RICHARD HUGHES RETIRES

Once again R. Hughes is ahead of the game. Only now have I had time to collect my thoughts on this extraordinary man. I first became more than simply aware of him towards the end of 2011, when the BHA produced new Whip Rules. I quote the excellent James Pugh and Tom Kerr in the Racing Post, as follows:

After receiving another 5 day ban for excessive use at Kempton tonight, Hughes left the track after handing in his licence and relinquishing his last ride of the night. He’s stated he will not ride again until whip punishments are reviewed.  “I can’t ride horses knowing that I’m not doing myself and the owners who pay £100 a time justice,” said Hughes. “I will only consider starting again if there is a review of the rules. I’d rather sweep roads than do half a job….”   It was that blast that turned the jockeys’ dissatisfaction with the new regulations into a war.

By the following spring, thanks largely to the responsible behaviour of the jockeys and the intervention of Paul Bittar, the new Rules had been replaced by a system that was much more appropriate. It was a rush job, not perfect, but fairly good, good enough to stand the test of time so far, although the need for further changes is beginning to make itself felt.

During the 2011/2 winter Richard rode in India. There he fell foul of an Indian racing authority, which approached the BHA asking for endorsement in England of a riding ban which they had imposed upon him. The BHA reception committee, which looked not unlike the group that had produced the  ill-fated whip rules, accepted the Indian complaint (which it shouldn’t have done) and banned Hughes from riding in England for the first month of the 2012 flat season. Richard sat out the ban, gave his rival jockeys a month’s start and won the championship as he was so fond of winning races, with a late charge.

When that saga came to an end, I had time to think about the “late charge”. It is absolutely true that, if you can save fuel at the start of a race, by settling your horse towards the back of the field, you can challenge towards the finish with a fuller fuel tank than most of the competition. But it is also a high-risk policy. In large fields that system requires you to weave through crowded spaces. When it works it is a thing of beauty, but if the gaps don’t open critics are not slow to criticise. I suspect that if you are an artist as well as a sportsman, you have to do what you have to do. Besides, on countless occasions Richard showed that he could ride winners in every other way as well, and three jockeys’ championships bear witness to his talent, in an era when British jockeyship is of the highest class.

In 1997 Richard won the Irish Champion Hurdle on Cockney Lad. That’s a long time ago, but it’s still enough to put him in the class of L. Piggott and the Molony brothers of the nineteen fifties; top-class flat jockeys who had the skill and the courage to compete with the best over the jumps. We are now talking about the cream that rises to the top. We can add to that number Timmy Murphy, Graham Lee, and the new French sensation, Vincent Cheminaud, who have been outstanding over the jumps first, in spite of a lack of body weight which might have been a disadvantage, and are now proving equally excellent on the flat. The first two have won the Aintree Grand National, and the Frenchman has won a hatful of the top jumping races in his country before taking the French Derby earlier this summer. Last week he was in America riding Flintshire to win a Group 1 on the flat at Saratoga.

I am sure there are others, but not too many, who have ridden under both codes and achieved a level of excellence in both which entitles a rider to feel that he really has got very close to perfection in his profession, his art, and his sport. Richard Hughes belongs in that company.

Soon after the Indian ban I read his autobiography. He writes well, which shouldn’t come as a surprise because in interviews he talks with much charm, much wit, and a fascinating and attractive command of language.  The book revealed another aspect of his life that impressed. He had a drink problem at one time, and he solved it. Ever since, he has put a considerable amount of time into helping others with the same problem. I was reminded of this the other day, when his decision to stop riding and start training led to a flurry of interviews on TV. One journalist asked him which of the top jockeys would ride for him.

I paraphrase his reply. “I want a group of young jockeys around me. I want to help them. In racing, you need all the help you can get when you start. If you are lucky enough to do well, you must do the same for the next generation.” I hazard a guess that Mr Hughes belongs to a great family and he does them great credit.

When jockeys retire, often it seems as though their best days are over. Yet here we have a three-times-champion who cannot wait to get into the next stage of his  life – almost as if riding was just the preparation for something just as important, if not more so. Such zest! Such zest! Such magnificent zest!

