The turf
Make or break
Robin Oakley
Congratulations to Lady Herries on her 66-1 victory in Australia's Caulfield Cup with Taufan's Melody. Sweet compensation for the problems she has had securing entry for her horse for the Melbourne Cup after a mix-up over qualifications. But it isn't only horses who have their entry problems Down Under. One visiting British politi- cian, infuriated by the lengthy airport queues and the interminable questioning of an immigration officer, got his own back when the official, tapping his pencil on his teeth, inquired, 'Any criminal convictions?' 'Good God, no,' he replied. 'I didn't realise they were still required.' I don't think I would have enjoyed the body search that probably provoked. Big fingers those Aussies.
Entry to Kempton for the Charisma Gold Cup proved rather easier. Most of the rest of the racing world was otherwise engaged at Newmarket. But, the way my luck was running, I felt that it was enough to have burdened Alborada with my wager for the Champion Stakes and that it was wiser to stay out of Suffolk for the day. (Thank you anyway, Sir Mark Prescott. And is it not time for an OBE at least for George Duffield after 28 impeccable years with one boss?) With Joe Tizzard partner- ing Linton Rocks in the big race, Roger Curtis's Dontleavethenest tacking handicap company for the first time and Paul Nicholls's Dines carrying top weight in the novices chase, it seemed a good day anyway to cast an eye over the new season's jump- ing talent.
My luck seemed to be continuing. Tony McCoy had a handful on Dontleavethenest as they came into the straight, only to top- ple over at the next with the race seemingly at his mercy. Don't miss him next time out. But I was there too for a chat with Jim Cul- loty, Henrietta Knight's talented stable jockey for whom this could be a make or break season. The name of Culloty went into many a notebook in January 1996 when the then amateur rider brought Full Of Oats to victory in the Tote National Chase at Warwick, giving his mount time to recover after two blunders and riding a stir- ring finish. With such keen judges as Jeff King and Tim Forster giving him rides, the young man from Killarney, who had begun in the West Country with point-to-point handler David Bloomfield and with Jackie Retter, then on something of a downward spiral, seemed destined for the top.
He was champion amateur in 1995-96 with 40 winners and the next season, having turned pro, he was just three winners behind Barry Fenton and David Walsh who shared the conditionals title with 35 apiece, both with many more rides. A badly broken ankle had kept Jim Culloty out of the sad- dle for nearly four months. Last season three broken collarbones restricted him to 28 winners. And with new kids on the block, Jim Culloty will need to make a real mark this season to show he is truly head- ing for the top.
He is tough enough and ambitious enough to do it. Henrietta Knight has some nice horses and her jockey has the invalu- able assistance of husband Terry Biddle- combe to offer him guidance. What, I asked Culloty, had been his best bit of advice from the ex-champion? 'Not to do what I did at the last there, firing the horse into it,' grinned the jockey, who'd just taken Wave Rock into second place in the juvenile hurdle. He acknowledges his debt to a man who reminds young jockeys that catapulting a horse into a fence is not the answer and that the way you get them away from the obstacles is equally important.
The level-headed Culloty acknowledges the difficulties of having had to come back after injury several times. When he was a leading amateur with the attraction of an allowance trainers were keen to offer him top-weighted quality horses. Now it is a question of establishing the virtuous circle of success breeding success. 'After a quiet spell you have to work to get it going. It's as much down to luck as anything. You can't get good rides unless you're riding winners and you need • winners in order to get good rides.'
He instanced Timmy Murphy as an example, saying that he was riding on top of his form and so picking up the good spare rides that came along. It proved shrewd advice. With Norman Williamson injured, Merrita Jones had snapped up Murphy to ride More Dash Than Cash in the next. Inevitably, I was too late to get my cash on and watched with some chagrin as the 9-2 More Dash Than Cash went away from them at the last. 'They went too quick for him early on and I was stuck for a gear,' said the jockey. 'But I gave him a breather and he sprinted away from them at the last.'
A jockey riding with the sort of confi- dence Timmy Murphy showed there has to be followed and though Mark Pitman's Bank Avenue was pounds out of the handi- cap in the Charisma Gold Cup an each-way seemed to make sense at 14-1. The unstop- pable Murphy brought Bank Avenue in the straight with a sweetly timed run. The pre- vious season, as for many in Lambourn, had been a struggle, but they have worked hard through the summer and Mark Pit- man's horses, he says, are jumping out of their skins at the moment. He was so full of bounce he could have jumped round the chase course without a mount. Good luck to him this season. And watch out, too, for young Liam Corcoran from Pitman junior's yard. Though Merrita Jones's horse proved too good for them, he rode a lovely waiting race on Wakeel.
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
Previous page
