Already a subscriber? Log in
Mrs Oakley, coper extraordinaire, sailed through unscathed and polished her halo by sending me off to Newbury on New Year’s Eve despite having to prepare a celebration dinner. When that tax bill is paid, I will be looking for a good jeweller.
There is no better restorative than a cracking day’s racing. I arrived too late to back Andy Turnell’s Gotoyourplay, the 14–1 winner of the first but no matter. Andy needed the winner more than I did. He was unlucky enough to lose the promising Mountain Song in Newbury’s hideous electrocution incident. Lately his horses have been running well without winning races — three youngsters were placed the previous week in good company at Ascot — and when the economic blight is cutting your numbers fashion is everything. Hopefully a 14–1 Saturday winner will help one of Britain’s most realistic and friendly trainers turn the corner.
Philip Hobb’s Fingal Bay won again, though not at a price to aid the tax bill much, and Alan King’s Vendor impressed, too, in the juvenile hurdle. He had been comfortably slipstreaming the leader until a mistake at the last cost him momentum. Getting going again on the sticky ground wasn’t easy and he showed class in recovering to win. The same applied to Nicky Henderson’s All The Aces
We crowded to congratulate Richard Johnson on riding his 100th winner of the season, a feat he has now performed for a staggering 16 consecutive seasons. In any other era this ultimate professional would have won jockeys’ championships galore but because he rides simultaneously with the incredible Tony McCoy Johnson has still to win his first. The good-natured rider just smiled and promised, ‘I’ll keep trying. I’ll keep chasing,’ claiming to total disbelief, ‘I just steer them round.’
These modest jumping boys are true sportsmen. Another of the best is the quiet man who has come down from the north, Denis O’Regan. Howard Johnson’s forced withdrawal from the sport painfully lost Denis his stable jockey position after he had ridden Cheltenham Festival winners like the great Inglis Drever. Now based in the Cotswolds, he rides regularly for Victor Dartnall, Paul Webber, Tom Symonds and David O’Meara.
You won’t see a wiser, more patient ride than Denis gave Andy Turnell’s Gotoyourplay even if it did earn him a couple of days’ holiday when his mount wandered after the last. With 200 winners under his belt in Ireland (he rode for Francis Flood and Noel Meade), the softly spoken Irishman with the open face has plenty of experience, but has had to reinvent himself. More and more trainers are snapping him up for rides and the results speak for themselves with 35 victories this season.
Two of his regular employers, David O’Meara and Tom Symonds, are young men making a name for themselves and O’Regan has arrived at the right time, expanding his horizons thanks to his dependability and adaptability. It is not a word you hear often today but he means it when he calls himself a humble man: ‘I’m humble enough to ride anything. With Howard Johnson, I had three years of looking forward to big races at the weekends. Now I appreciate the midweek winners, too. I appreciate them all and if I keep on riding winners then maybe I’ll be getting back on some top-class horses, too. All I want is an injury-free season.’ Nobody deserves it more and with rides like Time For Rupert and Australia Day coming his way, I reckon Denis’s point is already proven.
Also in Society
Latest
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in