FENCES

On the subject of riding over fences, here are two quotations from the best book ever written about horseracing, “Men and Horses I have known,” by George Lambton. Reminiscing about the l88Os, he wrote:

“Old John Hubert Moore, Garrett’s father, was a wonderful old fellow, a great, rugged, tall man (about 6 foot 4 inches), with a most irascible temper, but on a horse as gentle as a woman. There was nothing he liked so much as taking in hand an unruly horse and teaching him manners. His great axiom for steeplechasing was this, “You can do what you like with a horse until fifty yards from a fence, but after that you must leave him alone.”

The following gives one a clue as to Lambton’s thoughts on the subject in the 1880s:

“Small as he was, Franciscan was an ideal horse for Auteuil, so we decided to go for the Paris Steeplechase. Rather ambitious perhaps for a horse that had never run in a steeplechase; but I had jumped a lot of fences on him. We also had a small school on the Links Farm (at Newmarket), into which we turned the horses loose, and he loved going round it.” Sadly, leg trouble ended the horse’s career, and the Links Farm is now the home of a golf club. I wonder if any relics of its horseracing past survive.

The loose school is the machinery for inculcating  the principle that horses should learn to jump efficiently without any help from the jockey. Properly done, the rider becomes a source of distraction rather than an asset. (See old John Hubert Moore, above).

In the 1930s Reg Hobbs trained at Rhonehurst in Lambourn (now Oliver Sherwood’s base). There he trained Battleship to win the 1938 Grand National, ridden by his son Bruce, at seventeen the youngest jockey ever to win the National. When Reg retired, he settled on the Locking estate where he built his loose school to specifications provided by fabulously wealthy American horseman Ambrose Clark for whom Reg worked in the nineteen twenties.  Since then his loose school has been educating horses and riders, most recently under the ownership of Henrietta Knight. Best Mate is perhaps the most celebrated of the equine graduates from this academy, and I am one of the less well known jockeys who honed his skills under the eagle eyes of the teenage Henrietta and the ever youthful “Ginger” Dennistoun.

The great Vincent O’Brien’s career was celebrated in two biographies (in 1988 and 2005), in one of which he comments on his first two Grand National winners: “Royal Tan was a brilliant natural jumper. He was like a cat, and all his jockey had to do was sit on him.” The trouble was that jockey Bryan Marshall liked to dictate to the horses he rode. “I got permission from Gowran Park to take Royal Tan to school after racing,” Vincent remembered,  “and told Bryan to leave the horse alone at the fences.” The session went extremely well, but Bryan got carried away. He gave the horse a show-off kick at one of fences.

”He nearly came down,” the jockey reported, “then up came his neck and he smashes me on the nose!” For the rest of the session Bryan stayed as still as a mouse and Royal Tan jumped perfectly.  The rest was history.

Early Mist, who also won the Grand National, was exactly the opposite and needed assistance from his jockey.

Here are two more gems from the lips of the greatest trainer that ever lived:

“I always encouraged my horses to be relaxed and happy in their work at home. I never allowed a horse to be pushed to its limit at home. I always felt that he would produce that bit extra on a racecourse, challenged by different surroundings, crowds, colours, music, loudspeakers and the general excitement.

“With the jumpers my schooling fences were at least twelve inches lower than the regulation jumps at the racecourses. The horses were never asked to jump higher than that at home. Even my three Grand National winners never jumped a higher fence before going to Liverpool, where the obstacles were the stiffest and highest in the world. In a race a horse is much more wound up and alert and usually makes more effort  than at home. If you build a Grand National fence at home the risk is that a horse might dig in his toes approaching it and his courage might suffer.”

Looking back on the days when Vincent trained jumpers, brother Phonsie recalls that: “We schooled all the horses every Tuesday and Friday twice over four hurdles or fences – so long as the ground wasn’t hard.”

Unless I am mistaken, Vincent won three Grand Nationals in succession with three different horses. Now you know how it was done.

STARTING BIG FIELD RACES UNDER NH RULES

If you want to know how not to succeed in the world of the thoroughbred, consider the history of the British Horseracing Authority’s efforts to eliminate False Starts in races with big fields –  often the most prestigious and the most lucrative races in the calendar.

The Simpson Archive starts with a letter from the Senior Steward of the Jockey Club (predecessor of the BHA) in March 2004, assuring the recipient that the matter was in hand. In December of the same year the Head Starter follows up with the same message. In fact, nothing was in hand.

In May 2011 Mr Jamie Stier provides three close-packed paragraphs explaining what should be done, is being done, and what will continue to be done to improve the situation. Nothing was done. Improvement was nil.

In April 2012 the Assistant to BHA Chief Executive Paul Bittar assures a complainant that “we will take on board any suggestions…..” I can think of more than several  suggestions that were ignored.

In November 2018 a letter from Media and Communications Executive Joe Rendell (of the BHA) reminds the correspondent that horses can be unpredictable and adds that “the reforms brought in four years ago are having a positive impact.” An independent assessment comes to the conclusion that False Starts before big-field jump races were more frequent than ever during that period.

Recently the BHA announced that Mr Brant Dunshea had been shipped in from Australia (where he was involved in harness racing) in order to put the matter right, and he has recruited a helper (Miss Cathie O’Meara, an experienced horseracing executive from America with no knowledge of big-field starting under jumping rules in the UK ).

Together they have initiated an experimental three month effort to make False Starts a thing of the past. Two of those months have now passed and the proof of the pudding was in the 3.00 race at Newbury on Saturday last (28^th November 2020, 18 runners, £113,900 to the winner). Still employing the system that has made False Starts inevitable the management first sent the horses mad with frustration and then sent them on their way in a Start that was as False as False could be, apart from the fact that the Starter let them go before the starting area exploded – possibly because he may have been warned that his career as a starter was in jeopardy if he dared to stop the process in its tracks.

Incidentally, further research has shown that the first three finishers were in the first four positions all the way from start to finish, thus suggesting that the “Rolling Maul” (a diabolical section of the dreaded starting process, guaranteed to upset the thoroughbred and to diminish the chances of half the runners) had created the gross unfairness that critics have been complaining about for 16 years. What am I talking about? Those at the back of the “Rolling Maul” are penalised beyond any hope of success before the race has even started. Geddit?

It’s a curious situation because the BHA Board includes representatives of breeders, owners, trainers, jockeys and stable staff – the finest sporting community in the world. If False Starts were a problem in 2004, and are still a problem in 2020, there should be blood on the carpet every time the Board meets. If there isn’t even the faintest trace of blood….. well, maybe we are getting close to the reason why British Racing is constantly on the verge of collapse. Managerial incompetence at the highest level, possibly? When the women take over – any day now – I hope they will show no mercy.

BETTING SHOPS

Betting Shops were legalised several decades ago, and were not a great success, because racing is not a sport for the masses. So the bookmakers installed gambling machines, which are designed to rob even the stupidest of the human race, which is what they proceeded to do.

At this stage the reaction of the public was one of disgust. “Why are you robbing the stupidest of us?” the people asked.  “That’s the last thing we want to do!” exclaimed the bookmakers, and began to stuff the airways with the suggestion that gamblers must control themselves, and must return to the habits of yesterday by handing the unopened wage packet to the lady wife of a Friday evening.

The government showed unusual acumen in recognising the machines as the poison and banning them. Quite right. Let us return to the days of an empty betting shop apart from the chap reading the Racing Post from cover to cover.
For the record may I confirm that bookmakers will take the last penny out of the poor box or the collection plate given the chance. It’s in the blood. That doesn’t necessarily make them bad people.

Best Wishes,

Donec