The White Turf

This has to be my picture of the week, jockey and Markel Ambassador, Lucy Alexander riding in the White Turf at St Moritz last Sunday.

Lucy comes second on Winston Rocket

First staged in 1907, the event is held every year in February racing on the frozen ice at St Moritz.

Lucy came second in the third round of the 1600m HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubrak Ladies World Championship IFAHR riding Winston Rocket trained by Swedish trainer, Camilla Nillson. It was the first ever Ladies race held on the White Turf.

The event attracts crowds of more than 30,000 and is a magnet for the rich and famous across Europe. The cards are a mixture of Flat races, Trotting races and also a unique discipline known as Skikjoring, which is a trotting race in which the riders are pulled along on skis! 

Markel were absolutely thrilled to see Lucy's picture (in her branded breeches) across many of the papers - the best form of sponsorship in picturesque action! 

New beginnings...

2013 was a rather hectic year for me both personally and professionally (thus my lack of blog communication!) but 2014 has already got off to a racing start and I am excited and inspired by the projects on the horizon.

Last year Racing Post Books was fortunate to publish two great titles in Brough Scott’s Henry Cecil: Trainer of Genius and Jamie’s Reid’s Doped: The True Story of the 1960’s Racehorse Doping Gang.  The former was highly acclaimed as one of best racing books ever - with sales to match the accolades – and the latter won us the prestigious William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.  For a small publisher this is a real achievement and we were all thrilled that this came to pass.

The Racing Post team and author Jamie Reid celebrate our big win!

I have worked with the team at the Racing Post for six years now and frankly you could not find more dedicated, motivating and simply, nicer people.  In addition to the 40 or so annuals we publish, our challenge is to continually sustain the momentum of a strong books ‘pipeline’ and as we go into 2014 we have the bit between our teeth and some exciting titles lined up.  These include a book with the world’s number one eventer, Andrew Nicholson,  and with the horse whisperer, Gary Witheford.  I can’t wait to get out and about in the autumn to attend some of the equestrian events as our promotional vehicle kicks into gear and I expect we’ll plan a few big ‘demos’ with Gary so he can showcase his work in action.  I’ve seen him at work a few times, and visited him at home last week, and am personally inspired to learn more about what he does and how he does it.  I’ve already practised a few of the techniques he uses on my own horses (with some success!), and I hope – and think – that the book we are doing with him, will have a huge impact in the equestrian world.

A foray away from racing will also be the backdrop for a few of the Injured Jockeys Fund’s 50^th anniversary events as in 2014 the IJF will be the official charity of both Olympia in December and the Barbury Horse Trials in July.  At both these events we will host some kind of ‘Jockey’s Challenge’ (all to be revealed!) and it is going to be a tremendous amount of fun putting some of our top jockeys in front of big crowds to see how they get on in ‘Prince Philip Cup’ style activities!!  A list of all the IJF’s planned events are viewable at http://www.injuredjockeys.co.uk/ijf-celebrating-50-years.asp and every race course in the country will also host some kind of IJF race day to celebrate 50 years of the Fund.  It is a hugely important year for the IJF with a programme of awareness raising activities, the climax of which will be the opening of Jack Berry House in the autumn, the eagerly awaited respite and rehab centre – and the north’s equivalent of Oaksey House in Lambourn.

Jack Berry starts work at Jack Berry House with injured jockey Brian Toomey

As well as more projects for The Bob Champion Cancer Trust, I am working again on the Martin Wills Writing Awards www.willswritingawards.co.uk and this year we have added a new prize for the overall winner of a ‘Literary Lunch’ with Jilly Cooper.   I’ll also be involved in the 2014 Mongol Derby www.mongolderby.com and a fascinating WW1 project with the sculptor Philip Blacker. 

