Liz’s Triumph
The Queen’s visit to Ireland has passed so far without any serious hitches or gaffs. But then visiting Ireland, where nearly all the population are hospitable to all visitors, is a lot less tricky than visiting some of the places governed by some of the worst or the worst, she has been told to go by successive governments. I’m sure she really enjoyed her visits to Saudi Arabia and Rumania!
There might however be a problem for the Queen on the horizon, where Ireland is concerned.
Currently, her horse, Carlton House, is favourite for the Derby. He also has entries in the Irish and French Derbys.
Many Epsom Derby winners have followed up their victory at Epsom, with a run at The Curragh. And of course, there are horses, who have run in Ireland because of minor problems that prevented them competing at Epsom.
The permutations are endless.
But it is not inconceivable that a horse as good as Carlton House is, will run in Ireland.
So as with the visit to Ireland, it’s all so far and so good!
But she has undoubtably shown politicians how to forgive and forget and move on constructively. And many of those she’s met in Ireland have shown the same positive attitude.
So many of those in trouble spots around the world could follow this lead in looking forward rather than hundreds of years into the past.
Should The Queen Be Going To Ireland?
Probably Yes! But on a personal note, she’s probably a bit stressed and even a trifle excited about her horse Carlton House, which runs in the Derby on Saturday June 4th.
There is also this little story from horse racing gossip in the Guardian.
The Queen’s racing advisor, John Warren, told journalists an intriguing story as to how the monarch came to own Carlton House after the colt galloped into Derby favouritism with a victory in York’s Dante Stakes on Thursday. The three-year-old was apparently a present to Her Majesty from Sheikh Mohammed and there could be wry smiles all round if the royal colours are carried to victory at Epsom.
Despite more than 30 years of trying and hundreds of millions of pounds of investment, the sheikh has yet to have a Derby winner in his own name – now he could have given away a horse with a potential worth of tens of millions of pounds as a stallion.
Meanwhile, the Queen’s breeding empire suffered from what proved to be an error of judgement in the early 1980s when her mare Height Of Fashion was sold to Sheikh Mohammed’s brother, Hamdan. She went on to become one of the greatest mares of all time and produced the 1989 Derby winner Nashwan.
So perhaps she doesn’t beware of Arabs bearing gifts. On the other hand, it was quite an error of judgement over Height of Fashion.
I have a feeling I might go to the Derby. After all, if Carlton House does justify his favouritism and win, it will be one of those truly I was there moments.
Remember though that the last Royal Derby winner was Diamond Jubilee owned by Edward, the Price of Wales, in 1900. That was the year before his mother, Queen Victoria, celebrated her diamond jubilee in 1901.
And Queen Elizabeth the Second celebrates her diamond jubilee next year!
The Battered Stick Together
When you’ve been through what I have, you tend to follow others, who’ve triumped over adversity.
Although, C & I bred racehorses for many years, I don’t follow racing much, these days.
But I was pleased to see a report in The Telegraph that Henry Cecil has the favourite for the flat season’s first classic, the 2,000 Guineas. Henry has been battling cancer for some years and where lesser men would have crawled into a hole and hid or given up altogther, Henry has just kept going.
I shall be putting a couple of pounds on Frankel.
Royal Wedding Wins at Fontwell
It just had to happen didn’t it!
The horse, Royal Wedding won at Fontwell at 4.1, yesterday.
It Pays to Go By Bus
Steve Whiteley used his bus pass to take up the offer of a free day’s racing at Exeter yesterday. Knowing nothing about horse-racing he put a single bet on the Tote Jackpot which cost him just £2. His was the only winning ticket and he won £1,445,671.20. The complete story is in the Independent.
The Day I Stood on the Queen
Putting up the story of the Queen’s Award Reception yesterday, reminds me of one of my other royal stories.
One Saturday, C and I were at a loose end, so we took the Cessna 340, Delta-Delta, and flew into Newbury racecourse. It had an airstrip in those days in the centre of the course.
I,m not sure if we had a runner, but it may have been the day that Vague Shot ran in the Newbury Spring Cup, with the great, Steve Cauthen, in the saddle. When they assess the history of British racing at the end of this century and they rate the great jockeys, it will not be Lester Piggott, Frankie Dettori or Fred Archer, who will be rated the greatest, but the quiet impeccable American from Kentucky, Steve Cauthen. On the track, few could ever match his skills and especially his judgement of pace. Vague Shot’s victory under top weight in the Royal Hunt Cup in very heavy going, could never have been achieved by any other jockey. It was just one of many where he was totally at one with the horse in an impossible situation. He did the same at Nottingham on a horse of ours called Golden Panda, that was named after a Chinese restaurant, which he coaxed home on the 8th of August 1988, which was a day the bookies regretted, as every Chinese restaurant in Suffolk helped themselves to odds of 12-1.
But it is Steve’s personality that made him the greatest. To him every owner and horse was a friend to be treated the same. If you were the local greengrocer with a horse in a selling plate, you got the same treatment as the Queen would have in a Group race. One of my memories of Steve was of him at Haydock Park, between rides, where he spent perhaps twenty minutes talking to a young man in a wheelchair by the entrance to the weighing room. How many sportsmen would do that?
