Dawn raids
Robin Oakley
Ithink it was George Orwell who once described advertising as the rattling of a stick in a swill bucket. Some seem to think the Jockey Club's action in choosing the Cheltenham Festival run-up to launch a dawn raid on four of the best-known jumping stables in the country, those of Martin Pipe, Paul Nicholls, Venetia Williams and Len Lungo, plus the little known Hungerford stable of Alan Jones, and blood-test their horses for an illegal substance, has been as much of an advertisement for racing as bucket-rattling. I disagree fervently, though I can understand the irritation of the Famous Five, especially Pipe, that it was their yards which were visited rather than any of the other 525 trainers currently operating in Britain.
The Jockey Club teams didn't arrive wearing balaclavas and waving submachine-guns out of car windows; they behaved by all accounts firmly but courteously_ But it must still have been a horrible shock to the yards involved. Nevertheless, what was done was a bold action carried through with impeccable organisation in the best interests of racing. With the results of all tests out by teatime the next day, all five yards were in the clear and, while one would not wish to use the expression, in the circumstances, that racing had been given a shot in the arm, the action was certainly proven to have been in the best interests of the sport. I even believe it was in the best interests of Martin Pipe.
First, the background. For two to three years there have been swelling rumours around the racing community that some trainers have been getting away with blood doping with elythropoietin. Basically this involves giving horses the peptide hormone used for treating anaemia in humans. It has been used to improve the performances of cheating middle-distance athletes and by bent riders in the Tour de France. Working by increasing the number of oxygen-carrying red cells, it improves performance in stamina-sapping events, particularly for those suffering from lung problems. There are as many opinions about its actual effect on horses as there are self-appointed politicians in the nation's bars, hut a common view is that EPO. as it is popularly known, could be worth 15 to 20 lengths in the average race.
The rumours were given extra currency for me and many others when Lambourn trainer Charlie Mann publicly claimed that the use of EPO was widespread. Given Britain's libel laws, he sensibly didn't name names. But this was not the case of a downon-his-luck ex-jockey trying to make a few bob from the tabloids or an old-style trainer spitting sour grapes as a more openminded new generation took over his owners. A gutsy ex-jockey with a state-ofthe-art stable complex and a growing winner total, Charlie is worth listening to when he says that something is amiss.
The stories had reached the point where whether or not the Jockey Club believed there was a serious problem it had to consider racing's reputation. It had to act and be seen to act. Hence the dawn raids. Some have criticised the timing, but if the raids had been carried out after the Cheltenham Festival, think how many fingers would have been tapping on noses — 'Of course they found nothing, leaving it until after the Festival. Who'd be fiddling to improve a horse now?' Some, most fiercely Pipe, have criticised the Jockey Club for not giving advance warning that they were coming. Pardon? Does the vice squad ring up the local bordellos and say 'We're planning to drop in Friday'? It is my belief that the Jockey Club never expected to find anything amiss in the yards they visited. But if they had telegraphed their actions in advance and then found all 408 horses tested to be clear of noxious substances, what good would that have done? There would merely have been another round of barstool nose-tapping.
As for Martin Pipe, he has had to suffer snide comments for years from the envious and under-informed that there was something dodgy about the way in which he has scored his phenomenal success, marked this season by yet another double century. No, it was not nice on the day to be one of the Five. But since every horse in the Pipe yard has now been tested in the run-up to Cheltenham and found to be clean, surely that will provide the perfect rejoinder to the sourpusses.
After that, what about the Festival itself? For a start, let us hope after last year's cancellation and Cheltenham's miserable winter, that fate does not intervene again and that we do get three days of racing heaven. I am going to tempt fate anyway by backing Looks Like Trouble, tipped here when he won two years ago at 7-1, to become the first horse since l'Escargot in 1971 to win two consecutive Gold Cups. I don't believe Florida Pearl will win for the Irish, but he has real prospects of a place and must be the each-way value at 16-1. For the other place, I stick with Best Mate. I'm going for Hors La Loi III in a very tricky Champion Hurdle; I fancy Turgenev at 20-1 to beat the fancied horses in the Champion Chase, and I was so impressed with Jonjo O'Neill's Giocomo at Kempton the other day that I have already had a go on him for the Triumph Hurdle at 12-1. The biggest danger is probably his stablemate Quazar, who has already shown his liking for Cheltenham. I really like Martin Pipe's Tarxien for the Coral Eurobet Cup. And if you are looking for one at a fancy price, then persevere with me in backing Venetia Williams's Montalcino for the Stayers Hurdle. At the time of writing he is 25-1.
Previous page
