Juliette 'S Weekly Frolic
Judging by the reception that greeted Spanish Steps after Saturday's Hermitage Chase, I was not the only Newbury racegoer glad to be back ' jumping ' again. As for the profits, at odds of 11-10 I can hardly claim the coup of the century, but coupled with Noble Decree's obliging victory up North, the afternoon's sport should have satisfied the most mercenary of my followers. A schoolfriend of my brother's once won Aintree's historic Grand Sefton Chase on his way to a crack at the National, but in 1965 falling attendances led Mrs Mirabel Topham to abandon the race and the Autumn Meeting with it. This seemed a tragic waste, not only of the course but of the opportunity for both riders and horses to gain experience over the unique fences. Reasoned argument failed to alter her decision, but money can talk its way round the most formidable obstacles, and thanks to the generosity of William Hill and the BP Oil Company, the 'Meeting' lives again for one experimental day this Saturday. Gone are the ` Sefton and ' Molyneux ', but the two new sponsored chases have attracted such an array of well-loved Aintree veterans, that if the public still fail to turn up, the lady of the manor will have proved once and for all that the extra fixture does not make economic sense. For their own race the 2 mile, 7i furlong 'Grand National Trial ', Hills favour L'Escargot, but the punters' pennies didn't carry him further than the third fence last April, and with two winners of the National (Gay Trip and Specify), of the Topham Trophy (Rigton Prince and Sunny Lad) plus his luckless fellow-countryman, Black Secret, in the line-up, the opposition is formidable indeed. It's interesting that Fred Rimell has also left his pair (Gay Trip and Sunny Lad) in the earlier BP Chase, and I suspect that the former may opt for this easier task, over a distance — 2 miles, 5 furlongs — he probably prefers. In any case, both these course specialists won first time out last year and at a time when lack of rain is playing havoc with training gallops, each will have benefited from a preliminary run. As a farewell to the flat, I fancy a final shot at one of those Nursery puzzles. It doesn't take a breeding expert to tell that Noel Murless's Father Christmas was sired by the Derby winner, Santa Claus, and though his Lingfield maiden win was hardly up to the family standard, the ensuing ' Dewhurst ' fifth — five lengths behind Lunchtime and in front of Otha and Sky Messenger — makes 7,9 appear a ridiculously low weight in Newmarket's 2.45 this Saturday.
Assets: £145.38. Outlay: £3 to win Gay Trip & Sunny Lad (any race Liverpool, Saturday) and £3 to win Father Christmas.
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