So I am set for a busy year but am planning to update this blog on a more regular basis with some snippets and pictures of the fascinating people I meet and the extraordinary places my work takes me…

On a personal note, and after a recent move up onto the Cranborne Chase in the depths of Wiltshire, my ‘leisure’ year is set to be pretty taken up with my two ex-racehorses, ‘Lords’ and ‘Troopy’.  They are both coming along in leaps and bounds (although these days not literally!) and I shall be starting to get them out and about competing, albeit at a very low level!!  

There is an undeniable pleasure having my horses this close to home!

Springing into action....!

I can’t believe Spring is finally here and I’ve just surfaced for air after a rather hectic start to the year juggling a busy work schedule with moving house.

The move came just a few weeks before Aintree to which we returned for the third year in a row for the John Smith’s Aintree Legends Race in aid of The Bob Champion Cancer Trust.  Every year, we like to have a few new names in the Legends race and this year we were lucky enough to be able to add the newly retired Hills twins, George Duffield and Kevin Darley to our stellar line up of the old guard.  The Hills twins brought Frankie Dettori along on the day, which went down a treat with the huge Aintree crowds (it has to be said, noticeably just slightly more conservatively dressed in the arctic northern temperatures!)

As always Frankie works the crowd!

We seem to have become part of the weighing room furniture on Grand National day and Lucy Wilkinson, Bob and I thoroughly enjoy working on this race, something which both the jockeys and the public love and which sets off the day in a wholly good and positive way.  Needless to say, the awareness it brings to the charity, and the donations that come in as a result, make it achieve its objectives on all levels and make the stress of juggling the horses, jockeys, trainers, and owners completely worthwhile (I think!).

Being the first race on the day, Jeremy and I then managed to escape from the crowds to go and watch the John Smith’s Grand National out on the course next to The Chair with the injured Choc Thornton and Ollie Wardle, Alan King’s Assistant Trainer.  ‘AP’ was ‘unseated’ next to us and it was noticeable how forgiving the fence was in its new format.  In previous years, with a mistake such as that this horse would have come down, but with the new fence structure, it managed to stay on its feet with poor AP getting a rare ‘U’ next to his name!  The fact that all 40 horses and riders came back unscathed proved what an incredible job Aintree and the BHA have done working with the RSPCA to ensure that horse welfare is paramount.  There can never be a ‘safe’ horse race, but at least for once, our show case race was highlighted in all its glory and those who knock it were silenced for another year.

The Chair - note how far the spruce extends on the landing side!

Jonjo O’Neill again ‘rode out’ with Bob Champion and cantered in front of the stands before the Legends race, so we are thrilled to be organising a dinner ‘An Evening with Jonjo O’Neill’ on Saturday 28^th September later this year.  In a similar vein to the dinner we organised with Sir Henry Cecil last year, the heart of the evening will be a Q+A with Jonjo between courses conducted by Mike Cattermole and focusing on Jonjo’s extraordinary life and career.  Details can be found on www.bobchampion.org.uk and work for this should keep me as busy as ever over the summer.

 

This iconic image we are using for 'An Evening with Jonjo O'Neill'

The dark side of racing was displayed fully this year with the terrible accident that befell the Irish jockey JT McNamara on the Thursday of the Cheltenham Festival meeting.  Working closely with Lisa Hancock, CEO of the IJF, Dr Adrian McGoldrick, Irish Turf Club Senior Officer, Julia Mangan, our almoner who was on the ground at Frenchay Hospital helping JT’s family, plus other involved parties, my role was to help manage the information being delivered to the press during this difficult time.  Having dealt with numerous ‘crisis’ situations in a professional capacity in the past, I am used to intrusive media but from a PR perspective it is a volte face type situation.  Usually, I need the media to support the work I do and write about the products and services I am promoting.  But in this situation, and certainly in the early stages where things are extremely sensitive for the people involved, I have to almost ‘ignore’ the media and not take investigative calls.  It is an alien concept to a PR and one which you struggle with when taking calls and getting back to people immediately, is something that becomes second nature on a daily and hourly basis. 

