Ascot shows its class
Robin Oakley rr he late Jim Callaghan told a few of us one day about life in the House of Lords after being an MP in the Commons. 'In the Commons you wonder if you'll survive the next election. In the Lords you wonder if you'll live until Christmas.' On his first day in the Lords, the Whip detailed to show him round stopped him after an hour or two and said, 'Jim, you're making two mistakes. You're going too fast and you pass every lavatory.'
We are all in danger of rushing things too about the new Ascot. Yes, the sightlines are not perfect, although £10 million has been spent on improving initial faults. Yes, attendances have dropped, although the weather this year may have as much to do with that as any received wisdom about the view. None of the male racegoers I saw on Saturday was jostling anxiously for a better view of the track, and most of the females, struggling with breeze-threatened hemlines shorter than those my mother used to wear on her swimming costumes, were there to be seen rather than to see.
There are small gripes. I find it frustrating to walk miles around the Ascot atrium without being able to find a screen showing results from other courses. When we were admiring Raven's Pass, his impressive winner on Saturday, the ever-thoughtful John Gosden pointed out, too, that the new Ascot layout means that photographs of the winner, which set the tone in the sporting media, are taken against the background of empty standings on the far side of the vast parade ring. Talk about emphasising the negative.
But an unpleasant pack-hunting mentality seems to have developed about what remains a bold effort to create a truly world-class racetrack in Britain. Trainers of Australian sprinters don't seem to be deterred, nor the mighty Mike de Kock from South Africa, or the Japanese and German connections who are increasingly ready to send their horses.
The latest bout of Ascot-bashing accompanied the Berkshire track's flagship race, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Headlines the size we used to reserve in my subediting days for police shootings or royal deaths suggested that the end was nigh for a great race. They were occasioned by the fact that this year's race drew only seven runners, and that a contest designed to provide a seasonal showpiece — the crucial clash over a mile and a half between the Classic generation and the older horses — had attracted not a single three-year-old. There was no new sponsor either to replace De Beers.
But a thinner field for one year and the absence of the top three-year-olds for a single season does not prove anything. Peter Chapple-Hyam, the trainer of this year's impressive Derby winner Authorized, wanted to run his horse at Ascot but was overruled by the owners. Owners of Epsom Derby winners can go for the Irish Derby and the King George mid-season en route to the Arc. But, with the breeding emphasis on speed, they are often tempted for commercial reasons to go quite soon after the Derby for Sandown's Eclipse Stakes over a couple of furlongs shorter. If a Derby three-year-old has a hard time in that race, it may ask too much of him to take on the older horses over 12 furlongs at Ascot before the end of July.
The percipient James Willoughby pointed out in the Racing Post that, since Motivator and Authorized, both sons of Montjeu, have both now been beaten in the Eclipse, the owner of the next Derby winner may well think twice about the Sandown race. Which means he may well be more inclined to go for the Ascot prize.
The complaint was that this year's King George VI field lacked not only a three-yearold but also the necessary class. True, connections had lobbed in the doughty old stayer Sergeant Cecil, a Group One winner over 2m 4f. But, though Maraahel had not won a Group One in 11 starts, he did twice win the Hardwicke Stakes. Youmzain had gone nostril-to-nostril with the best around the world. Prince Flori was Horse of the Year in Germany. Ballydoyle's Scorpion had won a St Leger, a Grand Prix de Paris and a Coronation Cup, and their Dylan Thomas, last year's Irish Derby winner, had also figured in a four-way photo finish in the Epsom Derby.
In the end it was awesome is as awesome does. Dylan Thomas showed us just how good he is. The big, long-striding Danehill colt and his jockey Johnny Murtagh put in a performance of sheer class. While Scorpion cut out the early pace they bided their time before moving up menacingly round the final bend. At that point the experienced Murtagh did not dash into the lead but let his horse fill again before launching him on a devastating drive down the straight which only Youmzain could make any serious effort to counter.
Three-year-old in the field or not, the King George was won by a horse whom connections are now thinking seriously of for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Said trainer Aidan O'Brien, 'There are some really brilliant horses that are over-hyped and some really brilliant horses that don't get hyped at all.' The same, he implied, happened to races like the King George. 'I've always believed that this has been one of the top races and we had two really top horses in it.'
The Ascot authorities need not start sending for the silver salver and the pistol just yet.
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