Grand old troupers
Robin Oakley
If you've got it, flaunt it' is a reasonable maxim for ladies on the racecourse. The gallantry of the racing community and the concentration on four-legged counterattractions ensure that trackside has traditionally been the safest place to dress provocatively. But, if you've got a bit too much of it, then discretion is the order of the day. The ungallant thought was prompted by Ladies' Day at Newbury, complete with competitions for the best hat, the bestshod human filly and the best-dressed couple. Rarely have I seen so much mutton masquerading as lamb, desperately in need of an exercise canter or two. And to answer those who would insist that I am in no shape to talk, I would counter that I don't drape myself in skimpy, semi-transparent pastels and stagger round on high-heeled shoes. Fortunately, the racing itself was sublime, so good that, although I had six bets and went down on every one of them, I loved every minute of the day. (I apologise, incidentally, to the three elegant ladies in search of a tip whom I met on the train. I gave them two each ways, Sister in Law at 7-1 and Royal Millennium at 16-1, and, it being that kind of day, they finished fourth and a squeezed-up fifth respectively.)
What was so enjoyable about the racing was the success of some really honest horses. I have always been addicted to the Tour de France cycle race and to me there is nothing more enjoyable than when one of the hard-working domestiques, who sweat most of the time as support staff to stars such as Lance Armstrong or Michel Indurain, breaks away from the peloton and scores a stage victory instead of the big names. The comparison may be a little harsh for Mubtaker, winner of the Group Two Stan James Geoffrey Freer Stakes, but I don't think his trainer Marcus Tregoning will resent it. Mubtaker is one of those utterly reliable animals who never runs a bad race and is so consistent on the gallops that he can be used as a dependable yardstick by which to measure the stable's stars, which in Tregoning's case particularly means Nayef. By the time you read this Nayef will have run in York's Juddmonte International, and whatever his fortunes in running Marcus knew last weekend that he had him cherry-ripe from his two latest gallops with Mubtaker, Mubtaker himself, who has been placed in every one of his 13 races, was tackling the extended 1m 5f distance for the first time and he did it really well, stretching out in the home straight and never looking like being caught by Henry Cecil's talented High Pitched. Cecil, whose snappy black and white shoes would certainly have won an open best-shod racegoer event, said that High Pitched simply would not let himself down on such firm ground. He'd been reluctant to race without softer going, but, assured that there was no jar in the ground, had felt 'you can't keep looking at them at home'.
In a sane world, Mubtaker would now go on from his Newbury success to a victory in the Irish St Leger. But so strong is the fashion these days for speed horses, so hefty is the prejudice against stayers, that he might well diminish rather than increase his stud value by adding victory in that Group One contest to his Group Two victory and connections are in two minds. 'From a commercial point of view, stayers aren't popular as stallions. Breeders just don't like it,' said Marcus. But like most serious racing men he loves the big Cup races and would like to have a few Mark Johnstonstyle stayers to run in them. And, as he points out, Mubtaker is no plodder; he picks up and quickens really impressively.
Some breeders are mad. The staying races are grand spectacles and racecourse executives should have noted the way not just the first two but the third horse home, Persian Punch, was cheered into the unsaddling enclosure. The knowledgeable Newbury crowd were aware that it was last-chance saloon for the grand old character. A third successive disappointing performance would have seen him headed for retirement, but much of the old zest was back and he will campaign on. Beaming owner Jeff Smith, who had Lochsong, is not averse to a good sprinter or two as well, and he looks to have a fine prospect for next year in Speed Cop, an impressive winner of the opening race for two-year-old fillies. She could be a star for Andrew Balding when he takes over from father Ian.
The affection which Marcus Tregoning exuded for Mubtaker was echoed by Richard Hannon's warm enthusiasm for another grand old trouper after he had provided the first two home in the Group 3 Stan James Hungerford Stakes. Hannon's exuberant praise was mostly heaped not on the winner Reel Buddy but the second horse. Umistim, so named by owner-breeder Sharon Joint when his Chaplinesque
front feet saw him led out unsold from the sale ring. Hannon, who thought Richard Hills was going to need a tin-opener to extricate Reel Buddy from trouble before he came through and held off Umistim by a head, said that four-year-old Reel Buddy was a good horse who had to have races run to suit, while the five-year-old runnerup .has the guts of a lion'. He insisted, 'I'm full of admiration for this old fellow ... You couldn't have a more honest and versatile horse in your stable.' There is a full brother to Umistim coming up in the sale ring later this year. After praise like that I doubt if he will be led out unsold. A wise owner will snap him up and name him Gotcha.
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