I hope though that we managed to strike the right balance between putting the family first but keeping everyone informed, and it does have to be said that the racing media I deal with every day were extremely respectful, and the other more intrusive media were only doing their job in the news driven world in which we operate.

The whole situation just served to make me more impressed with the magnificent set up that is the Injured Jockeys Fund and our almoners all over the country who drop their own lives at a minute’s notice to provide this incredible support to the families of the injured jockeys.  Racing is truly blessed to have such a charity and it is exciting to be part of the planning team as the charity moves towards its 50^th anniversary in 2014.

Another slightly difficult situation I have been involved in in previous months is the launch of Henry Cecil: Trainer of Genius, Brough Scott’s portrait of the Warren Place maestro.  Having spent time with Henry and Jane at Warren Place myself, it has been personally as well as professionally upsetting that Brough and Henry have publicly ‘fallen out’ over the book.  I hope that in time the public reaction to this masterpiece will negate some of the tension.  Sir Henry Cecil is someone I hugely admire and I personally came away from reading the book only having this view enforced a million fold.  I also find Brough Scott’s writing and exquisite turn of phrase unparalleled and I know how much effort he put into getting the right balance in the writing of this book.  My friend Jilly Cooper summed it up in a way that only she can when she said:

“I loved this book.  With any biography written while the subject is alive you have to accept the Brough with the smooth.  This is not a glow job - but what emerges is a fabulously entertaining portrait of a glorious and truly heroic man. Three cheers for Sir Henry!  Bravo Brough.”

I can’t wait to spend a few days with Jilly at our favourite Bedford Lodge Hotel in Newmarket in July as she embarks on her latest novel based on bloodstock and flat racing.

The book!

Finally, last week I was also in Newmarket for the Martin Wills Writing Awards, at which John Inverdale presented this year’s three winners with their awards.  In their 21^st year, these awards have launched the careers of some of the industry’s top journalists and are another example of just how much racing has to offer as an industry and career.  The winning entries, (viewable on www.willswritingawards.co.uk) all original and showing such talent from their young authors are really worth a read (but be prepared to be a little shocked at some of the rather dark subject matter!)

John Inverdale with the Martin Wills Awards winners 2013

Jeremy and I managed to get away to Spain for a few days in January to stay with Richard Dunwoody, who is doing brilliantly in his new role as a very talented photographer, and we can’t wait to return there for a week in May to lie by the pool and recharge our batteries before the next phase of 2013 kicks into motion! Happy happy days! 

Again the last six months have been entirely manic so my first blog for 2013 is going to be a rather lazy attempt delivered mainly in pictures and quotes…

2012 can pretty much be summed up by the horse they called Frankel.

Frankel as a foal, Banstead Manor 2008

There is a joke amongst my Racing Post colleagues as to one’s claim to fame with well-known horses.  Brough Scott has galloped Red Rum along the sands at Southport beach (getting slightly run away with, it does have to be said!), Lee Mottershead has ridden Florida Pearl and Julian Muscat has been bitten by Mill Reef.  Whatever happens to me in the future, my claim to racing fame will always be that I had the extreme privilege to ride out in the same string as Frankel.  I also got to see him at home up close on quite a few occasions in 2012 and spent some memorable time with his connections.  Those few months I shall always remember.  As a result working on our Racing Post book, Frankel: The Wonder Horse last autumn was a real pleasure.  I don’t think it’s possible to ever get tired of reading the Frankel story over and over again or watching those 14 unbelievable races, especially the Guineas, Queen Anne and Juddmonte - the sort of races where time stands still and nothing else seems to matter.

I was in awe of Sir Henry Cecil last year as he battled his cancer with such fortitude and bravery and I think this was best summed up at the time by a quote from Paul Hayward in the Daily Telegraph last October:

“At Ascot, winter was drawing in, but it could not dim the light around Sir Henry Cecil.”

