Senior moment
Robin Oakley
Iused to be quite keen on jogging, working on the theory that you add a minute to your life for every mile run. My enthusiasm weakened after a TV colleague pointed out that the net result of my endeavours would be an extra six months in the nursing home in my eighties at £4,000 a month. But the benefits of continued exercise, at least for those with four legs, were evident soon after 2.45 p.m. last Saturday when six game old boys came to the second last at Newbury virtually in a line, all bursting with vim and vigour and in with a chance of the prize.
Putting together a racecard to attract the punters so close to the Cheltenham Festival isn’t easy with most of the best horses kept at home, wrapped in cotton wool and their trainers’ prayers, and the punters themselves anxious to save up a few bob for their biggest punting week of the year. But a genius at the British Horseracing Authority — I’m told it was handicapper Phil Smith — came up with the idea a little while ago of staging some veterans’ handicaps, confined to horses of ten years old and upwards, rated 0–145. Trainers like Philip Hobbs were consulted and the plan was launched.
The problem is that older chasers who have shown ability don’t come down the handicap ratings quite as quickly as they might as they reach the equivalent of that stage in humans when our knees occasionally buckle and our belts rarely do. It makes it hard for them to go on winning races as they compete against younger legs. But many of them still enjoy the game.
Go-ahead Newbury was one of the courses to see the merit in the idea and the National Britannia Veterans’ Handicap Steeplechase gave us all a thrill. Two fences out, there were six of them in a line battling for the lead. Between the last two it looked to be between three greys, the 12-year-old Tango Royal, Kandjar D’Allier (10) and Ossmoses (11), but then the latter pair faded as Briery Fox and Royal Auclair stayed on strongly to fill the minor places behind the David Pipetrained grey, who is now almost white.
Tango Royal was running for the 68th time in his career. Since he had not won since December 2006, his owner Brian Kilpatrick was wondering whether to persevere, but retirement will now be postponed after the resolute way he shook off his senior-citizen pursuers. David Pipe declared: ‘These are fantastic opportunities for older horses and the handicapper gave him a chance here. This was the lowest mark he has run off for a long time.’ Rarely have I found a racing experiment greeted with such universal enthusiasm. Before the race I spoke to Emma Lavelle, whose Tana River was one of the participants. Maybe she was prejudiced, she conceded, with a fair few veterans in her yard, ‘But these races are a wonderful idea. Tana River is rated 140, but he isn’t quite as quick as he used to be and he has been beaten twice this season by horses four years younger.’ What was also significant, Emma pointed out, was that these veterans’ races don’t cut up into the small fields we sometimes see for prestige events but fill up with runners and give the crowd a spectacle. Mark Kershaw, Newbury’s managing director, was as keen as hot-dog mustard on the race, saying it was the perfect time of year to stage it. He is musing about slotting in something similar in other programmes for lower-rated horses.
Keen, too, was Clive Smith, owner of the mighty Kauto Star and also of the veteran Royal Auclair, now 11, who was second in the Grand National of 2005 and whom he described as ‘a great servant, a great character who would miss racing if he wasn’t doing it’. He added: ‘It’s just what National Hunt racing needs. There are lots of ten-year-olds about.’ They are not only ‘about’ but they are also familiar to the punters who applauded in Tango Royal and who had probably backed a fair few of Saturday’s field in their earlier endeavours, like Sir Rembrandt, who was twice placed in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and who won over £300,000 in a career which his owner has now decided to bring to an end. Sir Rembrandt won earlier this season but trainer Victor Dartnall said he wasn’t the same horse on Saturday and didn’t seem to be enjoying himself. Just as important as keeping the happy senior citizens racing is facing up to that moment when it comes.
Despite the looming shadow of Cheltenham, Newbury provided excellent sport and some good pointers for the future. The 30 ladies in the Thoroughbred Ladies’ syndicate organised by Tom George’s wife Sophie saw a highly impressive performance from the Slad trainer’s Island Flyer in the Connaught Novices’ Handicap Chase. A fine big horse bought as a replacement for their Swift Thyne, sadly killed in a Cheltenham fall, the ex-pointer led all the way to win over a distance probably well short of his best. The trainer had wanted to save him for next year ‘but the ladies wanted to wear their hats at Newbury’. Could you say no to 30 determined women?
Tom George’s grey Nacarat, too, left his previous form behind him with a useful second to Paul Nicholls’s Natal in the big race of the day, the Connaught Gold Cup. He lost out to the power of the Ditcheat operation only because the Nicholls’s team put up the talented stable amateur Nick Scholfield to ride their entry. His 7lb claim made all the difference.
Meanwhile Nodform’s Paula, whom loyalists will recall as one of our Twelve to Follow, scored for Nicholls over hurdles at Doncaster. ‘Put him in your twelve next year too,’ Paul told me. ‘He’ll make a grand chaser.’
Previous page
