starting stalls, not so sleepy & NORTON/BURKE.

​It is too easy for someone like me, someone looking-in from the comfort, or in my particular case an uncomfortable settee, and question the efforts of people who are far more skilled than I shall ever be and with far greater experience.
Stalls handlers, on a daily basis, go where the rest of us fear to tread. Horses, I believe, never want to kill or injury people; they do though feel a need, when in the mood, to break the bond of trust and push people away. Stalls handlers walk this line and it is only through their innate knowledge of horses and the kindness of fate that it is a rare occasion when one of the team gets injured during the course of their work. They are, to an extent, the forgotten heroes of the sport, with, perhaps, only jockeys who are wholly appreciative of their efforts.
I do often wonder if the loading procedure could be more hastily executed. Routine, as advocated by none other than Aidan O’Brien, is key to keeping horses calm and the present system of odd numbers first and then even numbers, project, to the eye of the horses, a jumbled effect which, I suggest, the overly-excited or agitated horse would find confusing. I dare say the present method was the result of scientific trials and is in use throughout the racing world. Yet what I see is half the handlers standing around waiting for an obdurate horse to be loaded, whereas I would like to see stall 1 loaded first, then stall 2, stall 3 and so on, with the next horse to be loaded always waiting a few yards away to step forward. And as with many other people, I am of the opinion, despite the brilliance and bravery on behalf of owner, jockey, trainer and punter alike, of the handlers, obdurate horses are given too much rope and should only being given two attempts to load or a time limit. I am convinced horses loaded early, if they are overly-excited or nervy, are disadvantages by having to wait, especially if they cannot see where the fuss and bother is coming from.
Loading could be snappier, that is all I am saying. Some horses do not need a handler to load as they will just walk straight in. If jockeys were to say ‘mine will load on his own’, this will free-up handlers to go to the next horse to load. The fractious horses, no matter the system of loading, should be left to last, the privilege coming with restrictions on time they will be allowed to load.
Getting races off on time should be considered as important, if not more so, than the rights of those connected to horses that are difficult to load. I am interested to know if 1, 2, 3, would work more efficiently than 2, 4, 6, or 1, 3, 5.

Some Saturdays you, or at least I, look at the tv. racing fare and think ‘bit ordinary’ and fear falling asleep, as I did halfway through ‘The Morning Show’ yesterday. On Saturday morning, that was my opinion. Come 4 in the afternoon and my cynicism was thrown to the wind. It was memorable day. Top of the shop was Not So Sleepy winning the Autumn Cup at Newbury at the remarkable age of 12 and in the manner he might have won a similar grade of race 6, 7 or 8-years ago. 12 is old for a 3-mile chaser, for a flat horse it is as rare as good news. Yes, horses will occasionally win at that age on the flat but normally it is race at the lowest end of the scale. Not So Sleepy won at Newbury in what was a good class handicap, giving away weight to most of his rivals and age to all of them.
We will miss him, though not so much as Hughie Morrison and his staff. As he said of the old boy last season. ‘He’s a challenge. Every morning, I ponder what exercise to give him and every morning he decides whether he wants to do it.’ Hurdles and the flat came alike to him when in the mood and we will always remember both the chaos he caused in the Fighting Fifth as much as his wins in that race.
I hope he lives a long and happy retirement.
Then there was Karl Burke training the first 3 home in the ultra-competitive Ayr Cup Gold.
Frannie Norton ending his career with 3-winners at Chester.
If it were fiction, the reader would hardly believe it. Yet, yesterday, in the real world of no-holds-barred horse racing, a 12-year-old won on the day of his retirement, a trainer worried his horses were out-of-form had the first 3 in one of the most important flat races of the season, and another ‘old boy’ rides 3-winners on the day of his retirement. All it lacked was Karl Burke as the trainer of Not So Sleepy and for the horse to be ridden by Franny Norton.
But that would be as sweet as National Velvet, would it not? And, by the way, in the book National Velvet did not win the National as it was noticed that Elisabeth Taylor was a mere woman – it was not noticed she was an unlicensed jockey – and was disqualified. Mind you, being an old cynic, I prefer that sort of conclusion to fiction as it is more akin to the ‘never give a sucker a break’ lives we all mostly live. That said, Not So Sleepy brought tears to my eyes.