Currently, as we prepare to launch Brough’s long awaited book, Henry Cecil: Trainer of Genius (out on 12 April) this view will be aired by the most eloquent of pens and people will be able to read for themselves the whole story of Henry’s remarkable life and special gift for handling racehorses.

“It was a classic Cecil mix of almost feminine sensitivity and unmistakeable masculine authority.  No words had been said but the exchange had been eloquent.”

Brough Scott (from the book) on Cecil’s handling of his horses

Not only is the book about Henry but all those fascinating characters who have played such an important - and colourful - part along the way.  Like Steve Cauthen:

“Talking to English stuttering questioners was like having tea with your granny.  He had clear blue eyes and a deep Kentucky voice. We were in love.”

Brough Scott on Steve Cauthen

And Lester Piggott:

“Now we had locked him up.  It was sad because whilst it was proven how much he took, no one could ever assess how much he gave.”  

Brough Scott on Lester Piggott

Henry and Lester deep in The Sporting Life!

The book has involved such herculean effort from so many people and I know that it will be reviewed as one of the classics in racing history.  It will be available from www.racingpost.com/shop

Other exciting plans on the horizon include some projects for The Bob Champion Cancer Trust. 

We go back to Aintree for our third year of the John Smith’s Aintree Legends race on Grand National Day – and this year the recently retired Hills twins join another stellar line up http://www.grandnationallegends.com/legends-charity-race.php

Adrian Maguire makes his Legends debut in 2012!

After the success of our black tie dinner with Sir Henry Cecil last year (which raised almost £100,000 for the Trust) we are organising ‘An Evening with Jonjo O’Neill’ that will be held on Sat 28^th Sept at Cheltenham Racecourse at the heart of which Jonjo will speak candidly to Mike Cattermole about  his fascinating life and career.  

Ticket details for the dinner can be found at http://www.bobchampion.org.uk/

As 2014 approaches, we are starting to think about plans for the IJF’s 50^th anniversary and ways in which to commemorate and celebrate this. 

It’s an exciting time for the charity which hopes to have planning permission for Jack Berry House approved in the next few days.  This will open in Malton, North Yorks in 2014 and serve as the North’s equivalent to Oaksey House in Lambourn as a centre of respite and rehab for injured jockeys and sports people.  The rest of this year will see a concerted fundraising drive to work towards the £3.5 million needed to build Jack Berry House.

The architect's design for Jack Berry House

At Oaksey too, things don’t stand still and a recent innovation is the AlterG anti-gravity treadmill (which is like running on air) that aids rehab for injured sports people meaning they can return to fitness quicker.  The AlterG is used in the wider sporting world by the likes of Paula Radcliffe and Rafael Nadal (sadly no sign of him in Lambourn yet!) and is already making a real difference to jockeys recovering and training at Oaksey.

Racing is so fortunate to be able to look after its own in a way that so few other sports do.  Similarly, it boasts some of the best writers and journalists in any sport and this year I am helping the Wills Writing Awards with the publicity as they celebrate 21 years of excellence http://www.willswritingawards.co.uk/

Finally, I’ve been delighted to involved with Equi Vivre racehorse retraining http://www.equivivre.co.uk who had a great piece on Channel 4 on Boxing Day 2012.  My second horse, the recently retired chestnut ‘galloping pistol’ from Barbury Castle, Kings Troop, is currently up there for a holiday and some basic retraining before he comes to me in April.  I’m hoping to hunt him (with added brakes!) when I move to Wiltshire soon.

'Troopy' enjoying his new life post racing

Legends, horses, jockeys, and a goat!

Finally, I get round to writing my next blog.  The major gap since February is testament to the unbelievably busy year that I’ve had.  In the current climate though, I shan’t be complaining for a second and am undeniably privileged to be doing the work I do.

So here’s a quick summary….

On John Smith’s Grand National Day we held the Aintree Legends Charity Race in aid of The Bob Champion Cancer Trust for the second year running – with a new line up including Mick Kinane, Adrian Maguire and Richard Pitman.  Mick, looking as fit as he did when he was sat on the great Sea the Stars for the last time, won in fine style on the Paul Nicholls trained American Trilogy.

