The turf
Enjoying success
Robin Oakley
If they were still casting Ealing Comedies they would not have to look further than Jean Broadhurst and her partner Matt Archer for the public image of a pair of racehorse owners. Nature had clearly been given a liquid hand with her platinum- blonde hairstyle. Thirty-five years the owner of a Birmingham iron foundry, she was dangling chunky gold Yves St Laurent earrings which, with an incautious swing of the head, could have laid out an unsuspect- ing neighbour. Sleek-haired Mr Archer was wearing a camel-hair coat and black brogues with tassels and carrying a cigar- case from which you could have launched torpedo tubes. Thank God, they still make them like that.
The Broadhurst/Archer horses used to be with Nigel Twiston-Davies. Now all nine are with Martin Pipe and this was their sec- ond winner from the two runners he has sent out for them. The trainer says he Is still learning about Upgrade, the winner two years ago of the Triumph Hurdle. As Jean Broadhurst said, he has lost his way a little since then. I recall that, before last year's Champion Hurdle, Chris Maude, who was riding Upgrade, was asked if his mount had any chance of beating Istabraq. `Only if he manages to kick him at the start,' he replied. A schooling session with McCoy seems to have worked wonders for his fencing. Now the owners are deter- mined to go back to Cheltenham with him. Pipe had Urban Hymn running in the first. One of my better sources had urged me weeks ago to watch for his hurdling debut and back him and so I trebled my usual bet. Two hurdles out I was cursing myself for breaking my normal habit and backing an odds-on shot at 8-11 but the amazing Tony McCoy kept driving and in the end he prevailed comfortably enough. `At least we know he stays now,' said the laconic Pipe. The horse battled on well when he met the rising ground. But I am not sure I would want to be one of the many with an ante-post voucher on him for the Triumph Hurdle. The question is whether he is just a touch below top class or whether he was still feeling the effects of being gelded recently. The big race of the day, The Agfa Dia- mond Chase, went to Trouble Ahead, trained by Kim Bailey and nicely ridden by Rupert Wakley. Most will be hoping that Kim Bailey's troubles are all behind him now he has set up his new complex at Pre- ston Capes. I had thought that the stable had been pretty quiet. In fact, assistant trainer Charlie Longsden told me that they've had 24 winners since the move from Lambourn. It is just that most of them have been in the less eye-catching races. The £19,000 Sandown prize was the biggest yet from the new quarters. It was good to see, incidentally, that in the race won by Upgrade Jimmy McCarthy was riding Good Vibes for Oliver Sher- wood. Previously the No. 2 jockey at Rhonehurst, McCarthy was deeply disap- pointed to be passed over when Jamie Osborne retired, with Oliver preferring to import David Casey from Ireland. The offer and acceptance of such rides, and the fact that McCarthy still rides schooling at Rhonehurst, is a sign that racing people can behave like grown-ups. Oliver Sher- wood had to do what he thought best for a classy stable. Jimmy McCarthy has done his best to prove the trainer made the wrong choice by riding winners for others. This season he scored an eye-catching win on Charlie Morlock's Native Charm at Newbury on Hennessy day, winning by three quarters of a length from the well- backed Honey Trader, ridden by Norman Williamson, after the other horse had appeared to be cantering over him. Per- haps it helped that he knew what he was up against. He's been friends with Williamson since he was 12 and they were on the pony- racing circuit together in Ireland. `The mare's been brilliant,' he said of Native Charm when I met him at Ascot recently, just before he rode her to victory over Monnaie Forte and he gave her another good ride on Saturday to finish second to the talented and lightly weighted Rockforce. Native Charm has been creep- ing up the handicap and Jimmy, who has won nine races on her, reckons she needs to step up a little in distance from the bare 2m to get a breathing space. With 50 winners last season and being well on target to match that this year, the likeable McCarthy is far from being a near- ly man. He says: 'I've a bit to prove to cer- tain people. I've never said much. I'll let my riding do the talking and people can make up their own minds.' If he can bring home the popular Native Charm at Chel- tenham there will be an especially warm cheer from a crowd that respects a jockey who never gives up.
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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