Fantastic day

I'm showing my age and my appalling taste in music by naming a blog entry after a Haircut 100 song (I still swoon at the thought of Nick Heyward in a chunky knit Arran sweater even after all these years) but there's really no other way to describe this morning on the heath.

There are dark days in racing - losing Struck Lucky and Desiree's foal have been two of the worst this year - and there are great days when the yard sends out a winner and Anis Etoilé and To Be Or Not To Be have lifted spirits in that department in recent weeks. All the frightful, dark, wet, cold, horrible, windy days that Newmarket's 4,000 acres of open space can throw at you through the winter (and often the summer) are swiftly forgotten on a day like today. For friends far away and for anyone who is simply interested in what goes on in one of the town's smallest stables of a Saturday morning, here's a quick recap of the action so far on this gloriously sunny day:

John and Aisling pulled out at 6.45am on Ethics Girl and Stardust Memories for a piece of work up the Al Bahathri. I tootled up there with the dogs in the car to take some photos. We hit a quiet spot there, which was great until we realised the gallop was being harrowed half an hour earlier than usual as so many horses had been up there since 5.30am - the very firm ground in this area at present means most trainers are reluctant to work their horses on the grass. Luca Cumani's string was heading over to the Limekilns but otherwise, most of the trainers on the Bury side of the heath were using the all-weather Al Bahathri mile.

One very smiley face to greet us at the top as he waited to ride work for Luca was Kieren Fallon, who had a good laugh at John in his shorts (who wouldn't?). As I waited on the viewing platform to take some shots, William Jarvis arrived to watch five of his string gallop just behind John and Aisling, who had circled for ten minutes at the bottom waiting for the tractor to leave the gallop. William commented on how absolutely still it was out there and he was spot on. Apart from us chatting, the only sound was birdsong and there wasn't a breath of wind as we waited to pick up the distant drumming of hooves, growing ever louder as our horses approached. It's a noise that never fails to give me goosebumps of excitement. All went smoothly for our two, with Ais reporting that she felt Stardust had improved significantly from her previous gallop: an encouraging thought as we await her debut in a month or so.

Next lot we were joined by Batgirl's owner Tony Fordham and his father. Batgirl and Anis took to Long Hill for a strong canter under Hugh and Gemma. They may seem a mismatched pair - a four-year-old bumper winner and an unraced two-year-old - but the little chestnut filly is picking up all the time and it's nice to have her out for a routine exercise with a more experienced older horse. As we waited for them to come around the top and back down the side of the Moulton Road we stopped to watch Mark Tompkins' string having a pick of grass and having their photographs taken by Claire Hollest for Mark's excellent website.

Gail Hacking, my great friend (and life-saving physio), who is assistant to William Haggas, sauntered past on the snowy white stable hack Sailor Jim. I have Priscilla, Queen of the Desert on my mind as Hugh and Hayden are off to London tonight to see it on stage and I think the accompanying photograph could easily be captioned: Gail, Queen of the Heath. Another equally white (grey) but tinier mount was that of young Tom Fanshawe (below), son of James and Jacko, who was out supervising his father's string on his slightly fresh but pretty well behaved pony. It looks as if Pegasus Stables will be in safe hands for at least the next generation.

Third lot involved Panto and me lumbering into action with a steady canter up Warren Hill leading two new two-year-olds Asterisk (by Fantastic Light) and a gelding by Whipper, ridden by Hugh and Suze. This is only the first week of cantering on the heath for both of them and they've handled the excitement admirably. We could have done without an unidentified string roaring up behind them on Warren Hill - it wouldn't have taken a huge amount of brain power for those coming on to the canter behind this pair that we jumped off steadily and that both look like very young, inexperienced horses so should be given some time to get away on up the hill. Still, no harm was done but it would be nice if people had better manners.

We were without Martha today as it's her birthday and she had an exam to do this morning. Once she has that out of the way, let's hope she enjoys the rest of her birthday as much as I've enjoyed the start of it.

Now it's off to the races to salute Anne 'Scrivy' Scriven, who turns 75 this week and has a race named after her at Newmarket today. Scrivy was racing secretary to Cecil Boyd-Rochfort for 15 years, then to Henry Cecil for 21 and, most recently, Geoff Wragg for a decade. She retired along with Geoff at the end of last season and is an extremely lovely person who deserves to be honoured today on the Rowley Mile. Just think of all the Classic winners she must have made entries for during her time spent working in those yards.

