SPORT 113

PRINCE KHALID

Prince Khalid Abdullah was a prince in more senses than one. So was the man who introduced him to the top level of British racing, the late Jeremy Tree. That’s a mistake. Mr Tree was never a prince, not even in one sense. What am I trying to say? I think it’s something along the lines of…. They were made for each other,  enjoyed each other’s company, achieved great sporting feats together, and improved the lives of anyone who was lucky enough to feature among their employees.

Such was the harmony between the two men that the journey which started at Beckhampton  grew into the vast international organisation which is the prince’s legacy forty years later.

It is a model of how a sporting empire should be built and run, and the evidence suggests that the bigger it got, the better it got, and the more fun it became. I have no doubt that all who have committed themselves to Prince Khalid’s “hobby” have enjoyed every moment of that splendid association and have benefitted enormously.

Well done, Prince Khalid. Long may your sporting legacy survive and thrive. It remains sans pareil, (like your champion horse, Frankel)) an absolute model of how the thoroughbred life should be managed, both personally and as an enterprise.

STARTING

When Mr Stier was in his pomp at the BHA, he reformed big field starting (BFS) under NH rules by imposing a new procedure, thus: while waiting for the start, all horses will form a close-packed procession and walk en masse, changing direction as seems like a good idea depending on the amount of time available. So one has the equivalent of a Chinese carnival dragon chasing its tail, manned by lots of agile and invisible Chinamen, and accompanied by a fireworks display.

It was immediately noticed that close-packed and changing direction for no apparent reason didn’t appeal to thoroughbred horses, which become more and more agitated as the process is prolonged. Jig-jog becomes the gait of choice, the speed of advance increases and False Starts are inevitable.

Mr Stier left the famous 2014 conference of the powers saying that he would look into the possibility of killing the Dragon. He may well have looked, but he didn’t kill.  He then left the northern hemisphere without leaving instructions on the subject.

Consequently, when Mr Dunshea slipped into the driving seat he found the Dragon in the ascendant and causing endless difficulties. For reasons, perhaps to do with Southern Hemisphere rules of “respect” among Regulators, Mr Dunshea seems to have decided to leave the legacy of his predecessor largely untouched, and we are approaching the next Cheltenham Festival with the ghost of Stier still too close for comfort. Donec cannot help admitting that he is worried.

Especially as a sinister development on the part of starters has recently been noticed by those who notice these things. As the horses approach the last sixty/seventy yards from the tapes the starters send them on their way, thus neatly absolving themselves of responsibility for persuading the horses to walk, and absolving themselves of the duty to see that all runners have the same chance of a level break. It is what starters do when they find themselves in an impossible situation as a result of the ignorance of their managers.

However, there is a way out of the difficulty. The BHA’s new chief executive, Julie Harrington, has done practically every job in racing and has been close enough to the workforce to know the extremely high standards that are applied and maintained at every level of the industry – apart, that is, from the BHA itself. It is well within the bounds of possibility that Miss Harrington’s presence marks the beginning of a whole new era for the BHA under her leadership.  I wish her the best of luck, and I suggest that she should have a look at the BFS (Big-Field-Starting) situation sooner rather than later.

MIXED BLESSINGS?

I gave up golf three years ago because I found myself getting worse rather than better.

A late starter, I had reduced my handicap from 28 to 21 in quick time, as is the case with most beginners. As my aspiration was 18, I decided that I was nearly there –  and relaxed. What a fatal mistake.

Immediately my shots became short, flat, crooked and addicted to the deepest rough (without any of the skills required to survive that particular hazard), and my would be companions ran away whenever I approached – and they were right to do so. So I gave up.

Three years later I am under lockdown and “shielding” myself. To pass the time I started “putting” across a very demanding carpet. Believe it or not, within hours I had devised a system that works amazingly well.

Now the problem is to find a putting green (a grass putting green) on which to test and then patent my miracle. At present that is impossible.  Apparently all Golf Clubs have been ordered to rug up or get locked up.

In principle, however, I am a born-again golfer. A man who can putt, they say, is a match for anyone! So I am now trying to loft a nine iron high and straight from a surface that has been grazed by sheep. So far, sadly, the news is bad, bad, bad.

COVID

Boris’s job is a thankless one. Whatever he does, the so-called Leader of the Opposition squeals as though he has been punched on the nose. And what is his message?  “Should have done it sooner!” I find it rather disgusting that a grown man should use a worldwide crisis of the most tragic sort to advance his own petty little political career. Bah! Humbug! Charles Dickens recognised a genuine rat when he met one, and I try to do the same.

I hate to sound like one of the “In-hindsight” sages, but if the present crisis is going to go on for any length of time, it is not too late to start locking people up. There are a great number out there who deserve it, and their discomfiture will definitely save lives.

Best wishes, Donec