RUGBY WORLD CUP

Remember the game between England and France at the end of the last Six Nations? England 55, France 35 after 80 minutes of scintillating rugby by both sides. Why such an unusual performance from two sides who have in recent years proved rather boring and not particularly successful?  Because England had to win by 26 points to win the Six Nations Championship. Consequently it is reasonable to suppose that the English players were instructed to throw caution to the wind and go for broke. They did just that, the French joined in the party, and it was a joy to watch. I imagine it was also a joy, and a rare one, to play in such a game.

Without that motivational aid, one could be nearly certain that they would soon revert to their negative and boring norm – and so it has proved, as we have seen just recently in two World Cup warm-up games between the two sides. Perhaps coaches and players on both sides of the Channel (and further afield) should be reminded of the words of the greatest Rugby coach of all time: “The team in possession should consider attacking from any part of the field.”

He also made it clear that perfect passing at the speed of light was the key that liberates back lines, creates overlaps and provides that extra room which allows players to do  wonderful things. Carwyn James made those points in 1971 when coaching the Lions not to flamboyant defeat but to stunning victory against the All Blacks. He also coached the Llanelli team to beat the touring All Blacks the following year, and motivated most of the Barbarians who took part in the 1973 win over the All Blacks in the contest that some call the “Greatest game ever played.”

Remember Carwyn, whenever you see the slow and painful progress of today’s version of “attack mode.” Remember him, too, when you watch the passed ball flying over the head, or towards the ear, or behind the back, or at the ankles of the unfortunate receiver. In the two areas of attack and passing, today’s coaches (and players) have much to be ashamed of. And there is a World Cup to be won by the team that rediscovers Rugby as it should be played.

THE ASCOT SPRINT 

(which went off with the favourite JOCKEY-LESS and with HIS HEAD in the WRONG STALL )

There were 20 runners.

The signaller seemed to be standing on the far side, more or less level with the stalls. Dare I suggest that this was not a good idea? He could only see a muddle of heads as his eye travelled across the more distant runners. Perhaps he should be standing ten or so yards in advance of the stalls.

With 20 runners, one signaller is too few. There should be one on either side, each responsible for half the field, both slightly ahead of the stalls. Only when both are signalling “OK“ should the starter let the field go. Have I missed something?

KLAXON

The French and the Americans make loud noises when they feel that something odd has happened during a race, to alert the punters to the state of play. In England that practice seems to have been dropped. I believe that a flag flies somewhere, which makes me think that the BHA officials concerned believe that the rights and wrongs of the turf are their business and nobody else’s.

I also suspect that this shyness is used on occasions when the stewards are playing their contentious and quite inappropriate “benefit of the doubt” card, whereby one horse is allowed to foul another so long as it stays in front of its victim (not unlikely if it has just knocked the victim sideways). The stewards possibly prefer the matter to be dealt with without anyone noticing. It does them no good.  They can hide but they can’t run. The smell gives them away.

WHIPS

After the King George & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, Dettori seemed to think that he had received a ban for two blows too many with his whip, while Atzeni thought he was being punished for “above the shoulder.” The Stewards Report did little to clarify the matter. Perhaps there should be a clearer distinction between “above the shoulder” and “above the (numerical) limit”. Both rules should be scrapped, and in the meantime should be discretionary, not mandatory. “Above the shoulder” is almost always a matter of rhythm, not violence, and the number of blows struck with a horse-friendly whip is seldom excessive.

REIN DRAIN

The shortage of stable staff is not usually within Donec’s remit, but here’s a brief contribution to the debate. Like Racing, Her Majesty’s armed forces require a large number of fit, brave, young, active, intelligent employees, and they require these people not necessarily for life, but for their best years, before they start to creak and lose their nerve. Hence a twenty-one year contract (17 to 38, or variations thereof) with a good pension when the employee’s contract terminates.

Racing is one of the country’s biggest employers: so this is a problem which deserves the best endeavours of the government, as well as of the more affluent sections of the industry itself and beyond (Owners, trainers, jockeys, stable staff, breeders, agents, sales companies, TV companies, insurance companies, airlines, to name but a few.)

N.H. BIG-FIELD STARTS

Big-field NH starts had been a scandal for a number of years when, in October 2014, a conference attended by the British Horseracing Authority, the PJA (Professional Jockeys’ Association), and the Cheltenham and Aintree  executives concluded that changes in the starting routine would be made. In particular it was agreed that the “rolling maul” should be eliminated. The rolling maul is a process whereby the whole field is bunched up and rotated in a fashion that is counter-productive (it upsets horses and jockeys at a stage when they need to be cool, calm and collected) and dangerous (that kind of proximity is asking horses to kick each other).