That's it from me. Just time to log onto iTunes and download the Best of Haircut 100 to the pod.

A notable first

Well, this is a real 'hold the front page' moment. As I was hanging out the washing a few moments ago (oh the glamour of domestic life), word reached me, live from a horsebox somewhere on the M6, of Emma Candy's first winner as a trainer.

She sent out Ahwaak to win the Open Maiden at the Tabley point-to-point for her husband-to-be Rupert Erskine Crum and his co-owner David Redvers. The five-year-old's victory keeps jockey Thomas Greenall in contention in his battle for championship honours with rival David Mansell.

Ahwaak, who resides at James and Tessa Crowhurst's Croxford Stud, is better known to his friends in Newmarket as Arnold and can be seen regularly stretching his legs on the Heath. He's been a bit naughty lately: unconfirmed reports lead us to believe he parted company with the fearless Crum twice in the same morning but, judging from this picture, it's hard to imagine the handsome son of Dynaformer being anything other than angelic. Don't worry Arnold, I'm sure all is forgiven and you'll get extra carrots when you arrive home tonight a winner.

And, even better, when Emma is champion trainer in a few years' time (as I fully expect her to be), I can bore everyone that I was the first person to report on her very first winner, even if it was only this boring old blog that nobody reads.

Many congratulations to the whole team and let's hope it's the first of many!

Anis Etoile to Red Rum

If racing has taught me anything it is to make the most of the good moments as there will always be plenty of bad ones to bring you back down to earth. But it will be a while before I float down from cloud nine after Anis's debut win (pictured here in the parade ring with Seamus Durack wearing the Tri-Nations Partnership colours for the first time). I don't think it's ever been a secret that John has always thought the world of her but when a horse had had a few minor setbacks, as she has in her two and a half years here, there's always a worry in the back of your mind that she simply cannot stand up to the rigours of training. Naturally, we hope for many more memorable days with her - and she seems to have taken her Uttoxeter outing tremendously well - but whatever happens now she can retire a winner. She gave her many owners an absolutely joyous day out and came home safe and sound - for that we are all very thankful.

With all the talk of the mighty duo of Brian and Ben in the racing press this week, it seems the people who run the sport are in search of the magical ingredient to lure more people to come racing. Perhaps attendances are down, the BHA must have the figures, but in the last week I've been racing at Uttoxeter (packed out on a low-grade Sunday jumps card), Exeter (surprisingly large midweek crowd on a wet and foggy day) and Newmarket twice (great attendance both days for what is one of their more run-of-the-mill meetings). Perhaps I'm missing the point but getting people to the races doesn't seem to be the problem. I think the point that is being missed by all but a few of the decision-makers is that while betting, pop concerts, ladies' days, etc., are all very well and important for making racing appeal on a maximum of levels, really racing's greatest asset is the horses and more must be made of these extraordinary creatures.

Admittedly, they are generally with us for longer in the jumping game but the flat has its fair share of perennial stars: Yeats, Sergeant Cecil, Vinnie Roe, Takeover Target (pictured), Quito, Benbaun, to name but a few trusty old stayers and sprinters. And I simply don't believe we can't better 'market' horses of the calibre of New Approach, Dylan Thomas, Ouija Board and co. The only reason I became involved with racing was my love for Red Rum. He lit up my childhood (which involved ponies but no racing otherwise) and his fairy story still brings tears to my eyes. It's the tales of horses such as this (and Phar Lap, Seabiscuit, Takeover Target, Dessie, Overdose, Makybe Diva) that are able to capture the imagination of not just Brian and Ben but Brenda, Bethan, Billie, Bert, Belinda, Bob, Uncle Tom Cobley and many more beyond racing's fringes.

The flames of my Red Rum obsession were fanned once more on Sunday by chance meetings with several characters intrinsically entwined in his story. First up, Richard Pitman, rider of poor vanquished Crisp, Red Rum's first and most famous Grand National victim. Richard was having lunch with his niece in the stable canteen ahead of their run in the charity race and was as jolly and friendly as ever. After Anis's win, the first people to congratulate us were the connections of the runner-up, Empress Orchid, who is trained by Donald McCain Jr. Ginger McCain was also on hand with a big grin on his face as in his broodmare band resides Anis's half-sister Gentian, so another winner in the family has enhanced her stud prospects. Jo McCain, Ginger's daughter, was another jockey on duty in the charity race which she duly won. When quizzed by John as to why she was not wearing Noel Le Mare's famous claret and yellow colours once sported by Red Rum and now owned by her father, she laughed and said: "I'm not worthy". Who is?

