A War Zone

Early in the month of June I took part in a healthy exchange of views with a high-ranking member of the BHA’s top table. We agreed that I could express my views on any number of subjects, but if I criticised named officers of the BHA I should expect legal action, visits from the police, civil proceedings (the costs for which I would be required to pay), and the possibility of an Exclusion Order issued by the BHA’s own Disciplinary Officer. Oh dear!

All good stuff and I decided that I could live without naming names in cyberspace, so I went along with her suggestion that SPORT 117 be retired. (She is a she, as are more and more of the BHA top brass nowadays, and we will see how they get on).  However I would add that the very worst people in any situation (the rotten apples) absolutely love anonymity, so I wondered whether her suggestion was in the best interests of British racing….  but that is the BHA’s problem, not mine.

Two further points: she repeatedly accused me of being a racist. I went through SPORT 117 with a fine comb. I found no racism. I did sometimes mention the nationality of people I was describing…. Is that racism?. Perhaps “she” who must be obeyed has herself got a racial/racist hang-up which makes her see racism where there is nothing more than nationality. If so, she should work on it.

What else is new?

Royal Ascot featured a large number of races with huge fields. The runners remained in an area fairly close behind the starting gate and signs of mass discomfort were very few and far between. Almost all evidence of tension concerned entry into the stalls, which was handled extremely well by the starting teams, and did not spread.

Might the BHA not consider taking the hint and applying it to Big-Fields under NH Rules, an area in which British Racing has become a world leader as regards False Starts, something of which  it should be thoroughly ashamed.

All that is necessary is to keep the runners in an area close behind the starting gate, where the Royal Ascot experience suggests there is no reason for horses to get uptight and disorderly, instead of forming them up into a variety of seriously uncomfortable, stressful and cruel arrangements and then sending the unfortunate horses all over the racecourse as they wait for start time – a process which they have shown they find uncomfortable, a discomfort which has now lasted 18 years.

Bear in mind that all the procedural changes that have proved unsatisfactory during the last 18 years have been the brainwaves of Raceday Regulators recruited from foreign lands and sometimes without any experience of starting big-fields under NH rules in Britain. So it is no wonder that they got things wrong.

Alternatively the BHA could leave things as they are and promote False Starts as a feature of British Racing’s “olde worlde” charm.

Cricket

The England Test team is in trouble of the Headless Chicken Variation. Knowing that Horseracing and Test Cricket are blood brothers I venture to draw the attention of both sports to a relevant fact. The current England Test Captain is a charming young man called Root who used to be a top-hole batsman before he became team captain. The other day I happened to watch him (on TV) being asked to sum up a recent series of games in which England were involved. The poor young man could not string two sentences together and seemed at a loss to know why he had been asked to do something that was so clearly alien to his nature.

A captain who has difficulty communicating is a serious liability. Strangely enough the England selectors have the answer to this problem at their fingertips: the captain of their T20 team (limited overs cricket), which has been ruling the world for quite a long time, is called Eoin Morgan and it is no secret that the success of his team is largely down to his superb captaincy.

Whether he would like the Test captaincy is another matter, but it would be worth a telephone call to find out. I have no doubt that if the next English Test Team consisted of the 10 best players, with Mr Morgan filling the eleventh vacancy, the results would be chickens of a different complexion. Incidentally, he is also a useful batsman and a first-class fielder. Remember Brearley? A very good captain, not such a good cricketer. Inspired the great Botham without him (Botham) knowing that he was being nobbled (influenced). Morgan is Brearley x 10.

Something different

Anyone at all interested in the real facts of life should apply to the BBC I-player archive and have a look at “The Jet Stream and Us.” Absolutely fascinating and extremely digestible – I don’t have a scientific bone in my body and I understood every word. And it all ties in with Global Warming and how much time we may have (if any) before we have to start camping in surplus coal mines. The programme is impressive beyond belief. The history is absolutely amazing. There is more to life than racing, you know.

Trainers 1

In recent weeks I have found myself using the internet to check the full details of maiden races on the flat (maiden races for two and three-year-olds). I make notes of horses that try to run away going down to the start,  that misbehave when asked to load, that cause problems while in the stalls, that miss the break or set off too fast and will not settle – that sort of stuff.

