the weekend's racing.

​I found myself spontaneously clapping when I.T.V. showed us pictures of Cyrname walking away from the last fence at Ascot. The emotion would be the same for any horse who for a moment or two I thought had suffered the ultimate sacrifice but because on Saturday there was so much more at stake, there were, stifled, I must admit, tears of relief, too.
Cyrname, though I personally never considered his rating as the best chaser in training was anywhere near right, is one of our top horses, the star name at Ascot on Saturday, the media’s build-up to the whole day’s racing centred on him and what was perceived to be a virtual walk in the park. Yet, instead of bad publicity culminating from the near-calamity, the reaction of the crowd when they saw the screens being removed and a heroic horse standing, demonstrated most clearly to the ignorant naysayers that the racing public, along with racing’s professionals, care deeply about the fate of horses. It was also heart-warming and pleasing to see Cyrname’s owner, Johnney De La Hay, trouble himself to go to his horse, to witness for himself the depth of Cyrname’s plight and the efforts of the vets to treat him, and to give Cyrname’s groom a hug and a kind word, acknowledging that his suffering far outweighed his own. Cyrname will race again; I doubt though if he will ever again be as good as he was this time last year.
Incidentally, for a brief moment on Saturday it looked highly likely that I was going to have a 40/1 winner of a Grade 1 race, that is until Traffic Fluide also took a tired fall.
I thought the star performance on an interesting and informative day’s racing was not Twiston-Davies big race winner but Ballyoptic who, especially in really tiring ground and with top-weight, looked a thorough and impressive stayer and I am seriously considering rejecting Elegant Escape, who I now consider after his tame effort at Haydock to be a little gutless, as my prime Grand National hope and parachuting in Ballyoptic in his place.
I was also impressed by Neil King’s Nordano who looked a good staying prospect in winning the handicap hurdle and might be worth an each-way punt in the Ballymore at Cheltenham, if they choose to go that way. Bryony Frost, who has ridden Nordano all season gained compensation when she rode an equally impressive winner at Haydock on Sir Psycho in the Victor Ludorum Hurdle. It would be interesting to see where Paul Nicholls goes with him next time as he was as impressive a four-year-old winner as I’ve seen this season. Of course, the form will only be dependable as long as the French horse that came second proves useful. Doubtless, though, Harry Cobden will be in the plate if the horse runs next, be it at Cheltenham or Aintree, as Paul Nicholls wouldn’t have a better juvenile hurdler at Ditcheat.
At first, I admit to being disappointed by the run of Yala Enki, another of my Grand National hopefuls for this season, but on reflection, taking into account the weight he carried and the weight he gave away to the horses that finished in front of him, he ran an okay race. His jumping, though, can be a little indecisive on occasions and I fear even if Bryony can get him to the last fence, when he will be running on more stoutly than most, he will have given away too much ground at the fences to feature at the sharp end of the race. Though I have not seen it confirmed, I assume Yala Enki’s owners sent the horse to Ditcheat so that Bryony could work her magic on him. What is interesting, even if he is now a more consistent jumper of a fence, is that the horse has not significantly, if at all, improved for leaving Venetia Williams.
Of course, all talk of the Grand National at the weekend focused on Tiger Roll and his excellent return to the fray at Navan. Of course, due to the lack of foresight and indeed B.H.A.’s knowledge of the sport they govern, the two-time Grand National hero remains, as of the moment, ineligible to run at Aintree come April as he is yet to comply with the condition that all runners have to have taken part in a chase since last season’s race. As long as the Cross-Country race at the Cheltenham Festival is not abandoned due to waterlogging all will be fine. But what if the monsoon season drifts on into March? Cheltenham has one of the finest drainage systems at any racecourse but it does not extend to the Cross-Country course. To have a situation whereby the most popular horse in training, the obviously most qualified horse to contest the race, is denied a chance at racing history for no other reason than the people who drew-up the conditions of the race did not think to ensure that previous Grand National winners were exempt from conditions applying to other horses. If this comes to pass, how embarrassing will it be for the sport? I just hope Gordon Elliott has a plan b to fall back on to ensure his ‘horse of a lifetime’ gets to the start this time around.