Trying to be brave

This week started so full of hope and anticipation of the impending birth of Desiree's Kayf Tara foal. He duly arrived on Monday but was delivered dead, three days ahead of his due date and a week before Oscar was born this time last year.

So it's been a week of moping around feeling terribly sad - a weird feeling mourning an animal we've never even got to know but sad nonetheless because the wait for a foal seems endless and this little man got so close to being here. And, from a very selfish viewpoint, the growing excitement I've felt all year at the thought of having a foal by a horse who was a real favourite on the racetrack has now been snatched away. The one consolation is that Desiree was unharmed during the foaling and seems to have taken this tragic turn of events in her stride with the minimum of stress and unhappiness. Of course we never actually know what an animal feels but the tendency is for us to force human emotions on them. She will almost certainly have been perturbed by delivering a dead foal but anyone who saw her out picking grass in her Norfolk paddock yesterday could not have felt for a second that she was an animal in great distress. She's moved on and now so must I. As I type that I have the oft-used words of my great friend Nigel ringing in my ears: 'It's not about you!'.

Seeing Oscar, Desiree's Sulamani yearling, while I was at the farm was a huge tonic. Although he officially turned one in January, his actual birthday is next week and he's still a long way behind the older colts he's turned out with. He bears strong resemblance to his mother despite being Sulamani's light bay colour (and for those of you who remember Sulamani racing, Oscar is likely to be similarly light-framed throughout his career - let's hope he's even half as good).

Some of you may recall a power-packed chestnut Largesse filly who was here for a while by the name of Chilli Cracker. The colt on the left of Oscar is her first foal by Avonbridge - a horse built as solidly as his mother and certainly bred to sprint as Chilli was very fast, as was Avonbridge. He's off to the Doncaster yearling sales in August so Oscar will have to learn to adapt to life without his friend but for now they are inseparable. Nicky Howarth and Chris Murray do an excellent job of looking after the horses in their care. I couldn't be happier with the condition of my two and I'm sure other breeders who have their horses with them will feel similarly pleased with their commitment to the job and to the mares, foals and yearlings. It's not easy having to break bad news to clients - I know because this is something John has to do on occasion - but they handled a distressing situation in admirable fashion.

Don't tell John but I haven't read his blog for a while (never enough hours in the day to get stuck into the training version of War And Peace) but I do know he must have written something, possibly rude, about Jeremy Vine as he emailed him today to say he had taken the comments 'in good heart'. I suppose I'd better find the offending article, possibly exert my editorial powers in hindsight and issue a grovelling apology to Mr Vine. Sorry Jeremy, but good onya (as our Australian friends would say) for being so sporting. Last year John upset John McCririck and another journalist. I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on his blog before the libel lawyers are onto us.

So much has happened in the last ten days that it's been a blur. The Guineas were fantastic, except for the fact that I'd have loved to see Serious Attitude win. She'll be back though and, in the run-up to the big day, Rae Guest and his wife Rachel Flynn set the perfect example of 'how to keep your head when all about you are losing theirs' by appearing to be completely unflappable and dealing with all the interest in the filly with their customary good humour, civility and complete openness. Rae's an excellent trainer and I can't wait to see how The Serious One, as she has been dubbed by Laura Thompson, gets on in the sprinting division this summer. Good luck to all and, in the meantime, good luck to Fantasia (left) and all her team in their quest for the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches on Sunday. I'll never forget her scintillating debut in the middle of an unbelievable storm on July Cup day. Any horse whose first appearance on the racecourse is accompanied by the God of Thunder must be special indeed.

And for a Sunday engagement that won't attract as much attention worldwide but will have the eyes of this stable fixed firmly upon it, look no further than the mares' bumper at Uttoxeter and the long-awaited debut of Anis Etoile. We've had a few false dawns so I possibly won't believe it until I actually see her jump off but here's hopin'. She's a wonderful filly and her many owners, of which I am one, have been very, very excited about this event for a long, long time. She's fit and well and we'll see what Sunday brings.