is the most perfect example of what racing is all about. There it is, in Berkshire training country, little more than an hour down the M4 from London, with the best of 'chasing and flat, and for post-racing revelry, enough delicious — if exorbitantly expensive — eating establishments to fill a largish chunk of the Good Food Guide. Engaged in the usual abortive attempts to improve my amateur status on the track, I was delighted to find two trainers highly entertained by the notion of my interviewing them. So: visited some stables (without, alas, meeting a horse), played darts in a Lambourne pub, and dined in Hungerford with a motley crew of racing folk that included an earl's son who doubled up as unpaid stable lad to Fred Winter.
So much for the cast at Newbury, and on to Sandown Park which weighs in on Saturday with Brigadier Gerard and the 'Whitbread' — not only the last major 'chase of the season but the last to be watched from the old stands. With its ranks swelled by horses rerouted from Aintree, the Whitbread Gold Cup field, as usual, mixes the best stayers of both ' National ' and 'Gold Cup' variety. Leap Frog is a definite starter from the latter stream, but has plenty to do with so much high-class opposition at the bottom of the handicap. In an ' impossible ' race, I like Clever Scot, Tantalum and The Ghost. The firstnamed found Ascot's Heinz Chase too short; the second, after a disappointing season, recaptured his 71 sparkle with a repeat victory in Worcester's Royal Porcelain 'Chase and, with a mere lOst 21b, could prove troublesome to 'the selection.' rhe biggest find of this season and most likely hero of next, The Ghost, is still very young to face the giants• he meets here, but, like last year's winner, Titus Oates (who, incidentally, carried 51b less and should again be a generous price), he proved in the Artillery Gold Cup and again when conceding 241b to Albury Heath that he and Sandown have a great thing going.
On Friday, I understand that Singing Bede is worth a few shillings in the Athlone Stakes.
He coasted home in a maiden two-year-old sprint over course and distance last October and earlier made a promising debut behind the smart Irishman, Maximilian. Astrocan, who won last year's Esher Cup.
Assets: E122, Outlay: E3 win on The Ghost, Singing Bede and Astrocan.
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