But to return to that day at Newbury and the Queen. We were in the paddock with the trainer of Vague Shot, Clive Brittain, waiting to put the jockey up on one of his runners. A horse in front of us, decided to rear up and as one does, C and I took a few steps back. However, at the same time another horse spooked at something and did the same thing, with those in between taking avoiding action.
I ended up stepping on the Queen. When I realised what I had done, I apologised profusely.
She just gave a knowing smile, put a finger to her mouth and walked to a safer place.
Today’s Nottingham Card
friend has asked me to give him some pointers to the races at Nottingham today.
Here are my quick thoughts.
Race 1 – Neytiki as it’s got the most attractive jockey! She’s a coeliac too! Avoid Brand Bob as the horse has a bad draw. The horse is also owned by someone I know!
A general point is that it’s probably worth watching Richard Hughes mount in the first, but a PlacePot using all his mounts would be a good idea, as he’s closing in on the jockey’s championship.
I can’t say I can guarantee these selections, but my father’s ability to pick winners improved after he’d had a stroke.
Race 2 – Ittirad as trainer Michael Jarvis and jocky Philip Robinson are often dangerous in this sort of race.
Race 3 – Academy and Charles Camoin.
Race 4 – If Hayley wins the first, back Ace of Spies here. Make My Dream is probably worth looking at.
Race 5 – Be patriotic and back the Queen’s horse – Starshine. Seriously though it looks like a horse that gets a distance and few except the Queen run those.
Race 6 – Spinning is napped and should go close and Naddwah is my pick. But don’t underestimate Compton Blue because of Richard Hughes going for the championship.
Race 7 – Point North and Colour Scheme.
Race 8 – Kenyan Cat as trainer a great and honest guy and horse just missed a hat trick.
Horseracing in Crisis
The long running dispute about the size of the Levy seems to have hit the stops again as horse racing and the bookmakers can’t agree how much should be paid. According to this article on the BBC, the decision will go for the last time to the Government.
I love my racing, but I know that this can’t go on!
In the first place, horse racing needs bookmakers and bookmakers don’t need horse racing, as mugs will bet on anything from horse racing videos to the X-Factor. I bet rarely, but I still have one running on Strictly Come Dancing. Any unbiased analysis of bookmakers income shows that their profits come from areas other than horse racing.
One of the troubles with racing is that it is perceived in the wrong way by much of the public and racing sees the public in the wrong way too. For instance, few know that most race meetings outside of the really major ones, let those under 16 in free with an adult. I’ve always found that children enjoy racing as it’s something so different to what they encounter in normal life. Many race courses do try to encourage families in the summer, but others just don’t bother. They just don’t realise that by changing the product on offer slightly they can reach a whole new audience.
Another problem, that exists locally is that big meetings at Newmarket often clash with football at Ipswich. And I suspect Norwich too! I suspect these aren’t the only clashes either. Planning of meetings must be better!
But racing real problem is that it continues to make really bad decisions at the top.
One thing that I can’t understand is why racing has split its television coverage between two separate channels, one of which is free and the other is so much a month. If ever there was a decision that smacks of corporate suicide it is this one.
The trouble with the quality of the decisions, is that it allows those, who perhaps should be funding the sport, like bookmakers, to find ways out of paying for the product.
Racing only powerful card is that it is a large employer, but so were the coal mines and look what happened to the miners. It was just an industry whose time had come. Not because of politics as many on the left would believe, but because of the carbon dioxide burning it produces.
So has horse racing’s time come?
Perhaps in its present form, Yes!
I wouldn’t dream of telling the racing industry what to do, but I know they must change, or at least be perceived to have changed.
Can the Government do anything to help?
I believe one trhing that would help is to move the clocks to European time, as this would give us extra opportunities for evening meetings, which do seem to attract crowds. But even here, some people in racing aren’t as pro this, as I am. But I suspect, it is something that will finally happen.
Racing often has a big asset and that is land, which sometimes is not used to its full potential because of planning restrictions. The Government is giving more power to local people, but would this be for or against racing’s interest?
I would hate to see racing fade out of the rich pageant of Britain’s sporting scene, but unless we think long and hard, it might just happen.
I hope not!
Possibly!
Racing Shoots Itself in the Foot Again!
I wanted to watch the races from Longchamp today, but it is not available on free-to-air television, probably for the first time in several decades. So there is an hour on BBC2, but most races will not be shown live.
It is on Racing UK, but you have to subscribe and the number of races I want to watch is not worth that!
But let’s face it, it really takes stupidity with a sport like horse racing, to have two TV contracts, one which shows some meetings and the other the rest!
So I’ll watch the football!
A Strange Law
This comes from Wikipedia.
According to The Strange Laws of Old England
by historian and author Nigel Cawthorne, it was against the law in Newmarket to blow one’s nose in the street and a person or persons going about the street with a head cold or distemper was liable to a fine. This law was introduced to protect the horses rather than the citizens of the town.
I don’t think it applies today.
The Anonymous Widower 