The parties concerned went their separate ways and waited for the BHA to implement the changes agreed, which would have involved very small, but vital alterations to the process. In a nutshell, the horses would be required to walk in a circle in single file, and then form a line before approaching the starter. Job done. Just like that. And what do we see as a result of this top-level conference?

We see Market Rasen on 15^th August 2015. A steeplechase with just 14 runners. As off-time approaches, the horses are formed up into the notorious maul and required to roll (i.e. rotate) in circles until such time as the starter asks them to advance in a crowd that, even with only 14 runners, still manages to put seven/eight lengths between first and last when the tapes rise. The “rolling maul” is still alive and kicking!

A seven or eight length disparity is not too bad, the experienced race-watcher will suggest. Quite right.

But what happens in the autumn when thirty of the best horses congregate at the start of the first of a stream of big-field races that carry enormous prizes  and inspire the punters to put on their betting boots?

Instead of having had most of a year during which the jockeys could become accustomed to the very minor changes in procedure which are necessary to produce reasonably fair starts, the jockeys will canter down to the start to face the same chaos as before. Why? Perhaps because Mr Jamie Stier, BHA’s Regulator, had his fingers crossed when he said “Yes, I will” at the October conference, when he actually meant “No, I won’t.”

BEVERLY  D  STAKES  (Group 1, for fillies and mares), Arlington Park, USA, 16^th August 2015

Jamie Spenser rides a perfect race on Secret Gesture and looks like achieving a fairly comfortable victory, having established ascendancy over the filly on his left. Sadly he then allows his mount to hang right-handed into the space required by Stephanie’s Kitten, who is steaming up on his other side into what looks like an assured second place.

Stephanie’s Kitten has nowhere to go because of this intrusion, her rider demonstrates his dissatisfaction, and this near-collision costs him second place. The finishing order is: 1^st Secret Gesture, 2^nd Whatsdachances (who was not involved in the drama), 3^rd the unfortunate Stephanie’s Kitten. The stewards reviewed the race and revised the order: the blameless Whatsdachances was placed 1^st, Stephanie’s Kitten, 2^nd, and Secret Gesture 3^rd.

Terrible American rules? Not so, in Donec’s opinion. Stephanie’s Kitten, the victim of the improper riding, was awarded the second place which she deserved, and her aggressor was demoted to third, which is what she deserved. Justice was done – and Whatsdachances, who did nothing wrong, simply got lucky. Secret Gesture’s connections have appealed against her demotion, so the fat lady has yet to clear her throat.

At another level, we think that Spenser deserves a nominal fine for his “45-year-old struggling jump jockey going to an open ditch” remark, supposedly a criticism of the jockey whom he had just tried to knock over. It is probably  the worst bit of wit and whimsy ever to be uttered by an Irishman, and he must be stopped before he completely destroys his countrymen’s reputation for their way with words.  Otherwise, no harm done – the Americans wouldn’t have understood a word of it.

MO FARAH and AMERICAN PHAROAH

Saturday lunchtime, we watch World Championship athletics – the 5,000 metres final. With 700 metres to go, the mighty Caleb Ndiku of Kenya storms past Mo Farah into the lead. Farah competes for two, three strides, then lets him take over the donkey work. As they go into the back straight for the last time, Mo moves up, Ndiku resists, and after two, three strides Farah lets him go on. He follows the Kenyan into the home straight and then destroys him in the last 100 metres.

On Sunday morning, we watch the YouTube of the Travers. It has to be reported that the Donec board found itself unanimously criticising a jockey who has won effusive plaudits for the best part of two years. Why, oh why did Espinoza (riding American Pharoah) launch his attack on Frosted so early in the back straight, and persist with a policy of mutual self-destruction when Frosted refused to capitulate? Mo Farah would have re-considered and postponed the big thrust till they were half way up the final straight and the leader was tottering.

This is just a matter of opinion – and we have been known to make mistakes. However I understand that “the splits” (the recorded timing of the various stages of a race) confirm that the stretch referred to in the previous paragraph was covered at a speed that was seriously over the limit which common sense should have prescribed. The fact that AP was beaten by less than a length shows how brave he is. I hope his connections will treat him with care: whatever may or may not be the signals he gives his team, that horse was very, very, very tired when he finished the Travers.

Best wishes,

Donec.

 

 

 

 

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