Mike Cattermole column ahead of the Jumps Finale at Sandown
Mike Cattermole discusses all the hot topics in racing including Too Darn Hot's Guineas absence while reflecting on events around the country on Good Friday.
LLOYD WEBBERS' CLASSIC CURSE
Given their sorry recent experiences with missing out on Classics, Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber must have been sitting through the winter dreading the sound of the phone ringing with bad news about Too Darn Hot.
Indeed, their Classic "curse" has struck again when their homebred colt was ruled out of the 2,000 Guineas following an untimely setback.
Some might have predicted this but surely it is only bad luck that has led to Too Darn Hot suffering a fate similar to his sisters So Mi Dar and Lah Ti Dar and their dam, Dar Re Mi, in missing out on a Classic.
However, those three fillies were all due to run in the Oaks and there is still time for last year’s champion two-year-old to run in other Classics.
John Gosden has mentioned either the Irish 2,000 Guineas on May 25 – which presumably would rule out the Investec Derby just a week later on June 1 - or the Derby option could be left open if he reappears in the Dante Stakes at York on May 16.
The champion trainer has been left with a bit of a balancing act here and it will be fascinating to see what unfolds. Gosden will no doubt get a feel for the way Too Darn Hot is progressing. Although he is bred to stay middle distances, it might be that early targets will be over shorter as he starts off his Classic, or non-Classic, campaign.
Whatever, Too Darn Hot’s missing out on the Newmarket Guineas is a big blow to the race, no question, and the new favourite is Ten Sovereigns who has yet to race beyond six furlongs.
Last year's Middle Park Stakes winner is said to have done exceptionally well over the winter and although by speed star No Nay Never, there is a chance that he could get a mile as his dam, Seeking Solace, gained her only win over a mile and a quarter – and on heavy ground – for Andre Fabre.
Will we all seduced by that or the impression that he is a sprinter, pure and simple?
There is still a week or so to go to think about it before the 48- hour declarations are made.
ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE DAY AT BATH
Good Friday is not just about the AW Championships at Lingfield these days of course.
There are some excellent offerings at both Newcastle and Bath, too, with the Somerset track kicking off its season with it’s biggest day and offering a Listed sprint and a couple of excellent £50,000 handicaps.
Overall, Good Friday is certainly a big day in the calendar for Sky Sports Racing.
I enjoy going to Bath most of the time and the team there are highly enthusiastic and likeable, but my Good Friday experience was - and it pains me to say it - something of an anti-climax.
Last year, the card was decimated when the races on the round track could not take place as the persistent rain had caused some false patches and it rightly wasn’t considered safe. (All four races left were run on the straight track and were all won by Franny Norton).
In attendance again this time for Sky Sports Racing, I was hoping that things would go somewhat more smoothly for them. A warm and sunny day was a good start but the downside of that was that there were long and slow queues to get in as the racecourse welcomed a record crowd of 10,500 people.
On the infield, there were some great fairground and other recreational facilities laid on for families and the new Langridge Stand, opened three summers ago now, looked great and was buzzing.
However, it didn’t take long for things to go awry. As the runners were in the parade ring for the first race, the 2/1 on favourite, the Clive Cox-trained Global Prospector, was sent down to the start early.
But then, when the other four runners were taken back to the pre-parade ring, the alarm bells started ringing.
Nobody seemed to know what was happening at first – it took a long time for an announcement to be made - and it was probably an embarrassment to admit that the horse ambulance had not arrived and was stuck in traffic. Why the ambulance driver didn’t allow more time on what was always going to be a sell-out day is a mystery.
Even so, why were we not made aware of this before the horses came into the paddock in the first place?
In the end, the race was eventually off at 2.08, 18 minutes behind schedule. Global Prospector was down at the start for about half an hour, boiled over and ran no sort of race, coming third. Connections of this 800,000gns breeze-up purchase had every right to be hacked off.
This delay then had a knock-on effect on the Sky schedule and there was even one instance when both the Bath and Lingfield races (there were delays for other reasons at Lingfield) were sent off within seconds of each other.
This might have been prevented if there had been some communication between the stewards at both tracks which I am guessing there was not.
This aside, the quality of the racing at Bath was great and the track should be applauded for that as it tries to put behind it some unfortunate stories over recent years which included the sewage flooding into the weighing room and problems with the unloading areas in the horsebox car park.
The sting in the tail on Friday was the struggle to leave the racecourse. It took me an hour to cover the 400 yards to the exit and get out. I sincerely apologise to the members of the next-door Landsdown Golf Club after my ill-fated attempt to escape down the first fairway. At least I didn’t drive over any greens, unlike some!
It was chaotic and tempers were running high with the traffic stewards probably facing an impossible task to disperse the traffic out of two small exits. There were taxis trying to get in at this stage, too.
No doubt the Bath team will look at all of these issues and I do wish them well in sorting them all out. I want this characterful little track to do well.
BILLY MCNEILL LET DOWN BY THE HONOURS SYSTEM
I can’t take the honours system too seriously – there are indeed some very questionable gongs handed out year after year. Then there are some that should get but don’t. It’s all very odd.
That said, there is no question that British footballers in the 1960s fared poorly when it came to being “officially recognised”.
In the New Year’s Honours List of 1967, Alf Ramsey was knighted in recognition of the World Cup win and Bobby Moore was made a mere OBE.
Scotland’s footballers were flying high in the mid ‘60s too and Billy McNeill, who passed away this week, became the first British footballer to lift the European Cup when Celtic beat Inter Milan in 1967.
Yet there was no gong for Billy or indeed for manager Jock Stein who only received his CBE (one below a knighthood) three years later after Celtic had been beaten in another European Cup Final.
In 1968, when Manchester United repeated Celtic’s feat and were champions of Europe, Matt Busby was soon knighted and Bobby Charlton, the United captain, was given an OBE.
The delay to Stein’s award was said to be due to be a particularly violent match in November, 1967 between Celtic and Racing Club, the Argentine champions of South America in which six players were sent off, four of them from Celtic.
Amazingly, there was never any rethink with McNeill, who as player and later as manager, won 31 major trophies with Celtic. The man was a legend.
Yet he was never given a thing.
No, you can’t take the honours system too seriously.
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