Bernard Fayd’herbe. Proof of the pudding will be in the eating?
The past weekend was one of those where you wish you were never born. It went from bad to worse with having to take horses out as no suitable jockey was available. I am in serious danger of contradicting myself when it comes to jockeys, due to the fact that I did say I thought we were gaining and attracting some really good young riders.
Some of my horses were in some very small races and no riders were available. Likewise, it is really no good planning 12 race cards if one cannot get people to commit to 12 races. Whilst I know it might be financially viable, sadly it just looks like it is not practical or achievable, which I think is a real shame.
I had a fantastic day on Thursday, viewing yearlings at both Drakenstein and Avontuur. The horses are top class, well-mannered and a pleasure to view. We had a lovely lunch with Pippa. Although it is a busy time of year with all the feature races, the sales coming up and the viewing of yearlings that goes with it, it is always good to spend time on the farms.
On Friday I flipped off to Klawervlei in hotel, charlie, oscar with pilot Wayne, Finchie and Craig. This helicopter is definitely the way to travel to the farms – it cuts out hours of travelling. Thursday evening was also the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate cocktail party. We had drinks at Merchant’s in Long Street, followed by a lovely dinner at the Grand. Far too much good food and wine was consumed but I enjoyed every minute of it.
Even in the build up and excitement of the Queen’s Plate, the normal day to day running (and problems) of the stables continues. Many of our 2 year olds are nearing their first run with all that goes with it. We had twenty 2 yr olds at the starting gates on Friday and all 20 passed. This is great news as one particularly has been giving us quite a bit of trouble.
She is a little nervous but is also naughty. We have been working slowly and carefully with her for the last few weeks, taking her to the pens every afternoon and trying to encourage her to stand quietly in them.
It has been an uphill battle but yesterday something just clicked with her and she walked quietly into the pens and stood happily. It sounds like a small thing but the sense of personal achievement was great. She was one of the horses that passed through the pens and went very nicely. The future is golden…
As I said earlier, Saturday was a bad day. The highlight of my misery was in fact the Queen’s Plate itself. My plan for Red Ray never quite worked out and we did not really get him in the race in the position we wanted and were subsequently caught wide with no cover at all. Likewise, there was no cover on course for me to hide behind afterwards, either.
Deeply, deeply disa-ppointing. However, that’s racing. I like to think that no one died but it came pretty close on Saturday – and I am talking about myself. Anyway, I live to fight another day and will have to re think our tactics and where we are going. As always, Markus and Derek were stars.
Poor old King of Pain ran his socks off considering all the misery he got into in the race. I have been mentioning that I am tired of hearing people say that they were unlucky the whole time as it is an excuse which is heavily over used. When one strips it down to its bare parts, most of the time it is not bad luck but rather something else.
I don’t think King of Pain was unlucky: he was unfortunate that he had some tosser next to him who just did not leave him alone, bumping and boring him for the first 400m of the race. Someone eventually ended up crossing him with Bernard having to take a serious pull. But again, that is the way the cookie crumbles and we just have to move on.
Having watched the race over and over, I thought his run was excellent and I know Bernard felt the same and more. I am not going to make a fool of myself or Bernard with what he said to me after the race but hopefully the proof will be in the eating. I thought Dennis Drier’s winner of the Peninsula Handicap, Master Of My Fate, was a seriously impressive performance and he looks a lively runner for the first Saturday in February.
The weekend finally got me to strip down my side of the office and have a complete clear out. It has been years since I last did this and it is past time that I throw all the clutter out. It is amazing the stuff I am digging up and I cannot understand why I kept it in the first place. I am still not quite done yet so had better get back to it. There are also declarations for the weekend. The work just never seems to stop.
