Alphabet SOUP
Robin Oakley
Tony Blair doesn't want the European Union to be a superstate. He merely wants it to be a superpower. And how were the leaders of this superpower conducting themselves at the latest Euro-summit? The European Food Authority, said Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, could not possibly be sited in Helsinki. It should be in Parma, home of the cured ham. 'Parma is synonymous with good cuisine,' he shouted. 'The Finns don't even know what prosciutto is.' Maybe not, but we all know an old ham when we see one. Back came summit host Guy Verhofstadt, the Harry Potterlookalike Belgian Prime Minister, who never uses three words when a dozen would do: 'The gastronomic attraction of a region is no argument for the allocation of an EU agency.' Next in was France's President Chirac with a really sophisticated suggestion. How about giving the Swedes a European agency for training models, he suggested, 'since you have such pretty women'. Don't call us. Jacques, we'll call you. and their mothers will make sure you don't call them.
Britain's contrasting ambition, also denied, was to be the home of Europe's police training college. Well, we all have our qualities. In the end there was so much squabbling that Verhofstadt wound up the summit with no deals done. Those of us forced to miss the weekend's horse-racing in order to observe the EU's inability to conclude its horse-trading were less than impressed and I was only half consoled to discover that nobody else had been able to see the racing at Cheltenham either because it was frosted off. It was a cruel blow to the Gloucestershire course, which had been denied the opportunity to run the 2001 Festival meeting by foot-and-mouth. Cheltenham immediately made sure that three of the feature races lost with Saturday's card were run elsewhere. But managing director Edward Gillespie would have loved to have had the flexibility, he told Alan Lee of the Times, to switch the meeting to Sunday instead. That is what would have happened in other sports. But racing is still such an ossified structure that that would have been impossible.
The EU leaders' squabbling had reminded me of General de Gaulle's lament: `How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?' But racing is much the same. You cannot take any step, it seems, without the agreement of the full alphabet soup. There's the RCA (the Racecourse Association), the ROA (the Racehorse Owners Association), the NTF (National Trainers Federation), the BHB (the British Horseracing Board), not to mention the Jockey Club, the various representatives of the betting industry and the JAGB (the Jockeys Association of Great Britain). Worthy bodies all of them, but their existence does tend to ensure that racing, living in a fast-moving world, can never do anything more swiftly than at the pace of a modest selling plater.
As we enter the New Year it seems an appropriate time to cast an eye over the fortunes so far of this column's Ten to Follow. So far the Curse of Oakley has afflicted them only mildly. Indeed, we are showing a healthy profit. The rest of the world, too, picked Henrietta Knight's Best Mate. He duly won the Haldon Gold Cup at Wincanton in scintillating style but only at odds of 13-8 on, and then, giving lumps of weight, he was squeezed into second place by Wahiba Sands at Ascot. Moral Support was only third to Arctic Camper in the Rehearsal Chase at Chepstow, but three miles is probably a little short for him now, and I still see him as a Grand National hope.
Montalcino has managed only a third and fifth place so far. But Venetia Williams has persevered at the very highest level level so far, taking on the likes of Baracouda and Landing Light. If she has that much confidence I am not giving up yet. Jolly Green Giant was a disappointment at Newbury when pulled up behind Cyfor Malta in the Pipe star's comeback race but has plenty of time to show his paces yet, and Spring Grove, with whom he had a real duel at Chepstow last season, is yet to make his reappearance. Hindiana jumped poorly on his reappearance at Down Royal in November and then finished down the field in the Hennessy. The French-bred is taking time to get accustomed to British fences hut should not be written off yet.
The profit has come from Alan King's Gola Cher, who was narrowly beaten at Cheltenham last time out but who scored at 9-2 at Chepstow in November. He probably would not have beaten Royal Auclair that day but for the latter's fall, yet still looks Cheltenham Festival-class. Ferdy Murphy's The Bajan Bandit has scored a couple of facile wins over hurdles and was set to take on Tarxien but for the Cheltenham frost. Noel Chance's Right To Reply showed talent but jumped rather too boldly in winning his novice chase at Warwick, backed down to 10-11. More homework is needed but he showed plenty of class.
The star of our team so far has been Tom George's Historic. After a first-time-out third to Boss Doyle and Spendid at Haydock he tipped up second time out at Cheltenham in a top-class stayers hurdle. He then came out again at Newbury against the Doumen chasing star First Gold and Spendid and stayed on well to beat them both at 10-1. He looked to have a bit in hand that day and Tom George has a really nice prospect here. I see every chance of an overall profit from the team in 2002.
Previous page
