the racehorse - then and now.

​One of the more favoured horses to spoil Tiger Roll’s party in this season’s Grand National is the Ted Walsh trained Any Second Now, a winner at the Cheltenham Festival last year. At Naas quite recently, Any Second Now won a competitive little race over 2-miles, his winning margin undoubtedly would have been greater if he had not fluffed the final fence. He has a similar profile to Ted Walsh’s last fancied runner in the Grand National, Seabass, and like him I expect a bold show at Aintree, though I fear Any Second Now might run out of juice at a similar point to his illustrious former stable-mate.
I mention Any Second Now for two purposes: one to ask if any British trainer would run a lively hope for the Grand National over 2-miles as preparation for a race over 4-miles 2-furlongs (and a bit)? I suspect not. And secondly to pose the question ‘what is so different about the modern-day thoroughbred that unlike their predecessors they must be campaigned at the same distance more or less throughout their careers?
Perhaps the easy answer is that connections have no need to campaign their horses adventurously as the race programme now dictates a tried and tested pathway through the season.
It is as rare as hens teeth for a trainer to think out of the box these days, as if there is no precedent for going up or down in trip. The Irish will run a Gold Cup horse over 2-miles without considering it unusual and it has become fashionable, mainly to protect a favourable mark over fences, to run a chaser in hurdle races prior to a major target. But that is nowhere near the same as happened in the racing’s past.
Even during the wars, when horse racing was more organised and perhaps more professional than in its opening century of competition, it was not uncommon for the winner of the Derby to revert to a mile at Royal Ascot in the St. James’ Palace before running in the Eclipse and then the St. Leger. It was also unremarkable for a filly to run in the Derby and then turn-out again and run creditably in the Oaks. As four-year-olds it was as good as expected for the previous year’s Derby winner to run in the Ascot Gold Cup and many occasions, as Bayardo achieved, winning it like a thorough stayer, before either reverting to shorter distances or mopping up the Goodwood, Doncaster and Jockey Club Cups. It was not unknown for the previous season’s Guineas winners, filly or colt, to run as four-year-olds in races like the City and Suburban at Epsom or even the Cambridgeshire. And they raced frequently and in times when both horses and trainers had to travel by train to race-meetings. Bayardo ran thirteen times as a three-year-old.
The best mare George Lambton trained, Diadem, ran in both a wartime Derby, won by Gay Crusader, and in the Oaks a few days later, being unplaced in the former and second in the latter. She had won the 1,000 Guineas and yet as a four-year-old she ran in the Salford Borough Handicap at Manchester and carrying 9st 12Ibs won in the last strides by a neck, one of her greatest performances according to her illustrious trainer. When was the last occasion a 1,000 Guineas winner ran in a handicap?
In my opinion, the thorough-bred industry is being done no favours by both horses going to stud before their limitations or long-term soundness is determined and by the cotton-wool regime of trainers in keeping them to tried and tested distances.
We’ve had the ‘will he, won’t he’ procrastinations of Nicky Henderson over whether Altior should be tried over distances longer than his usual 2-miles, his anguish and regret more befitting a botched charge on the battlefield than a question of sporting endeavour. How it would have hurt or inconvenienced the horse at the end of last season to have experimented over 2-miles plus I cannot imagine, it’s not as if he had a long and torturous campaign. I find it equally frustrating that his friend and fiercest opponent Paul Nicholls for two seasons now has teased us with the possibility of running Frodon in the Gold Cup only to take the tried and tested, and less adventurous, route to the Ryanair. If he did not have Clan des Obeaux do you think Frodon would be running in the Ryanair?
I remember a good few years ago, Charlie Mann running his beloved 2-mile chaser Celibate in the Grand National. Of course, he had no chance of winning and everyone gave him no chance of finishing. But he did finish; running a more than respectable race and it made me wonder that day how many other horses might be running over distances that though formerly were suitable but are now too short or even too long?
Why is it that Kauto Star and Desert Orchid could go up and down in trip and still win, while lesser horses running in lesser grades are kept to one distance. Surely if Kauto Star could beat top-class opponents over all distances from the Tingle Creek to the Gold Cup, then why can’t the ordinary handicapper do likewise in their grade of race?
But mainly, for purposes of improving the breed, it would be useful and generally more exciting for the betting and racing public if, on occasion, trainers and owners sought to determine the perimeters of their charges ability over varying distances. They are often keen to go back in distance but rarely if ever take the bull by the horns and live dangerously. If great trainers of the past, Alec Taylor, George Lambton, John Porter, etc, were prepared to cast their judgement to the winds of fate, why cannot their present-day equivalents walk in the shadows of their achievements. Horse racing can only benefit from owners and trainers taking a leap of faith once in a while.