The turf
Sheer class
Robin Oakley
We were lucky to be racing at all on Agfa Diamond Day at Sandown, the four previous jump meetings at the Esher course all having been lost to the weather. From the hole in my pocket when I squelched through the carpark mud at the end of the day, cheered only by the screaming engines and spinning wheels of those who had tried a shortcut and got stuck, it might have been better for me if last Saturday's card had been a fifth victim. A saver on Teaatraal in the last was my only winning bet all day.
But one horse made it a racing day I will not forget. Best Mate's victory in the novices chase was surely the foundation of a glittering career. We all knew he was good. Best Mate was one of the leading novice hurdlers last season and had already scored twice over fences. What we did not know was just how good he was. It was certainly a day to ask questions of any horse. Fields were finishing strung out like the washing on a multiple foster-mother's line, most of them hard put to it to clamber over the final obstacle at anything better than a walk. The clinging, sapping turf was testing heart and sinew. But then we saw Best Mate, ears pricked, change gear between the last two fences and simply float past Crocadee like an Aston Martin accelerating past a Skoda before going on to skip the last and win by a street.
It was the first time he had tackled two and a half miles. His trainer Henrietta Knight had been in two minds whether to risk him on such demanding going. But he came to the line with his ears pricked looking as if he could have gone round again. It was a performance of sheer class. Best Mate is a deserved 6-4 favourite for the Arkle, the novices championship at Cheltenham, and he is a real champion of the future in the making. Indeed his no-nonsense, feet-on-the-ground jockey Jim Culloty even risked comparing him to Arkle: 'It's not just the way he jumps and the ability he's got. It's his temperament and the way he carries himself with his head up so high and so proud.' Even his trainer, normally too nervous to watch her horses in running, admitted she had emerged from some bushes to watch the final stages. And she perhaps has always known what she had got.
When the horses were paraded at Henrietta Knight's open day two years ago, before he had even seen a racecourse, she told the visitors that Best Mate was her idea of the perfect racehorse. 'Everything about him connected. He was, even then, the perfect athlete: The horse, she said, is very laid back at home, adding, 'He seems to go on any ground, over any distance and either way round.'
But it is not a case of lucky Henrietta. It is a tribute to the Wantage trainer's judgment that she has him in her stable. She had been over to Ireland to Tom Costello's to buy Be My Manager, another of her potential stable stars. She saw Best Mate while she was there and decided that he so fulfilled her ideal of the perfect steeplechaser that she had to have him, even before she had found an owner. Now lucky Jim Lewis owns both Real Value and the potential two-mile champion Edredon Bleu.
Having been totally captivated myself by Real Value's performance, I am tortured by one recollection. Twice before in the last three seasons I have given my heart to a horse, captivated by the stamp of excellence. But the relentless galloper Teeton Mill had his career cut short by serious tendon injury. The athletic Gloria Victis had to be put down after a fall in last year's Gold Cup. I just pray that Best Mate stays sound enough to reach his full potential, whether he is the next Arlde or something short of that. Just make sure you get to a racecourse and see him run. There were several other performances to note at Sandown, although I would be disinclined to back a horse that runs again too soon after being put to the test on that ground.
Alan King's Gola Cher was impressive in winning the 2m 6f novices hurdle, but he won't be running at Cheltenham. They had thought of putting him to fences after Christmas but now he will probably just have one more run this season at Haydock before seeking to make a name for himself over the bigger obstacles next year. His trainer thinks he is one who could go a long, long way. The gutsiest performance in the mud came from Mick Ryan's The Extra Man, who led for much of the race in the 2m 6f Scoop6 Handicap Hurdle, was headed, and then came again after the last to beat Ballet-K by three quarters of a length with the pair of them out on their feet. The horse has been known to be a bit of a moody customer, needing an escort to see he gets off at the start, but he knows what he is doing at the business end of a race. As trainer's son John Ryan said, it was a cool and strong piece of riding by Robert 'Chocolate' Thornton, who committed from some way out. Thornton seemed to have lost his way a little after being a member of the David Nicholson team at Jackdaw's Castle. Now riding as first jockey to Kim Bailey he has had only limited opportunities with his retaining stable sending out few runners. But victory on The Extra Man was one of three he scored on the Sandown card. He won too on Gola Cher for King and on Paul Nicholls's second string Storm Damage. In form like this he is clearly worth snapping up for some spare rides at Cheltenham.
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