horse racing: stories of today. 25/05/21

Simon Munir posted this tribute on Twitter: It is with great sadness that we lost our double green stalwart and hero Top Notch today. He ruptured his stomach and surgery failed. He was the sweetest, kindest horse with the biggest heart – since 2014 he won 14-races and participated in 5 Cheltenham Festivals. So many memories. R.I.P. Notchy.
Top Notch was not retired but on his summer break. Nicky Henderson said he was Seven Barrows favourite horse and his entire staff will miss him. This is both a beautiful and cruel, at times, sport and the girl who rode him out every day and adored him also lost L’Ami Serge at Ascot earlier in the year. It is clear his death hit Simon Munir quite hard and, I suspect, Isaac Souede. But it will hit Daryl Jacob hardest, a jockey who makes no pretence that horses are merely vehicles to swell his bank balance but are the cornerstone of his life. Top Notch was his favourite horse, I believe, as he was to so many.

As it is with me, the death of humans, in our sport and in the greater world, do not cut me as deeply as the death of racehorses and the passing of Barney Curley, I admit, is nowhere near as wounding. I accept that he is and will remain a true legend of the sport, though to really know Barney Curley I am pretty certain you would have had to have known him personally. Anyone who wishes to get to know Curley more intimately, other than contributing to his charity Direct Aid for Africa, his support for the poor communities of Zambia, I recommend Nick Townsend’s book ‘A Sure Thing’, an unputdownable homage to Curley’s longstanding need to take as much money out of bookmakers’ satchels as he possibly could. Those who came under his wing, jockeys of great repute like Frankie Dettori, Jamie Spencer, Tom Queally, to name but three, cannot praise him highly enough. To them he is a saint, even if bookmakers have him in the sinner category of human life. The trainer John Butler, once Curley’s assistant when he held a trainers’ licence, said. ‘I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about him (obviously he doesn’t hang around bookmakers’) He was one of a kind. There will never be another Barney Curley, not in a million years’. Bookmakers can now sleep easier in their beds, which will not please the enigma that was Barney Curley.

No jockey riding on the flat today deserves the anticipation of having not one but two live chances of winning a Derby or Oaks than Adam Kirby now that he is confirmed for both Saffron Beach in the Oaks and John Leeper in the Derby. I admire Kirby’s work ethic, his dedication in keeping his large frame in shape to ride on the flat – he was born with the stature of a jumps jockey – and I like him as an individual. And although I will be genuinely pleased to see him as a classic winning jockey come early June, I am no admirer of his style of riding. Effective, I admit, and he can lift a horse home. But it is very much an agricultural style of riding and because he is so tall and must ride with such short leathers to be able to get behind a horse to drive it forward, there are occasions, especially on two-year-olds, when he unbalances his mount and must immediately forget winning in order to get the ship righted and prevent the need for a stewards enquiry. Unfair? Probably but he is no stylist, let’s say. No Moore or Marquand. And in reply it is fair to respond that in the blood and guts of the final furlong beauty and elegance win no favours over sheer determination and will-to-win.
After the 1,000 Guineas I said to myself that if they run Saffron Beach, she would win the Epsom Oaks, so I am glad they are giving it a go and she remains my tip for the race, and though I like John Leeper as an individual, I suspect he’s too immature for Epsom at this point in his career. I sincerely hope that I do not get the opportunity to think post-race that Saffron Beach lost her chance due to becoming unbalanced in the final furlong and is run down by whatever Ryan Moore is riding. I truly hope not.