Mike Cattermole on Simon Dow, Being AP and more

PREVIEW NIGHT SEASON – IF IT’S MONDAY, IT MUST BE DUNGARVAN

It was a high-profile panel that assembled at The Park Hotel in Dungarvan, County Waterford on Monday night. Sir AP topped the bill, alongside Davy Russell, David Casey, Noel Cummins, Henry de Bromhead, Rob from Paddy Power, Carl Llewellyn, Alan King and yours truly. 

Richard Phillips did the auction, the top lot being a tour of Gordon Elliott’s yard for four people. “Come and see all of Willie Mullins’s best horses,” quipped Phillips.

We were all there to help raise funds for the local hospice, which had been providing invaluable assistance to popular former jump jockey Ken Whelan during his ongoing battle with cancer. It was a sign of the affection in which Whelan, a real character, is held and over 14,000 euro was raised.

Some preview nights can get bogged down a bit in the detail. This, fortunately, was not one of those with Russell, as ever, leading the mickey-taking.

I came away convinced by the enthusiasm King has for his JCB Triumph Hurdle hope Master Blueyes, who could not have done the job in better style at Kempton on Saturday and was in the process of avenging an earlier defeat at the hands of Charlie Parcs when that one fell two out.

Master Blueyes has done nothing but improve since an easy win at Ludlow, which King explained had given the grey “confidence” and has been given a new rating of 150. He has to be a player on Friday fortnight for the man who has won the race twice before with Penzance and Katchit.

By then, the King-trained Yanworth might already have won the Stan James Champion Hurdle and if you weren’t impressed by the recent Wincanton warm-up, don’t worry as he was indeed nowhere near 100% revved up for that.

Meanwhile, De Bromhead was in relaxed form. He is enjoying a terrific season, especially as it had started so ominously with the removal of the horses owned by Alan and Ann Potts. De Bromhead has not looked back since and has a chance now of winning both the Champion Hurdle with Petit Mouchoir and Timico Gold Cup with Champagne West.

He pointed out that Djakadam won the Thyestes Chase off 145 en route to his second behind Coneygree in the 2015 Gold Cup but that Champagne West had won the same race off 154. That’s a revealing stat.

Champagne West really does seem a different horse these days, jumping with more fluency than before and is a fair each-way shout at a general 16/1 for the Gold Cup.

Meanwhile, it was fascinating to hear AP’s views on the way Douvan and Altior jump their fences. “Altior doesn’t jump like a speed chaser. Most of the good two-milers I have ridden jump fences quickly but with a flat back and Douvan is just like that. Altior gives his fences loads of air.”

“BEING AP”

I finally managed to see AP’s film this week and I have to say it was worth the wait. It paints an intimate portrait of this incredible sportsman and the producers certainly got lucky in covering what would be the champ’s final season in the saddle.

AP having to abandon, because of injury, his quest to ride 300 winners in a season was a watershed. The champ was clearly gutted about this, probably because he knew that it would turn out to be life-changing. What else was there to ride for? He had broken every record in the book. 

Yet to admit retirement was imminent does not come at all easily and the frank discussions with long-suffering wife Chanelle make awkward viewing to say the least because it was such an important and personal thing. 

Being married to the great man during his 20-year tenure as champion jockey can’t have been easy. But AP and Chanelle are an extraordinary couple and appear to complement each other perfectly.

Their lives are probably a little less stressful now and Chanelle has just been signed up as part of the Dragon’s Den team for the RTE version.

And one thing’s for sure, being able to put on a bit of weight makes AP look younger and healthier now than he did when he ruled the world!

BLOWN AWAY BY CHELMSFORD!

Storm Doris was a serious beast and almost left a lasting impression on me last week.

I must admit, when driving across to Chelmsford City last Thursday when the storm was really losing its temper, I felt racing was surely long odds-on to be abandoned. That was confirmed when opening the car door and almost seeing it blown off its hinges. The news that Huntingdon had already gone came as no surprise.

Yet, in spite of winds approaching 50mph at the old Essex Showground site, we soldiered on. I had just taken up my position to call them to post for the first - for apprentices, not really ideal to use as guinea pigs, given the conditions – when in the space of a few seconds three of the windows (measuring 6ft by 4ft) were blown in on top of me, accompanied by one hell of a noise.

There were shards of broken glass everywhere and yet, miraculously, I wasn’t hurt with only one very small sliver piercing my hand. 

The box was vacated post-haste and I went down to the safety of the broadcast office to call the race. Thereafter, the stewards decided to “monitor” the situation and, to cut a long story short, as you know racing went ahead and was completed but not without the drama of a void race, etc.

On that particular sub-story, we still have not had it explained why the recall lady raised her flag but I wouldn’t blame her for anything that day. The wind was so strong that she could hardly open her eyes.

The point about all this is, how bad do conditions have to be before we call a meeting off? 

Because it’s not just about the conditions at the racetrack, it’s also about the horses being transported in life-threatening circumstances to get there. The QEII Bridge at the Dartford Crossing had been closed that morning and later, the M11 was blocked both ways by overturned lorries.

In the end, racing was completed and everybody returned home safely. But what if they hadn’t?

For me, racing should have been called off much earlier that day. Meetings can always be rescheduled.

DOW ON THE MONEY WITH MR SCARAMANGA

I was pleased to see Epsom trainer Simon Dow bagging a valuable prize in Qatar last week with Mr Scaramanga. 

One of the real grafters, Dow is as talented a trainer as most but ammunition has been hard to come by in recent seasons.

In Robert Moss and Dale Brennan, he has found two owners who want to spend a bit of money, with Mr Scaramanga (formerly with Richard Hannon) costing them 90,000 guineas at the Tattersalls Horses in Training Sale last October.

That amount has ben repaid with interest now after his win in Doha’s Al Biddah Mile, worth over £115,000 to the winner.

Dow said: “We bought the horse to go to Dubai but he didn’t run very well in his trial race at Newcastle so we decided to have a go at this instead.”

Quite an effective Plan B!

Moss, who owns an electrical company, has been with Dow for around a decade but mainly as a part-shareholder before and now, bringing in his friend Brennan and Harry Redknapp too, they are looking to buy and race a better quality type of horse. 

Dow has certainly been kicking on since returning to Clear Heights Stables following a fruitless time at nearby Thirty Acre Barn. It must be good to be “home” again.