a ray of light, day of two-halves, goshen, decisions, decisions & the workaholic.

​There was something comforting seeing Paul Nicholls interviewed after a race rather than before which has been his plight for the greater part of the season. This was a race Pic D-Orhy on all known form should have won, yet in doing so in his customary style he returned sunshine to the face of his trainer. Sometimes Grade 1’s can be unenlightening, which was the case with yesterday’s Ascot Chase. Pic D’Orhy is obviously a Grade 1 horse over 2-mile 4-furlong+, yet we will never know his true mark as Nicholls never allows him to stray from the set plan. Would he stay 3-miles? Is he a small-field bully? We shall never know. Nice, though, to see Cobden and Nicholls smiling in unison. I suspect Pic D’Orhy has started the ball rolling and by Aintree, Nicholls might be one Aintree National winner away from a 15th trainers’ title.

Yesterday was a topsy-turvy day for Venetia Williams. L’Homme Presse jumped uncharacteristically poorly and was wisely pulled-up early in the race. I am firmly of the belief that the horse has a dislike for right-handed racecourses, perhaps as it puts pressure on an undiagnosed weakness or discomfort. He jumped similarly at Kempton the day he unshipped Charlie Deutsch at the last fence in the King George and though not as distinct, he jumped forever right when third in the same race this season. I will forgive him his lapse, though it is a worry I will take to Aintree if he were to line-up for the National.
Royale Pagaille again ran poorly at his ‘beloved’ Haydock, seemingly cruising into the final bend yet labouring when he hitting the straight. Perhaps the horse is in need of a wind-op. If so, there is still time between now and Aintree, if not to have him right for the Gold Cup.
Yet the day was certainly not a complete disaster for Venetia as Victtorino won the battle against Threeunderthrufive in the valuable handicap chase, though the runner-up gained the greater number of plaudits and the noble defeat might mind owner and trainer to take their chance at Aintree.

In the same race, my favourite horse in training at the present time, Goshen, ran an honourable race back over fences, jumping, apart from one blunder, as well as I have ever seen him, finishing a running-on fifth or sixth and looking like he might appreciate a step up in distance. Would the Moores’ consider running the horse in the Scottish National if the ground were soft? I thought David Noonan gave him a wonderfully sympathetic yet daring ride, always on the inner, always trying to save ground and stamina.

It was pleasing to see Golden Ace back to winning ways at Wincanton, even if she beat Burdett Road, a horse I refuse to believe is a no-hoper for the Champion Hurdle. The problem trainer Jeremy Scott and owner Ian Gosden now have is choosing between the Champion Hurdle and the Mares Hurdle, between Constitution Hill and, hopefully, Brighterdaysahead and Lossiemouth, or, if they take the ‘easier’ option, the latter two, though hopefully not, in the lesser race. Even if the two Irish mares run in the Champion Hurdle, I hope the views of the owner prevail and they go for placed-money glory in the Champion Hurdle. The owner already has a festival rosette to his name; when will he ever again have a horse good enough to have a crack at one of racing’s blue riband events?  Glory goes to the brave, occasionally.

At last, the Racing Post has given prominence to the career of Bryony Frost in France. Yesterday, the first day of the new Auteuil season, Bryony, in the double green silks, won on a 4-year-old bearing the name The Workaholic, a description that would do justice to his rider.
My moaning attitude on this subject, though, does not wholly revolve around Bryony. It is about the prominence of French-bred horses in British and Irish racing and the other British-born jockeys plying their trade in France. I believe it is wrong that the French flat season is reported in the Racing Post while the French jumps scene is largely ignored. I may be alone in my disinterest in flat racing in Hong Kong, Australia and the Far East, yet I would contend during the winter and spring months of the season in Britain and Ireland, French jumps racing is of greater relevance to our sport than what goes on in racing jurisdictions in other parts of the world.