shishkin first, energumene as good as a winner.

​I refuse to allow myself to get over-excited by novice chases or hurdlers. Its taken most of my adult life to come to terms with the disappointment of so many potential swans revealing themselves to be workaday geese when they have to step out of junior class to attend the grammar school of the big boys. The list of geese is long, with Goshen the latest to kick me in the nether regions of false hope. More about him later.
In their pomp neither Sprinter Scare nor Altior had need to shovel more coal on the fire as they were so far advanced than their rivals they both won top races without breaking sweat. But the truth is neither of those brilliant horses met such a foe as mighty as Energumene. On Saturday I was, for the first time in his short illustrious career, impressed beyond words with Shishkin.
For the first time, I believe, Nico de Boinville had need to get serious with Shishkin and when push came to shove his mount grasped the bit and scrapped the resolve out of Energumene, just. At no point did I think he would prevail, believing, along with the majority, that Energumene had him all ends up. We were of little faith. Great horses, the truly great horses, can win ugly as well as with sublime majesty, as has been the habit of Henderson’s triumvirate of 2-mile champion chasers. Shishkin isn’t the champion yet, and it is not beyond reason that Energumene might enact his revenge come March, but I doubt if there are many people left who would empty their wallet to back the Irish horse if Shishkin is in opposition.
Why Shishkin is called Shishkin I am not aware but it is a happier and more appropriate name than Energumene, the French word for oddball. He is no oddball, at least not on the racecourse, though oddball is easier to remember and pronounce than the name some oddball Frenchman christened him with.
Paul Townend did the sport a great favour on Saturday. Rarely these days do we see genuine sporting behaviour, yet yards after the finishing line Townend trailed a hand for de Boinville to grasp, offering congratulation to his rival, perhaps while his heart remained clenched in the disbelief of defeat.
And the spectators echoed Townend’s display of sportsmanship, their cheers drowning out Matt Chapman’s interview with the winning jockey and then honouring de Boinville, as did his weighing room colleagues, with a heroes reception. If only the trolls on social media would realise that Nico de Boinville is accepted by his colleagues as a brilliant horseman and a fine human being. He is liked and respected by his peers and no one gives a damn about his lineage.
I doubt if we ever got to know how good Sprinter Sacre and Altior were in their pomp as they raced in isolation, having no worthy opponents. Shishkin has not only got Energumene to worry about, he has Greanateen and Hitman not too far in arrears of him, as well a few good horses hiding in the wings, with Captain Guinness perhaps the best of them. March 16th cannot come quickly enough.
In a comment on YouTube after watching the nominees for the December ride of the month, I asked why the award should always go to a jockeys’ winning ride? I was not being facetious, even if I received the reply ‘well, it is about winning, dah’. Is it, all about winning? Jamie Moore was beyond outstanding on Sunday on the enigmatic monster that is Goshen. How many jockeys would have steered Goshen around Lingfield, let alone to finish within a couple of necks of the winner? How many jockeys would persevere 7-days a week with a horse as intransigent and mystifying? Jamie Moore was magnificent both on and off the horse on Sunday. To Matt Chapman after the race, he admitted to ‘having the hump with the horse’ and yet as soon as the interview was over, he stopped on his way to the weighing room and no doubt a pow-wow with his father, to sign a young lad’s autograph book. The Moore family are a credit to the sport and wonderful people; Goshen owes them and he owes them big-time. The January ride of the month should go to Jamie. It’s not about the winning; it’s about the taking part and going beyond what is humanly possible to persuade a bugger of a horse to cooperate once in a while.