All smiles as Mick romps home on American Trilogy

But the winner in heroism would have to go to Richard Pitman. 

Pitters looking stylish coming round the outside!

With only one eye and one kidney and at the age of 69, he still looked pretty damn stylish. His participation did mean the stewards called the jockeys in BEFORE the race though – and they were all given a talking to about fair play!

Always an amazing event to be part of, but involving a few sleepless nights in the organisation process, one of the funniest moments was due to the fact that one of horses taking part, Just Lille, has to travel with a goat.  With Aintree stretched to the max for stabling during the Grand National meeting and us not liking to ask for too much, we had to request permission for the goat to be stabled along with the horse.  A few days later we had to additionally inform Aintree that this horse needed to run in cheek pieces.  We received the response: “Will the goat run in them too?” 

As soon as we’d gathered breath from Aintree, we were straight on to ‘An Evening with Sir Henry Cecil’ on 3^rd May at the Bedford Lodge hotel in Newmarket, in association with Juddmonte and again in aid of The Bob Champion Cancer Trust.

Two incredible people

Brough Scott and Mike Cattermole hosted a memorable evening, with many of Henry’s key owners and friends attending.  As well as a video collage of Henry’s incredible training career, Henry candidly answered questions about his life and talked about some of his best horses, not forgetting the mighty Frankel.   One of Frankel’s racing plates was the star item in the auction raising £16,000. 

My bid for this wasn't enough!

The morning after the dinner I was also lucky enough to ride out at Henry’s again as well as to see Frankel, the world’s best racehorse, putting the final touches to preparation for his seasonal comeback.

Newmarket gallops watching Frankel with Brough, Jilly and Jane Cecil

From Newmarket, I headed to Newbury on May 19^th which was not only Frankel’s seasonal debut on JLT Lockinge Day, but also the launch of the Racing Post’s Richard Hughes autobiography, A Weight off My Mind, written with the help of one of our star journalists, Lee Mottershead.

Hughsie relaxing at home!

For launch, as well as a multitude of media interviews, we held various social and signing events, and the book is selling brilliantly.  It opens with Hughsie in the toilets at Ascot having drunk a bottle and a half of champagne and taken 14 pee pills:

“Never in my whole life had I been so desperate to pee… After peeing for at least 30 seconds, the agony was over.  And then I passed out.”

Brutally honest, funny, serious and un-put-down-able, I recommend everyone reads it.  www.racingpost.com/shop

As the flat racing season galloped towards the Investec Epsom Derby, we galloped on to the launch of another major title and our own tribute to the Queen in her jubilee year.  Julian Muscat’s Her Majesty’s Pleasure: How Horseracing Enthrals the Queen was launched with a photo exhibition in conjunction with Racing For Change at Sandown and then on to Derby Day itself.

Her Majesty doing what she loves best!

We have also recently launched an excellent biography of Clive Brittain by the brilliant Robin Oakley, another must for anyone interested in the art of training and understanding horses.

There won’t be any let up for the rest of the year either as we have a stellar line up of autumn titles including Brough’s biography of Sir Henry Cecil, tributes to Kauto Star and Frankel, an anthology of Racing Post writer, David Ashforth’s genius work, and a ‘Secrets of Pricewise’ book.

My work for the Injured Jockeys Fund has also been fascinating with the competition we’ve been running with Channel 4 racing to create an IJF amateur photographer’s racing calendar for 2013 – results will be announced in September and I’ll post some of the winners pictures up then.  We are also now starting to focus on 2014 which will celebrate 50 years of the Injured Jockeys Fund.

2012 so far has proved to be the white knuckle ride I knew it was going to be.  In spite of the immense pressure of juggling everything that needs to be done, when your job is also your passion, I get far fewer ‘Monday morning’ moments than I ever did in doing previous jobs that were always ‘work’ and never ‘play’.

