The turf
Going for Gold
Robin Oakley
To everything there is a season. Shortly before the swankier yachts slip into their South of France moorings for the summer, the seafront bistros suddenly acquire a cluster of young ladies with underworked fingernails and undersized bikinis. When the waterholes dry up, vast herds of wilde- beest sniff the African air and lumber off to pastures new. As the leaves begin to turn, swallows wing it off to Morocco. And in November, those of us who have been sated by then with equine babies contesting five-furlong sprints stream off to Chel- tenham for the Mackeson Gold Cup and the psychological, as opposed to the calen- dar, start of the National Hunt season. Now, though, after 36 years and a change In the nation's stout-drinking habits, we have to become accustomed to calling it the Murphy's Gold Cup. It is a bit like being told that Nelson's Column will henceforth be known as Wellington's Col- umn. But God bless Whitbread anyway for their sponsorship. Even with the current building mayhem nothing much changes about Cheltenham itself. The home of the tip-tilted trilby and of women who socialise, shop and probably sleep in their sheepskins welcomed us as so often with a fog-shrouded Cleeve Hill and the traditional slow seepage of damp up through the soles. The focusing problems of some surrounding the parade ring for the opening hurdle indicated a fair few who had run a big race in the bar the night before. And I'll assume that the bookie who took my tenner on the second saying, `Hey, you're the BBC newsreader Michael Brunson, aren't you?' had been helped to his conclusion by a top-up pint or two of the sponsor's best.
But the Mackeson, sorry, Murphy's Gold Cup as ever proved a cracking race. Life is all about how you recover from your mis- takes. In a production of Lohengrin the singer Lauritz Melchior was required in the final scene to leap on to a giant swan and glide smoothly off the stage. Having mis- timed it one night, he turned to the audi- ence and inquired, 'Anybody know the time of the next swan?' There was no chance of such stylish recovery for the bonny long-striding Dublin Flyer in his brave effort to repeat last year's win by leading all the way. With a fencing error he might have been able to stick out an extra leg and recover. But when he slid on the slippery turf on the flat four furlongs from home he and poor Brendan Powell had no chance to put things right and he was out of the race.
Martin Pipe had told Richard Dunwoody not to show Challenger du Lac's face in front before the last fence, his owner con- firmed afterwards. Dunwoody got there perhaps a few strides too soon and when his fellow took the lead he began to die on him. With the desperately ridden Strong Promise ranging alongside him, the former champion jockey had to pull out every stop up the finishing hill to prevail in a photo- finish. It was a fine start to the season for Pipe, who has this season lost the services of stable jockey David Bridgwater and the horses of Darren Mercer and who suffers from an endless spate of niggling stories about his training methods. Those who call him hard on his horses should note that virtually his first concern after the race was with the well-being of Dublin Flyer. Effi- cient he is. Heartless he is not.
David Nicholson has worn his racing heart on his sleeve often enough for us all to know how big it is. And he has clearly been aware that the nigglers have been at his stable jockey Adrian Maguire, suggest- ing that after last season's spate of injuries he is not the man he was. With Tony McCoy in such unstoppable form this sea- son and with Nicholson employing such an outstanding understudy as Richard John- son at Jackdaw's Castle, Maguire has not been hitting the headlines lately. But it is only at this time of year that the Nicholson operation moves into top gear anyway. And the trainer was swift after Maguire's cool Saturday victory on Potter's Bay to under- line his total belief in his man. 'We all go through bad patches,' he said. 'Adrian's been through one but he's now full of con- fidence again.' Pointing out the split-sec- ond timing of Maguire's challenge on the odds-on favourite, he declared his belief in the rider's total class. 'A lot of people would have been tempted to press the but- ton too soon, including McCoy.' Maguire, he says, will still be champion jockey one day.
The day's other pointer came from Ayr where Gordon Richards's The Grey Monk became the first of this column's Eleven to Follow to run and win in the Sean Graham Chase, beating Jodami. Even with his 41b penalty, The Grey Monk looks thrown in for the Hennessy next week with only lOst 21b. But don't go for the ante-post prices. Richards warned that this is a horse who likes to get his toe in and that 'going on the fast side of good is not good ground'. He thinks more of the horse than the race and will not run him unless he gets the ground to suit. Remember that last year Richards scratched his other star grey One Man from the Hennessy only hours before the race as rain turned the ground into a bog.
If he does run, though, The Grey Monk looks an ideal Hennessy type. Richards reckons One Man has a touch more speed, but The Grey Monk is probably his superi- or in staying power. Since his Addington Boy, who finished third after slipping on the final bend at Cheltenham, might have given Challenger du Luc a real race for the Murphy's (there, you see, practice makes perfect) the Greystoke trainer is sitting pretty with a handful of aces for this sea- son's big events.
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