Pocket Power - December 2010 (Hamish NIVEN Photography
Peter Pan: There oughta be a fairy for every girl and boy.
Wendy: Oughta be? Isn’t there?
Peter Pan: Oh, no. Children know such a lot now. Soon they don’t believe. And every time a child says “I don’t believe in fairies”, there’s a fairy someplace that falls down dead.
According to the New York Times ‘Children exhibit a form of magical thinking by about 18 months, when they begin to create imaginary worlds while playing. By age 3, most know the difference between fantasy and reality, though they usually still believe (with adult encouragement) in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. By age 8, and sometimes earlier, they have mostly pruned away these beliefs, and the line between magic and reality is about as clear to them as it is for adults.’
However, Christmas is the time of the year when children of all ages can briefly suspend reality and indulge in a little magic and I was recently treated to a rather special early Christmas present.
In JM Barrie’s novel, Peter Pan is described as a young boy who still has all his first teeth, wears clothing made of hemp and is the only boy able to fly without the help of fairy dust. Much like the fabled Pan, local hero Pocket Power seems to defy the calendar and is still going strong at an age when most thoroughbreds are either enjoying a leisurely stud farm retirement, or advancing a second career.
When I set off to interview Pocket Power, I must admit I wasn’t entirely sure how I would go about it, but trusting in the words of my great hero Monty Roberts – Don’t worry, the horse will tell you – I duly arrived at Milnerton bright and early, pen and notebook in hand.
The Bass yard is, as one might expect, a hive of activity at 8 in the morning and there were lots of horses being walked, trotted and sent off to breeze against the incredible backdrop of Table Mountain. I believe there are 120 horses in the string, but despite the kaleidoscope of coats and the deceptively laid back atmosphere, each one is carefully observed and appraised and sent off with specific work instructions.
Pocket Power heads off to the track with Fort Vogue and the smiling Juan Nel accompanies us across to the rail for a good view. Pocket Power works along the inside, so from our vantage point we get a good view of his right profile. He works in the same distinctive style one sees on the racecourse, head down, neck stretched straight out in front of him. It’s peculiar, but instantly recognizable. They blaze past us down the track and we make our way back to the stables.
Pocket Power’s box is about two thirds of the way down the row, close to the exit to the track. He has a lovely, roomy stable with a skylight and is flanked by Fort Vogue to the left and Blue Tiger on the right. Boy Boy Jevu has been his groom for approximately 4 years now and knows the Champ intimately.
Pocket Power may be a super star, but there are still day to day chores to be done and he has his routine along with everyone else in the string. When I get to his stable, he has already been washed and dried. He is standing in ice boots having his breakfast while Boy Boy grooms and fusses around him. Breakfast is obviously an important part of the day and Pocket Power gives it his full attention, so I use the opportunity to study those bay hindquarters that his rivals are so familiar with.
The shape and slope of his hindquarters are very reminiscent of his sire and it is easy to see why Mike Bass picked him out as a yearling. According to the TBA archives, he was lot 189 on the 14 March 2004 Yearling Sale at Durbanville and went under the hammer for R190k. There seem to be different versions of the story as to exactly how and why he was bought, but suffice to say he is owned in partnership by the charismatic Mr Marsh Shirtliff and Mr & Mrs Arthur Webber.
Having pulled a ligament at the back of his knee as a 2yo, Pocket Power sat out his 2yo season and only donned those wonderful pink, white and blue silks for the first time on 20 August 2005, but what a career it has been since then. Out of 41 career starts, he has achieved a phenomenal 20 wins and 16 places.
He was the first horse to win all 3 legs of the Cape Winter Series. His CV boasts a historic dead heat in the 2008 Durban July, 3 wins in the Green Point Stakes, 3 successive Met wins and 4 successive Queen’s Plate wins.
With a staggering 5th consecutive Queen’s Plate victory (and world record !) in his sights for 8th January 2011, he will certainly be the horse everyone wants to beat. However he is not going to make their job easy. The Kenilworth mile has proven to be his best hunting ground and he has never been beaten there over that distance. Despite murmurs about his age and soundness, his recent Green Point Stakes victory suggests that he is in the form of his life, so his rivals have good cause for concern.
Once breakfast is done, Boy Boy arranges an EMT machine across those broad bay hindquarters and Pocket Power carefully rearranges himself to look out over his stable door. He moves with a great deal of deliberation and I get the feeling this is a bit of a ritual for him and that he likes order and routine in his life. Boy Boy leans over the door to shout to some of his friends and Pocket nudges him affectionately in the back. Curiously, it is also the only time I see Pocket Power looking directly at someone – most of the time he stares off at some distant point on the horizon.
While he is enjoying his EMT treatment, he graciously allows me to slip into the box and stroke that glossy coat. He’s a little smaller than I expect and Mike later confirms that he stands a surprising 16h1 and a half hands high and weighs 540 kg.
He has neat ears and the most unusually large, clear eyes. His small star is set high on his forehead, situated slightly off-centre and towards the right. There is a little whorl in the middle which, if you are into whorl placement analysis, would suggest an intelligent, but potentially complicated character.
Mike confirms that he’s always been quite quirky and it is clear that Pocket Power has very definite ideas about life. On his first win (over 1600m at Kenilworth on 15 November 2005) I’m told that as the connections led him in, he baulked so violently at the change of footing from the parade ring onto the carpet in the winners box that he backed clean out of his bridle ! He has refused to enter the winner’s box ever since, so despite his 20 wins, he has never graced the winner’s enclosure. Mike tells me that this emphatic backing up is his trademark reaction to anything that upsets him. He also dislikes parading in front of the stands before a race and will generally only walk a short way along the rail before whipping round and making for the start.
So an interesting character indeed!
Fortunately there’s no evidence of that on my visit. He very equitably lets Boy Boy finish grooming and remove the equipment – all without needing to resort to that lovely halter with his brass name plate on the side. When the ice boots come off I notice that the concussion pads are gone from his feet and by the dapples and gloss on his coat, he looks to be in the condition of his life.
I push my luck and ask if we can take him out into the sunshine for a few photos. I know it is a big ask to disrupt his routine, but the Basses kindly acquiesce and Pocket Power surprises all of us by posing as though he does this every day of the week. We savour our moments in the sunshine and all too soon Boy Boy returns Pocket Power to his box.
I have bemoaned the lack of publicity and support of this wonderful horse before. We are so rarely graced with horses and stories like Pocket Power. In Britain, characters of his caliber are referred to as national treasures and Pocket Power truly is a living legend and a rare jewel for local racing. We are so very lucky to have him and if you attend only one race meeting next year, I implore you to make it the l’Ormarins Queen’s Plate on 8 January 2011. If you can’t make the 8th, then the Queen’s Plate gallops are scheduled to take place at Kenilworth on 26 January, approximately an hour before the first race.
I’ve said before that this horse truly is a little piece of magic for racing. Whether he will manage the incredible feat of a 5th Queens Plate victory in a few weeks’ time, only time will tell. But while I may be getting a little old for fairies and Father Christmas, I still believe in magic. Do you ?
May I take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and happy festive season and I hope to see you all at the races in 2011 !
