He presented the big race to an ITV audience of 834,000 people on Saturday - check out our man's thoughts on a wonderful afternoon of racing, across the country.
More, more, more after Clarence House Classic
I left Ascot on Saturday asking myself the question – how can we get more clashes like the one we saw in the SBK Clarence House Chase?
It felt incredibly special, a real ‘I was there’ moment. You can tell it’s a big day when during the week on Andover high street I was being endlessly stopped and asked, ‘What camp are you in – Energumene or Shishkin?’
My big hope now is that this is a rivalry that will carry on for years to come as there’s no better way to engage the wider public.
Saturday’s race has given the season real lift-off as everyone is already looking forward to the Cheltenham Festival rematch where I think Energumene will have his work cut out to turn the form around in the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Like many I thought if he was ever to beat Shishkin it would be right-handed at Ascot. In the race everything went for him, he got into a brilliant rhythm, barely touched a twig and had the rail. In contrast, his rival made his mid-race error and at various times looked up against it.
But just as Mick Fitzgerald had predicted, he had the final kick to pick his rival up late.
It’s so rare these days we get a clash like that to look forward to. Just look at the build-up we had across social media, the digital platforms and in the newspapers. Then for the race to live up the billing was unbelievable.
I’m not sure whether it’s the best I’ve ever seen – there’s always recency-bias built into these things – but it has to be right up there.
The things I’ll never forget from Saturday were the Ascot roar, the sportsmanship that followed from the two jockeys involved in the finish, the classy response from both trainers and the reception Energumene received when he came back into the paddock – he was greeted like a hero.
But the reception for Shishkin? It eclipsed anything I’ve ever experienced at the track – including Frankie Dettori returning on a high-profile winner at the Royal meeting. It was electric, a spine-tingling moment.
As was seeing the weighing room all come out to congratulate Nico De Boinville. We had 834,000 people watching it on ITV4 and if I’m honest, as I said beforehand, not many of that audience will have heard of Energumene prior to the race. They certainly have now.
Both horses – off the back of that race – are in the consciousness of the wider sporting public, and that’s exactly the one we need to engage with. It was the icing on the cake from a wonderful afternoon.
Famous five on Saturday
On Saturday morning I had five stories on my wish-list – and to be honest would have settled for one of them. But all five landed.
1. Jonbon staying in the Sky Bet Supreme picture with victory in the Rossington Main at Haydock. He did – albeit in workmanlike fashion – but it keeps the pot boiling for what at the moment looks like being one of the races of the Festival, although the Champion Chase might suddenly have a say about that.
2. Tommy’s Oscar winning the New One Unibet Hurdle for the Hamiltons. They are developing into one of the best feelgood stories in the sport right now and are right up our street on ITV.
I confess to having slightly fallen for Ann and I just loved her words after the race, saying: "We have to have a go" in relation to the Champion Hurdle itself.
What a brilliant attitude and for a lady, approaching her 70th birthday, who trains six horses in Northumberland to be preparing to take on De Bromhead, Mullins, Henderson and all on racing’s biggest stage is fantastic. With my ITV hat on I couldn’t ask for more; Ann Hamilton you’re a diamond.
My eyebrows were raised when the sponsors handed me a quote of 50/1 for the Unibet Champion Hurdle afterwards. Take out Honeysuckle and it’s a race that lacks depth. Maybe he's a bet in the market without the favourite, picking up the pieces late.
3. Royale Pagaille going back-to-back in the Peter Marsh. On any normal Saturday the class act successfully conceding weight all round in a competitive handicap would have made him our headline player. He was so brave and I’ve never seen Rich Ricci so happy after a winner.
That’s some compliment when you consider the days the likes of Vautour, Faugheen, Annie Power, Douvan and Monkfish have given him over the years.
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4. Yala Enki winning the BioWaveGo Portman Cup at Taunton for a third time for Joan and Clive Hitchens.
They’ve become firm friends of the show on ITV and are as nervous a couple of owners as I’ve seen on zoom before a race. I hope Saturday gave them a real kick and it was a great story with Bryony Frost aboard again.
5. Finally, I just wanted a real contest in the Clarence House and it delivered in spades. David Bass’ quote afterwards that First Flow’s performance in third was even better than the one he produced to win it the year before summed up what a great race we were treated to.
Hats off to Winter Million team
Elsewhere, Martin Cruddace and his ARC team deserve enormous credit for making the Winter Million happen, firstly with the concept and prize-money involved and secondly with all the hard work to make Lingfield raceable after what the elements threw at them.
There were some really good initiatives over the three days, none better than Sunday’s Fleur De Lys Chase whose £150,000 prize fund attracted a really good field and a brilliant finish with Two For Gold winning for one of the game’s great big-spending owners, Oli Bell, and more importantly the rest of the May We Never Be Found Out Partnership.
A huge shadow was cast over the contest by the loss of Master Tommytucker, however. My thoughts go out to those close to him and I urge you to read the words of Harry Derham on social media which show just how much these horses mean to connections.
The only downside was Friday which showed creating more races, even with good prize-money, isn't necessarily the answer to racing’s problems. The Cazoo Hurdle, a £50,000 contest, attracted a pretty dismal field of four and underlined just how few good horses there are at the moment – and how many opportunities they have elsewhere.
Jumps racing needs to look at reducing the number of these graded contests and make the ones that remain more enticing – that would answer the question I posed at the start – how do we produce more big clashes like the one we saw in the Clarence House?
As David Ord argued in his Sunday column on these pages – it really is a case of when less can mean more.
Our new day on Friday covering day one of the Winter Million was watched by over 400,000 on ITV4, which for a new concept on a Friday afternoon we were delighted with.
The whole weekend felt like a springboard, the gathering of momentum, which is so crucial for any sport. We continue this week with Festival Trials Day at Cheltenham and Doncaster’s Sky Bet Chase before the Dublin Racing Festival.
And I'm delighted to announce that we'll be showing the Sunday action from Leopardstown - featuring Honeysuckle in the Irish Champion - live on ITV Racing. I can't wait to bring more top-class racing to our audience, who after Shishkin versus Energumene, know exactly how great our sport can be.