The turf
Grey matters
Robin Oakley
Being grey in politics doesn't bring much of an advantage. Ask the Tory party's pollsters. In racing it is a different matter. There are stars, superstars and grey super- stars. Would Airborne be recalled as the winner of an early post-war Derby if he had been a flashy chestnut? Would Nicolaus Silver ever have made a mark on the public consciousness as a bay?
The very fact that One Man, Gordon Richards' eight-year-old, was appearing at Sandown in the King George VI steeplechase, transferred from the can- celled card at Kempton on Boxing Day, was enough to jam the roads around Esher, ensuring that some of us coming from as nearby as Epsom missed the first two races.
The public partiality for spectacular greys was further confirmed with the cheer that rose from the stands as the great Desert Orchid himself was paraded before the race. David Nicholson's splendid auto- biography, The Duke, chronicles the frus- tration of those who train and run the others against such noticeable stars. There were times in the late Eighties, he records, when you could be forgiven for thinking that `Dessie' was the only horse in training. His Long Engagement twice beat Desert Orchid in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown — in 1987 and in 1989. 'But afterwards all I could hear was the crowd sympathising with "poor Dessie". They totally ignored the winner, and rushed to acclaim the runner-up. I could have crowned them. Desert Orchid did not have a divine right to win every time.'
No, he didn't. But what the public always appreciated about Desert Orchid was his sheer exuberance. Win or lose, you always got a performance from the bold jumping front runner. There was about him that touch of arrogance which always excites in a sporting performer. And from the way he held his head in the Sandown parade it is not extinguished yet.
Comparisons of One Man with Desert Orchid (who won four King Georges as well as a Gold Cup) are premature. We'll have to wait to see what he does at Chel- tenham. But having begun as a sceptic, I am at least in the process of being convert- ed. This horse won the Hennessy at six. He's tackled the tough Haydock fences and beaten Monsieur Le Cure without breaking sweat. And at Sandown he was taking on a top-class field, including the Cure once again, Gold Cup winner Master Oats, the Irish star Merry Gale and the (now possibly declining) Barton Bank.
Coming to the Pond fence on the first circuit, we know now, with some of the oth- ers already scrubbing like rural washer- women, the perky Richard Dunwoody apparently got a pretty terse reply when he said to Barton Bank's rider Adrian Maguire, 'Not going much of a gallop, are we?' At the downhill fence on the second circuit he took lengths in the air to go past Young Hustler and Merry Vale, whose challenge was soon extinguished, and his jumping along the railway fences in the back straight was the spring-heeled spec- tacular of old sporting prints.
In the end he won by 14 lengths from the consistent Monsieur Le Cure, with Master Oats another three back in third and Val d'Alene for another good measure, in fourth. It was a class performance. More than that, it was an eye-catchingly athletic performance with that touch of imperious- ness about it which offers real excitement to come. That is what had us packed 50 deep around the unsaddling enclosure and what had the jockeys on the placed horses giving the grey a rueful pat in tribute. They knew they'd been beaten by a real race- horse.
The BHB's handicapper, Christopher Mordaunt, has raised One Man from a handicap mark of 169 to 179, making him officially the best chaser in Britain. And Timeform has him on a mark only ever exceeded by Desert Orchid and Burrough Hill Lad. So now for Cheltenham, where the real questions will be asked over 3m 2f and with an even more uphill finish. I think he'll win the Gold Cup in anything except a bog. But I wouldn't take today's prices. As we get closer to Gold Cup Day, people will remember that, canny though he is, Gor- don Richards hasn't had a Festival winner for nine years and that One Man himself railed on the course in the Sun Alliance in 1994. So there may be better value nearer the time.
Meanwhile, the BHB have one awkward problem to sort out. Sponsorship is vital to the racing industry. The great races are linked, we hope inextricably, with names like Mackeson, Whitbread and Hennessy. But at Sandown there was controversy MODERN Vifilar lAsmtl. when Richard Dunwoody, One Man's rider, was handed a sash reading 'Winner' by George Ward, boss of Tripleprint, who'd sponsored the big race. The sash just happened to cover the 'Golden Bear' logo on the silks of One Man's owner John Hales.
Mr Ward, understandably, didn't want any 'ambush marketing' to capture the publicity his firm wanted for having spon- sored the big race. Mr Hales, equally understandably, wanted his publicity, part of which was denied when Richard Dun- woody, being interviewed on television, rolled his collar to show instead the name of Saab, who happen to sponsor him . . .
We haven't quite reached the stage of motor racing yet, when every visible inch of car and driver is plastered with logos. But racing is heading in that direction, and clear guidelines need to be worked out. Meanwhile, no doubt, in Gordon Richards' Cumberland yard, some enterprising stable lad is offering One Man manure for local rosebeds at rather more than the previous going rate . . .
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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