|
How will the Sport Of Kings remember 2007?
With David Thorpe
 THE flat season
will be remembered forever for the battle between Jamie Spencer and Seb
Sanders for the jockey’s title but perhaps the season should be
remembered instead as the year of underdog.
One of the smaller trainers in Britain, Geoff Huffer, produced Cockney
Rebel to win a Guineas while trainers who have only a handful of flat
horses — such as Jessica Harrington and Tommy Stack — trained
big-race winners.
It was the year in which new stars of the weighing room such as William
Buick, Christy Hayes and Greg Fairley burst on to the scene.
It will be remembered as the year flat racing entered the gutter and never
quite escaped.
High-profile jockeys such as Shane Kelly, Kieran Fallon and Robert Winston
were absent from the track as they served bans for various types of alleged
racing corruption.
It will be remembered as the year of Frankie Dettori.
The Italian is one of the biggest names in any sport and a fantastic ambassador
for racing.
The one blot on his CV of big race wins was the Epsom Derby; 18 rides
and some outrageous bad luck had robbed one of the finest jockeys of all
time of racing’s ultimate prize.
But as it turned out, punters cheering Authorized never had a moment’s
worry. He was one of the best Derby winners of recent years and in addition
to having the most popular jockey in the world in the saddle it also had
one of racing’s most popular characters as the trainer.
Despite the hyphenated name Peter Chapple-Hyam is a working-class boy
who has come to the top of the racing tree through having plenty of talent.
A blistering start to his training career was derailed by personal problems
in his 30s. At that stage Chappel-Hyam dissapeared from British racing,
training with mixed success in Hong Kong and was apparently lost to racing
in this part of the world for good.
But at the end of 2005 Chapple-Hyam returned to Britain but little enough
were his prospects of major success as he had only a handful or horses.
So 2007 will be remembered as the year Peter Chapple-Hyam returned to
racing’s top table.
If Chapple-Hyam was racing’s comeback kid, a close runner-up for
that prize was Johnny Murtagh.
The Meathman won 10 Group One races and was second on the prize-money
list in Britain in 2007.
So whatever else the 2007 flat season will be known for, it was certainly
full of all the stories which make racing the Sport of Kings.
This week’s horses to watch…
Thursday: 2pm Wincanton
TIP: Le Grande Villez
Alan King’s horse has been running well throughout the summer months
and so will be fitter than most of these. That should help him carry the
massive weight on his back and claim another victory here.
Thursday: 2.30pm Wincanton
TIP: New Time
This horse is starting to come down to the sort of weight at which he
can win races and with the champion jockey on board he can certainly collect
the prize here.
Thursday: 3pm Wincanton
TIP: Kaldous
Two recent runs will have kept this horse fit and the stable is in good
form at present. He is due a win and he should get it here.
Friday: 12.40pm Kelso
TIP: Dark Corner
This horse is the bet-of-the-week if he runs. He represents a top southern
stable at the the peak of their powers, has a nice weight on his back
and much the superior form of any other horse in the race.
Friday: 1.15pm Kelso
TIP: Tycoon Hall
This horse always runs consistently, has a low weight and if he gets the
ground in his favour has a major chance. Peter Bowen always does well
with his horses at this track and if the rain stays away he has a great
chance.
Friday: 1.50pm Kelso
TIP: Idarah
This horse is starting to find a bit of form and his good recent run will
have sharpened him up nicely for this challenge, so a major contender
for this moderate race. |
