Friday, December 18, 2009

The elusive Kevin

Those of you with enough time on your hands to read John's blog will know he's been stalking poor Kevin Peckham, former jump jockey now assistant to William Haggas. John's great misery over the past months has been his failure to capture KP on what used to be known as celluloid but is now presumably pixcels or similar.

Little does he know that in the course of a very enjoyable commission for W Haggas this year, which was to produce a book of photographs for the yard's owners, I have had more-or-less free-range access to Kevin and have a number of photographs that have been kept hidden...until now. Here he is, deep in conversation with another former jump jockey, Robert Stephens. Quite what Kevin would make of it all if he ever logs on to BHS.com I don't know but he is certainly gaining a kind of cult status in this house.

As the main site shows, Christmas came a week early to Newmarket and we woke up to a proper covering of snow this morning. It was lovely to be out and about on such a gloriously fresh morning. Gay Jarvis took her daughter Jackie's 20-year-old eventer out for a spin with their string and it's great to hear from Gay that Michael is coming along well after his operation. He is certainly one of the town's most respected and best liked trainers and we all wish him a full recovery ahead of the 2010 season. Alongside Gay, Michael has a more than able deputy in the form of Roger Varian, who has just announced his engagement to Hanako Sonobe. It was particularly impressive to hear that Roger proposed to Hana in Japanese and in front of her entire family. Good onya Rog, and may you both be very happy together.

1 comment:

PixForU said...

How amazing to catch a glimpse of Kevin. I knew him and his parents during a stint in KY some years ago and lost them all through the movement of time. I'm sure his dad, M R C Peckham has left us, but it was nice to see Kevin looking well.... I happen to have a few pix of the elusive Kevin myself.