The turf
Flat out
Robin Oakley
Cup Final days produce some funny old racecards and Newbury was no excep- tion on Saturday. There were more maid- ens contesting the races than you would encounter on a convent open day and find- ing winners was about as easy as encoun- tering civil servants in Whitehall these days who will admit to having voted Tory.
Bookmakers always seem to hear things first. I recall Jack Leach's story of the wartime doodlebug over Windsor races. As it cut out, champion jockey Gordon Richards was flattened by an 18-stone trainer who landed on top of him as they both dived for the flower bed in the centre of the paddock. But that was nothing to the scene in the betting ring. As another jockey reported, 'You should have seen those bookmakers throw themselves to the ground. There wasn't a punter in the first fifty!'
With their usual extra sensory perception the layers had heard all about the first of Peter Chapple-Hyam's top team of juve- Mies to hit the racecourse and Dance Trick showed both speed and courage, coming back after being headed to take the King- wood Stud Maiden Stakes in the last stride. She will be better suited by seven furlongs and it will be worth investing on Chapple- Hyam youngsters who figure in the market from now on.
For me it was another example of the enduring quality of her pilot John Reid. He had already demonstrated his ability in the first by settling John Dunlop's Garuda, a hard puller on his first time out at New- market. He swept into the lead more than three furlongs out, was headed by Scatter- gun, but had left enough in the tank to come again and take it inside the last, with the pair of them 12 lengths clear of the rest. Both should win more races. I had liked the look of Geoff Lewis's Life of Riley and backed the 33-1 shot each way on the Tote. I was somewhat miffed to get less than 4-1 a place when the chestnut ran on decently for third place. Clearly some- body had been expecting a showing and he too is likely to be worth an interest with this experience behind him.
Looking for the winner of the Winch- ester Handicap I had just noted the useful form of Richard Hannon's entrant when I was poked in the eye by the extended brim of a white and navy creation which the female in front of me had brought to the races in case there was any danger of her seeing what was going on. Since the Han- non animal was called Sharp Hat, and I am always moaning about coincidence backers, I immediately discarded it from my calcula- tions. Naturally, Sharp Hat then won at 4-1 by a comfortable three lengths. In the unsaddling enclosure Hannon was cheery about the prospects of Michael Stoute's Patriot Games, running later at Lingfield's evening meeting. Unfortunately he also told a colleague that he fancied Mick Channon's Danegold in the next. I invested on Danegold, only to watch it finish plumb last of the 22 runners. At that point I shut up shop and used the rest of my betting money to buy a guide to handicapping. Naturally, I then opened my Sunday Sport- ing Life to discover that Patriot Games had won nicely, in the silks of the MCC presi- dent Cohn Ingleby-Mackenzie.
At least that was a victory that I could never begrudge. True or false, I have always loved the story of Ingleby-Macken- zie's return from a less than successful overseas tour with Hampshire's cricketers. He was allegedly quizzed by the county's cricket committee, one of whom insisted that the failure had been down to too much wine, women and song, and inquired what Ingleby-Mackenzie intended to do about that. 'Cut down on the song next time, I guess,' the legend is said to have replied.
I would like to have heard, though, what excuses former champion jockey Frankie Dettori produced after the London Gold Cup. Riding the well-backed top weight Winter Garden in the London Gold Cup Frankie put on a pantomime, exaggeratedly looking for non-existent dangers in both non-existent wing-mirrors and even through his legs before setting out after the hard-ridden leader Cyrian over the last two furlongs. He was telling the crowd that it was only a question of the winning margin to come. But Richard Quinn, who had not wasted any effort on entertainment, kept Cyrian going and held off the Dettori flour- ish. I am delighted Quinn was not penalised by the stewards, who called in Cyrian's rider for his vigorous efforts. He was just doing his job. Dettori is a brilliant rider and a great advertisement for racing. He is having an unlucky patch with the Godolphin horses running so inexplicably badly. But on this occasion it was Richard Quinn who was the professional.
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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