Combining work and social! 

I also find that the most switched off I ever am is when I’m actually riding the racehorses themselves rather than just them being at the heart of what I do. So my Saturday morning trips to Alan King’s remain the highlight of my week.

And we're off!

2011 ended brilliantly.

Warrior: The Amazing Story of a Real War Horse surpassed all our expectations, and got (and has consistently remained) in the Amazon Top 50 and the Sunday Times Bestseller top 10. As a small publisher this is an achievement that I, and everyone at the Racing Post, is thrilled with. Its success continues in 2012, and last week Matt Baker from Countryfile went down to the West Wight and charged about on the downs in Warrior’s footsteps. He was absolutely exhilarated by it and this piece will go out on BBC1 on 12^th February, and then a few weeks later Channel 4 will air a special documentary they have also made on the ‘Real War Horse’.

Matt Baker in Warrior's Isle of Wight hoofprints!

2011 was also a brilliant year for one Sir Henry Cecil and I had the privilege to be asked by him to go and ride out at Warren Place in December. I had an absolutely amazing morning and will be able to say for the rest of my life that I rode out in the same string as Frankel, perhaps the greatest racehorse we will ever see. To be honest though, I didn’t have much time to gawp at Frankel when he came into the covered school (where the string go before they head to the gallops) as I was concentrating on staying on my colt. Fresh horses they were, buses they were not! I had a wonderful few breezes up the gallops though and at breakfast suggested to Henry that my first lot was rather fresh! “Yes, he hasn’t cantered for a while”, he said. “I thought we’d keep you on your toes!” 

I was again at Warren Place last week and am extremely excited about the forthcoming year in which I have two Cecil projects to work on. The first is Brough Scott’s celebratory book about Henry’s life and career, due out in the autumn. The second is ‘An Evening with Sir Henry Cecil’ at the Jockey Club Rooms on 3^rd May in Newmarket, which Henry has kindly agreed to participate in and which will raise money for The Bob Champion Cancer Trust.  Both of these will involve research into the 100+ group winners that have shaped Henry’s 40 year career as well as hopefully gaining an understanding and insight into the unique talent that has enabled him to first get to - and then return to - the top of his game when it so easily could have been otherwise. I simply can’t wait.

Another huge personality I shall be working with in the Spring is the top flat jockey, Richard Hughes, on his forthcoming autobiography, A Weight Off My Mind. This promises to be a shockingly honest account of his battles with mind and body. Too tall to be a jockey, too heavy to be a jockey but too talented a horseman to be anything else, Richard will talk in detail about how his use of extreme methods to control his weight and the descent into prolonged and deep alcoholism that stemmed from his attempts to defy nature. It is going to be a sensational read, made more so by the fact that Racing Journalist of the Year 2011, the brilliant Lee Mottershead, is helping Richard to write it. 

Along with the Hughes and Cecil books, Racing Post Books also have a biography of Clive Brittain out in the Spring, as well as a book to celebrate the Jubilee and the Queen’s lifelong passion, and relationship with, horses. More about those in my next blog.

The Bob Champion Cancer Trust will be returning to Aintree on Grand National Day in 2012 for the second running of the John Smith’s Aintree Legends Race, again the first race on the card and run over one mile five, starting and finishing in front of the stands (giving the 70,000 crowd a chance to really see their heroes of yesteryear). As well as many of the jockeys who rode in the race last year returning for another crack (I don’t think you can beat that buzz of riding at Aintree!) we have a few new faces to add to the line up this year. These include two of the most successful flat jockeys ever, Mick Kinane and Pat Eddery; the best jump jockey never to be Champion, Adrian Maguire; and BBC presenting legend, Richard Pitman, second in the National twice, including the most heartbreaking National ever when Red Rum pipped Crisp at the post in 1973. Again, people will be able to sponsor their favourite jockey – see www.bobchampion.org.uk – and one of our most fun, if ever so slightly challenging tasks, will be to match the jockeys with suitable horses. As you can imagine, the edge of competitiveness still burns bright and I’m sure I’m in for a few ear bashings before John Smith’s Grand National day dawns!



