Cheering them on
Robin Oakley
Thank you, sir, my confidence was just beginning to go,' said the busker on the path to Ascot station as I dropped a very small contribution into his hat. After five seconds in six races I knew just how he felt and wished I had given more. It just wasn't my day, although Jolly Green Giant and Dean Gallagher did oblige at Warwick at 5-1.
Saturday was the day, though, for Mary Reveley and her brave mare Function Dream, who won the big race, the Victor Chandler Chase, from Oliver Sherwood's back-to-form Cenkos. The Saltburn trainer might have been forgiven if her confidence on southern courses was at a pretty low ebb. She turns out endless winners in the north, but for the past few seasons it has been as if her horses pick up something noxious in the air as they travel south of Watford Gap. Random Harvest, the favourite for the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham in 1997, was pulled up. So was Seven Towers a year later, when a heavily backed favourite for the Hennessy at Newbury. Evens favourite October Mist was a remote last in the Relkeel Hurdle at Cheltenham in December.
I don't know how they did the trick this time. Perhaps the travelling head lad took a couple of whippets in the horsebox or fed the mare a few scoops of mushy peas as they hit the M25. Perhaps conditional jockey Anthony Ross, himself having his first ride at Ascot, had told Function Dream they were at Newcastle. In fact the mare, bred by a priest and a pub-owner from Kildorrery, Co Cork, might well have believed she was in Ireland from the reception she and her pink-faced young jockey received after her victory. Most of the patrons of breeder Tom Walsh's Corner House Bar in Kildorrery were whooping, hollering and dancing jigs in the unsaddling enclosure. The 40-strong syndicate who line up behind the name of the Scart Stud sang, waved banners and wrapped Function Dream in the Irish flag.
You honestly do find yourself cheering Irish victories simply because they know so much better than anybody else how to celebrate them. It was Cheltenham at its hatthrowing, exuberant best brought to Ascot, and Ascot loved it. Once again, too, it showed how looks can deceive in racing. If Function Dream was at an equine dance hall she would probably have to wait for the Ladies Excuse Me to get on the floor. Tom Walsh, who breeds to sell, had only kept the mare because, being a plain looker, she had attracted offers of no more than £7,000 at the sales. But she certainly delivers on the racecourse and they could name their figure now. Grey Shot is a good deal more handsome than Function Dream and his success in the handicap steeplechase was a fine training accomplishment for Ian Balding, better known for his exploits on the flat.
Following a leg injury, Grey Shot had not seen a racecourse for 474 days since his only previous chase (and victory) at Exeter. He clouted the last, but still won by a comfortable eight lengths in the hands of Tony McCoy. His trainer said 'He's a star. I'm very excited and hope his leg's OK in the morning. Tony said he learned a lot. When he was right at his fences he jumped beautifully.' The Cathcart at Cheltenham is now a possibility for Grey Shot. And I counsel anybody disappointed by Dusk Duel's second to Exit To Wave in the novice chase not to despair over his Cheltenham prospects either. He was, after all, giving 161b to Paul Nicholls's chaser.
Another horse who looks to be earning himself a crack at Cheltenham is Concert Pianist, who led all the way in the novice hurdle to make it three wins in a row. You don't get too many Ascot winners trained in Godalming, but banker Peter Winkworth has what is by all accounts a fine set-up there, having expanded Colin Weedon's old yard and put in a new allweather gallop. The training is in the hands of Anton Pearson, who knows a thing or two, having spent 24 years as assistant to Josh Gifford (who regularly turns out Ascot victors still, as he did with Red Guard on Saturday). Having started in May, Anton is in the process of sorting out which to keep of the 30-odd horses, among whom he sees the Good Thyne gelding Irish Gold as a nice prospect.
The six-year-old Concert Pianist, whose regular partner has been Paul Flynn, was coolly ridden from the front by the talented amateur Ben Hitchcott, who is making a real name for himself this season. The horse runs ,r Jill Segal of Connaught Artists Management and was clearly out to do his best in the presence of the concert pianist after whom he was named, Ian Pearson, who kindly gave me a CD of his debut album for EMI. The friendly Pearson, a tall figure who must look really dashing sweeping back his tails on the concert stool, is described by friends as a racing fanatic. Those who had accompanied him to Fontwell recently said he tipped them all a 33-1 winner. He can play me that kind of sweet music any time he likes. There was nothing noticeably Irish about the Concert Pianist team but clearly they too know how to enjoy their racing.
Good luck to them.
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