Trainers 2

Why? Because these phenomena are not desirable, and do not necessarily indicate unsatisfactory jockeyship. They more often than not indicate inadequate time, care and attention during the “breaking-in” period.  I would not know how to spell “breaking-in”, let alone how to do it, but I have no doubt that a properly broken-in racehorse should be as manageable and as responsive as a child’s first pony. That area is the trainer’s responsibility.

In 1977 I sat in the office at Manton and watched George Peter-Hoblyn and his wife Susie long-reining yearlings on the gravel of the main yard. Day after day part of the drill was to long-rein them into the stalls, halt, stand still, have a little chat, then walk on. This was before they had been ridden, as far as I remember.  The same principle applied to “gears” when they were first introduced to the gallops. The system of going flat out the moment they got on grass, and having a good old fight for a furlong and a half, was not an option.  They were taught to change gear as and when requested to do so. When they went racing, they were ready.

The amount of energy wasted by horses that haven’t been properly broken-in will make all the difference in the matter of winning (or losing) races. That particular Manton generation won plenty of races. We started our “syndicates” with five cheap yearlings and won 9 races the first year. Two of them went on winning for years and years (St Terramar and Ferryman) – properly broken-in, I suggest.

I was very disappointed when George gave up training. I rather fancied spending the rest of my life at Manton. That was before the whole world became aware that  Paradise was alive and well at the top of a hill just outside Marlborough. Still, I had two wonderful years there. Thank you, George and Susie.

Nowadays the place seems to be very well managed by owner Martyn Meade, with two or three other trainers in residence. Mr Meade’s horses compete at a very high level and his results suggest that he knows what he is doing. I am sure that all who live up on that sacred mountain bounce out of bed at dawn each day with the same amount of pleasure that I felt all those years ago.

Good books

The one you may not have heard of is “Fifty Years of My Life (in the world of Sport at Home and Abroad) by Sir John Astley. He is the best company you will ever enjoy, the best tonic you will ever swallow, the best writer of his particular type of reminiscences that has ever been written or ever will be.

He will take you from Everleigh in the 1840s (Hannon territory nowadays), via  Eton, Oxford and the Scots Guards,  just in time to go to the Crimea and get shot in the neck by a Russian. Back home to recover, and then… back to the Crimea. What a hero!

When he had recovered from his wounds, he and a fellow officer in the same situation went to regimental HQ and volunteered to go back to the war. “No, no, no!” said the adjutant. “You have done your bit. You have shed your blood, both of you. Let the younger fellows have a go!” Astley and his friend rather overdid the patriotism. A few days later they found themselves on a troopship heading back to the front and feeling rather stupid. This was not what they had planned. Luckily they both survived.

When he eventually became a civilian,  about twenty plus years of judicious betting on his string of racehorses kept him in luxury, and it may not have been a coincidence that he lost the magic touch when he was distracted by more public service, whether in racing administration or as an MP or as an entrepreneur.

I rather think that even as recently as Victorian times rich and powerful families had not forgotten the deal that William the Conqueror offered his “shareholders” in 1066: help me conquer, and I will reward you; but in time of need I will call on you to help me, and if you default I will not forgive. Hence eight years in the army and three bullets in his neck for Sir John Astley. Hence one of George Lambton’s uncles became an admiral and another a general – and both could ride a bit! But service to the state was taken seriously.

Astley is indeed a hero and yet he doesn’t take himself at all seriously. He is intelligent, literate and a sportsman through and through. When he has money, he behaves like a gentleman. When he loses most of it, his behaviour remains the same. And the respect with which he is treated by his peers, whether he is in funds or out of pocket, is a tribute to the character of the man. In addition, his account of love and marriage is understated and enchanting. His father-in-law is violently anti-racing; the young couple had to be very careful. Do yourself a favour, reader. Buy this book, read it, and then prepare to keep reading it for the rest of your life. It is in two volumes and quite expensive (second hand) but worth every penny.

I have had two vaccinations (Pfizers is the name, I think). No negative reactions.

If and when a third is on offer, I will seriously consider it.

Best wishes.

Donec.