The Weighing Room, John Smith's Grand National Day 2011

The other event to note is that this Saturday 4th February, the Injured Jockeys Fund will launch their really exciting ‘Photo Finish’ Calendar Competition on Channel 4’s The Morning Line. Members of the public are always asking the IJF how they can help support their excellent work and this offers the chance for budding photographers (or frankly anyone who owns a camera or a mobile) to send in pictures across a range of different categories. The 12 winning pictures will then form the 2013 IJF Calendar with a spectacular Cheltenham Festival prize package for the overall winner. People have until June to get their pictures in and Channel 4 will regularly showcase some of the entries as they come in. We will also be encouraging all the jockeys, who continually are posting pics to Twitter anyway, to send some pics in and we hope everyone really gets behind this.  For all details and how to enter watch the Morning Line on Saturday and see www.ijf.org.uk.

Finally, I just want to say how thrilled I am that the Alan King string is in flying form with some big Saturday winners in recent weeks and a treble at Cheltenham last Saturday. I’ve been riding out there for almost a year now and absolutely love feeling part of Alan’s great team and riding some fantastic horses. With my Kings Troop on his holidays, my most regular ride is probably the terrier-like little Secret Edge, and I went absolutely mental when he came third (with Alan’s Batonnier winning the same race) under a great ride from Charlie Huxley at Cheltenham last weekend. He doesn’t know how to run a bad race and as only a 4 year old, hopefully has more improvement to come.

My own horse, the ex racer Lord's Bidding (just turned 7) has also come on in leaps and bounds recently and our plan is to start getting out and about with him in the next few months. He still retains a certain sharpness from his racing days, so I shall be armed with my ‘sticky’ breeches as we venture out into the competition world!

When you work for yourself, it’s really hard to take time out and to get away, but I forced myself to book two weeks in Thailand over the New Year and get some much needed R + R.

As well as having a fantastic time, I was excited to come back to crack on with 2012 and as I read this blog back, I realise why. It looks like being pedal to the metal all the way, but boy, it’s going to be some ride!




A long way from Barbury Castle at minus 10 on a Saturday morning!

 

On The Road!

From October to December every year, my car becomes my caravan and I spend most weekends travelling to the next race meeting where I juggle signings and interviews for the Racing Post authors, and try to catch a few races in between.

We are particularly thrilled with how Warrior: The Amazing Story of a Real War Horse is doing, already having gone to reprint once and looking like we still may need more to cover the busy Christmas period. When you have seen a little book like this one grow from an initial idea from Brough Scott at the Runnymede Hotel in May to it fast becoming a publishing sensation and selling over 10,000 copies in its first month and with press coverage to die for, it makes all the hours put in over the summer to get it to print on time, completely worthwhile.

We are all looking forward to our trip to the Isle of Wight on 30^th November, where Warrior was born and died, to do an evening there with Waterstones in Newport.  There are still people on the island who remember Warrior, one lady telling a tale the other day how as a girl she was allowed to go and visit him at home as a special treat. The horse was, and remains, a local legend. And if the book continues to do well, one of the plans is to set up a Warrior Trust and memorial barn in the field where he ran as a yearling so people can follow in his island hoofprints...

Brook Beach on the West Wight where Warrior learned to swim - much the same now as it was then!

The Racing Post Annual 2012 and Edward Whitaker’s masterpiece, Beyond the Frame, are both also doing well and we hope to sell loads more copies in the next six weeks. The Annual has some fabulous new content with the inside stories on Frankel, Long Run, Monet’s Garden and plenty more, as well as some great quirky stuff and awards. My favourite is the ‘Ryan Moore Award for Extensive Media Debriefing after a race’ which goes to Tom Queally when Vita Nova was beaten at Haydock after the saddle had slipped.

