Presence and personality
Robin Oakley
Ascot is not just about silly hats, chamagne and flushed faces in corporate boxes. The Ascot crowd know their racing, too. So when Russian Rhythm finished second in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes they applauded her into the winners' enclosure almost as warmly as they did her conqueror, the magnificent Falbrav, a few moments later. And they applauded Falbrav a second time when he was led out after the formalities. Both horses deserved their special accolades.
At this time of year, it is hard for threeyear-olds to take on their elders, with less of a weight allowance. And although Russian Rhythm had proved herself the fillies' champion over a mile, winning the 1,000 Guineas, the Coronation Stakes and the Nassau Stakes, she faced a formidable task against the hefty five-year-old Falbrav, already winner of six Group Ones, on the fast ground that he loves. When Falbrav passed the Godolphin pacemaker two furlongs out and set sail for home, the filly was the only one brave enough and fast enough to go after him with any conviction. But on Falbrav Darryll Holland had plenty of horse left under him. He shifted another gear and had too much power for her. A big, tough alpha male comfortably conquered an outstanding filly, but the Ascot crowd knew how well she had done too.
For Falbrav's trainer, Luca Cumani, it was a sweet moment. Angry at 'defeat' in the Irish Champion stakes by Mick ICinane's tactics on High Chaparral (and it is a fine line, still being appealed before the Irish authorities, between class jockeyship and unfair gamesmanship), he had persuaded the owners, Luciano Salice and Teruya Yoshida, to gamble by bringing their horse back to a mile to pick up a £150,000 prize. It was the first time, after his series of victories over ten furlongs, that Falbrav had run over such a short distance since his two-year-old days. Had he failed, his trainer could have looked foolish. But there was never much doubt. Falbrav exuded dominance from the moment he strolled into the parade ring to eyeball his opponents. Waiting to be loaded into the stalls he stood calmly while others fidgeted and fretted. He is a horse with presence and personality.
Luca says, 'He has such power and speed, and an extraordinary ability to quicken. But over and above that he is so wonderfully mature and sound, mentally and physically. He is so completely profes sional, so composed as an individual. I've never trained a horse as good as this. He never puts a foot wrong on the gallops.' He had something to prove, he knew, after he had complained that Falbrav was the moral victor in Ireland, and after his exuberant claim then that Falbrav was the best horse in the world. But the pair of them provided justification, even if his relieved trainer then adjusted his claim to say that Falbrav was 'the best horse in the world, on turf between a mile and ten furlongs'. Luca wants him to step up again to a mile and a half in the Breeders' Cup in California. If he does that successfully, few will quarrel with his first description.
Not surprisingly, the trainer would love to see his owners keep Falbrav in training as a six-year-old. Since Luca has upped his offer to two cases of champagne to anybody who can persuade them to do so, I had a go with Signor Sallee. 'Down to my partner,' he responded. So I am willing to split the commission with any Japanese journalist who can deliver the other half.
For me it was a hideously expensive afternoon, the full enormity not to be revealed to Mrs Oakley until I have a good news half to offer as well. I had to keep faith with my three favourite horses — Russian Rhythm, Airwave and Where or When. To have the first two beaten by Falbrav was not such a surprise. But I tripled my usual bet on Airwave in a contest which she really should have won after an unlucky season, only to watch dismayed as Dane O'Neill rode a dog of a race, leaving her too long behind a wall of horses and then trying to weave a diagonal way through when the leaders were too far gone.
The good news is that Henry Candy apparently plans to keep his potentially brilliant sprinter in training for another year. And I have every hope of collecting again, too, on my one winning wager of the afternoon, Marcus Tregoning's Snow Ridge. Mark him down as a serious prospect for next year's Derby. The Indian Ridge colt, having only his second race, was made favourite on the basis of some impressive work at home, Two furlongs out his chance looked remote, but suddenly the big colt realised what Martin Dwyer was asking him to do. He flew past the two-year-old mile field and won, going away by a length in record time, a faster time incidentally than Falbrav posted later.
Marcus Tregoning, who is always measured, confessed afterwards that they had been 'quite cockily confident' about what he described as a 'very exciting' colt, the best two-year-old he has trained. 'He's a big baby,' he said, 'but it will all come together if we are careful.' Words like that from one of the most honest men in the game were enough to tempt me into the ante-post market. Of course it is very early to be talking about next year's Classics. But horses bred to stay, and with that kind of acceleration, don't come round too often.
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