The turf
Party spirit
Robin Oakley
Arriving at Kempton for the King George VI brings mixed memories. Desert Orchid's four victories, yes, Pendil, Silver Buck and Wayward Lad in the Dickinson heydays. But there was also the year it churned to mud, I got stuck in the car park and, after turning up three hours late for my brother-in-law's Christmas dinner, I was banned by the family from Boxing Day rac- ing for the next two years.
This year they were trying to keep the party spirit going with an Irish band, a pan- tomime horse, a man on stilts and a fairy of uncertain years who had gone a little heav- ier on the lipstick and mascara than one has been accustomed to with Tinkerbelle. As she muttered about the lack of Christ- mas spirit she was in danger of being done by the stewards for a whip offence with her wand. One does have sympathy for some- one forced to pirouette in the biting cold in tights and several yards of net curtain. Per- haps she should have stationed herself by the champagne bar entrance. Put a match to the fumes wafting out of there and you could have incinerated the nation's Christ- mas puddings.
I was still seeking to determine whether they were seagulls or vultures circling over- head (news of your losing spells tends to spread) when I found myself summoned into the parade ring for an interview with the indefatigable Derek Thompson. After one of his virtuoso time-filling spells on the course in Dubai, a watching American journalist was heard to exclaim in awe, 'Put a cabbage in front of that man and he'd interview it.' This was probably the nearest he's yet come to doing so. But at least my proffered tip, Reg Akehurst's Proton in the first, made it into the frame.
There was better to come. It has long been a maxim of mine never to ignore a horse that the French maestro Francois `Chase that car.' Doumen sends over here at Christmas time. He has won four King Georges. But this time it was Djeddah in the Feltham Novices Race who did the business at 9-2 (11-2 for us early birds). The charming Doumen, wearing a suitably Gallic beret, told us that Djeddah might well be aimed at Cheltenham because he prefers good going and when Auteil reopens in March it is likely to be pretty boggy. He may be back to Kempton for the Racing Post trophy and, though Aardwolf would have been closer to him but for two or three jumping errors, Djeddah is surely one to watch for. Note also Chris Wall's Leading Spirit, a useful performer on the flat who made a promising debut over hurdles, and Julie Cecil's Albemine, who, under an enterpris- ing ride from Terry Kent, drew the sting of Chai-Yo's finishing speed and should now be in the winning groove.
But it was the King George we had all come to watch. Any owner/trainer combi- nation prepared to take on Gordon Richards's selected in any of this season's big chases, especially anyone prepared to take on the redoubtable One Man at Kempton on good ground or better, deserves a salute.
When the British boxing champion Don Cockell was due to fight Rocky Marciano negotiations were proceeding about the size of the ring and the great Jack Dempsey's advice was sought. 'If I were Cockell,' he said, 'I'd go for a five-acre field, heavily wooded.' The right terrain counts for a lot, and it is hard to see what is going to beat One Man over Kempton's flat, right-handed three miles so long as he retains his health and strength.
The talented but inexperienced Strong Promise was never going well. The hand- some Mr Mulligan led them at a good pace but was cooked when he fell at the last. And Rough Quest was totally unsuited by the conditions. I don't know whether to praise Andrew Wates for the sense of duty he felt towards the Christmas crowd as United Racecourses chairman in running his Grand National winner or to castigate him for risking a horse we all love on the frosty Kempton turf on a day he should never have been racing. I suspect he felt the same. But the important thing is that Rough Quest came home sound, and to have done so within 12 lengths of the win- ner with everything favouring One Man argues to me that Rough Quest is far bet- ter value for the Gold Cup. As the Sporting Life's Geoff Lester, another of Derek Thompson's interview victims, told the Kempton crowd, comparing the King George and the Gold Cup is like compar- ing the Spice Girls and the Andrews Sis- ters.
One Man is a fine horse, a spectacular jumper and a real crowd-puller. The way he moved up to Mr Mulligan when he chose had the stamp of real class. But many better judges than me believe he does not get a yard over three miles, cer- tainly not 3m 2f around the Cheltenham gradients. Nor is the course lucky for him. He has been beaten 30 lengths there in a hurdle, he was injured in the Sun Alliance and he flopped in last year's Gold Cup. Gordon Richards and owner John Hales said after the King George that they will take the grey horse to Cheltenham for the Pillar Holdings Chase on 25 January. They clearly share the common doubts and that will be a hoodoo-breaking run. If he does not win that comfortably then I suspect we will not see One Man run in the Gold Cup. So don't take any of that 10-1 the bookies are offering.
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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