The turf
Leave it alone
Robin Oakley
Venerability does not always add charm and attraction. The American soci- ety hostess Alice Roosevelt Longworth in advanced old age used to sit on a sofa at parties with a cushion beside her embroi- dered with the invitation: 'If you don't have anything good to say about anyone come right over and sit next to me.' And as I gazed on Saturday at Doncaster's attractive bank of flowers spelling out that it was the 221st St Leger I was reminded that many think the final three-year-old Classic past its prime and are urging the rejuvenation of the race by opening it to older horses.
One can see the temptations in a year in which stars like the Stoute duo Singspiel and Pilsudski and Godolphin's Swain have added such lustre to the racing scene. But, even with the sad late withdrawal of the second favourite Stowaway, Saturday's race of ten runners provided a convincing argu- ment for keeping the St Leger as it is. There is no greater pleasure in racing than watching an honest horse win an honest contest, and Silver Patriarch's triumph after a hard-run race and a tussle through the penultimate furlong with the French challenger Vertical Speed offered precisely that spectacle. It was all the more pleasur- able in that Silver Patriarch is trained by the ever-courteous John Dunlop and owned by Peter Winfield, whose gracious and sporting response when Silver Patri- arch went down by the width of this column to Benny The Dip in the Derby was a model to winners and losers in any field. I wrote here after Silver Patriarch had won the Lingfield Derby trial in May look- ing as if he could have gone round again: `Whatever happens at Epsom Silver Patri- arch is a horse I would be keen to have on my side for the St Leger.' Fortunately I never changed my mind and when, in Glas- gow for the Scottish referendum, I found the Foreign Secretary supporting him in his Herald column I doubled my bet, on the basis that the way luck is running for this government the ground would have opened and swallowed any of the rest of the field who had the temerity to head his selection. It seemed an omen too when the weekend supplement I was reading on the Doncaster train declared: 'Fashion welcomes the clas- sic grey for autumn.'
The long-backed Silver Patriarch is not exactly a fashion plate but you could call him the epitome of the Classic grey. His gallant defeat at Epsom after coming from a long way back had been followed by a flop in the Irish Derby when he proved to be unwell. When he returned in the Great Voltigeur at York to be narrowly beaten by Stowaway he was short of a little work and looked a touch burly. A big horse who takes time to wind up, Silver Patriarch looked for a moment at Doncaster as though he was having trouble going with the pace. He is never an easy ride and Pat Eddery's arms were pumping from a long way out. But this is a horse of real stamina and boundless courage. When Eddery took him to the front, facing into a near gale- force wind, his mount responded in the style of a champion, first seeing off Vertical Speed and then going away. He is a real toughie: the more his rider asked of him, the more he gave.
With Benny The Dip having run some good races since the Derby against top- class opposition, this year's three-year-old form has been validated. What a joy that his sporting owner intends to keep Silver Patriarch in training next year.
What was also a pleasure to see was the way the knowledgeable Doncaster crowd cheered in the pilot too, as Pat Eddery rode his 4,000th winner in Britain. I swear I saw a tear in the eye of the normally undemonstrative rider (he would probably say it was the wind) as he declared that it had felt as good as riding his first winner. Only Lester Piggot and Sir Gordon Richards have ridden more and at 45 there seems to be no dimming of Eddery's com- petitive spirit or readiness to ride a seven- day week. The crowds may never love him the way they love Frankie Dettori but they respect him.
The rest of the season seems likely to be enlivened by the contest between Dettori and Kieren Fallon for the jockeys' champi- onship, and Fallon's riding of Russian Music on St Leger day, snatching victory on the line with a gut-busting driving finish, was a wonderful example of why he is the one top jockey showing a profit to a level stake. Fal- lon is still hungry, something of an outsider with a mission to prove himself. And he has allies, apart from the important job with the all-powerful Cecil stable. Gay Kelleway, trainer of Russian Music, told us after the race that she backed Fallon for the title at a healthy price some while ago, and she will be finding him all the winners she can.
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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