‘Tommo’ (chasing Queally across the parade ring after the race): “What happened?”

Queally: “A blind man could see the saddle had slipped.”

In autumn 2012 Racing Post Books will be publishing one of our most exciting titles ever, a biography of Sir Henry Cecil, and preparation for this again took me to Warren Place
a few weeks ago to see Henry.  The atmosphere is noticeably more relaxed now that Frankel’s season is over and I had the most amazing time with Henry, whizzing about in his new car Dukes of Hazzard style, seeing Midday’s full sister work and looking around the house and garden with Henry telling me some of his fascinating tales. Sometimes I can’t quite believe what I do for a living and to spend some time with this legend is a special privilege I shall never forget.

Whilst in Newmarket, I also popped in to the Injured Jockeys Fund and Lisa Hancock gave me a quick tour of the warehouse, which is the nerve centre for all the Christmas sales. It’s amazing the business they do (and the business they need to do) at this time of year and I’d encourage all of those who haven’t already done so to take a look at www.ijf.org.uk and buy some of Francome Goes Crackers (with the jokes censored!), Choc’s Choc, a Lady Oaksey Rose, Monet’s Garden jigsaw, or some of their amazing other gifts which all make brilliant presents as well as serving a vital cause at the heart of our industry. 

Another very worthy cause is the Bob Champion Cancer Trust and they hosted a fabulous charity race day at Lingfield last week with a special guest in Hayley Moore, who did her first jumps race commentary. She’ll be giving those boys a run for their money soon!  This week we have a Fish n Chips evening at the Bluebird in the Kings Road on Thursday and are in the process of planning a few very exciting events for next year.  Again, if you haven’t already, please support the charity by buying some of their Christmas cards which are really stunning this year www.bobchampion.org.uk

Sam Thomas and I attended his sponsor Markel’s charity boxing match a few weeks ago and were thrilled to be able to have a chat with two absolute legends in Joe Calzaghe and Chris Eubank.  Sam is really starting to get the hang of the C4 presenting lark too and is getting noticeably more relaxed in front of the camera.  His ‘Dark Horses’ pieces have now taken in the yards of Venetia Williams, Tom Symonds, Oliver Sherwood, Charlie Mann, Kim Bailey, Charlie Longsdon, Ferdy Murphy and Alan Swinbank and hopefully they’ll be more to come over the winter months.




Sam with legends of the ring!

 I also managed to squeeze in a quick visit across the channel to Paris to see how Richard Dunwoody is getting on with his photo journalism course, and he seems to be doing brilliantly so far. I think he has a natural talent for photography and hope to see his pictures in the newspapers at some stage in the future. I think he won’t be giving Ed Whitaker a run for his money though and will have his sights set on subjects further afield – travel, war zones, girls in bikinis…?!!

Paris in autumn - one of Richard's early pictures. Even with just a small amount of training, he already has an eye!

In spite of the madness of the autumn schedule, every Saturday morning I make sure I fit in a slight detour to Barbury Castle to get my fix of riding a few of Alan King’s horses and to hang out with the great staff he has.  It sometimes means having to change for racing in five minutes flat at a motorway service station, but it’s definitely worth it to be part of a top jumps yard in full autumn swing.  A few of my ‘rides’ have been running really well – Balzacchio winning two, Secret Edge winning one and coming third at Cheltenham and the legend that is Kings Troop continuing to pull my arms out every Saturday but starting now to get the hang of the hurdling game (with a great ride from Charlie Huxley at Sandown a few weeks ago).  I’ve been riding a lovely little unraced filly too, called Tickety Bleue, who has a really genuine attitude.  I can’t tell you how much I enjoy going there and I find it both the most relaxing and exciting thing I do.  It also means that every day I follow the Barbury runners on racingpost.com and when the ones I ride, or ride with, are running, scare my dog by shouting at the TV!  Happy autumn days indeed.

Washing Habbie Simpson down after a work morning at Barbury!