Mike Cattermole column including Sire Du Berlais, Nicky Henderson and BHA Chairman Nick Rust
Sire Du Berlais looks on course to defend his Pertemps Final crown at Cheltenham according to Mike Cattermole - check out his latest column.
ROBBIE DOWNEY DESERVED BETTER
This was not a good week for the BHA.
First, their failure to back Robbie Downey was a massive disappointment.
There was more than a shade of déjà vu when hearing about the fate of Downey this week. The young jockey was banned after being found by the French racing authorities to have a metabolite of cocaine in a sample he gave while riding in Lion d’Angers last June.
Downey says he has never taken cocaine and claimed that the sample must have been contaminated. The PJA paid for hair samples to be tested to prove his innocence and, when that returned a negative result, it should have been the end of the story.
It echoed the case of Rab Havlin who underwent a similar nightmare in 2016/17 when samples of cocaine and morphine were found in his test over there. His evidence was also ignored by France-Galop and like Downey, he was given a lengthy ban, one that John Gosden called "an appalling miscarriage of justice".
Judging by the reaction of Paul Struthers of the PJA last week, he feels much the same about Downey whose appeal to the BHA was dismissed as once again, just as in Havlin’s case, they backed up their French counterparts.
The BHA defended its stance and talked of an "international agreement" on such matters. This agreement clearly needs looking at urgently.
And perhaps also have a word with our French neighbours about their testing procedures. Something is not right.
You would have thought that lessons would have been learned after the Havlin case. Clearly, they have not.
HENDERSON’S FURY AT BHA UNDERSTANDABLE
Secondly, what on earth was the BHA doing by not revealing that Nicky Henderson had called to tell them that he was not going to run Altior at Kempton, well before he tweeted the news?
This is an essential piece of the story, which was not in the public domain when I wrote about this episode in last week’s column. I had suggested that Nicky might have felt he needed to contact Unibet, his sponsor, before the news was released but clearly that was nonsense.
No wonder Nicky was fuming with the BHA afterwards when the wall of silence went up. I can’t help wondering how the BHA vet’s subsequent visit to check Altior would have gone down at Seven Barrows.
That the BHA should be silent makes no sense at all. The excuse that they "don’t share confidential conversations with trainers proactively" is not appropriate here and is misguided.
One of our leading trainers wanted to pass on an important piece of information about the country’s most well known chaser and that was it. Whoever took that call on behalf of the BHA should have made sure, after checking with Nicky of course, that the information was made available to the public - within minutes.
Was this the same person at the BHA who once laughably claimed that "horses race of their own free will"?
NICK RUST
Perhaps all of these shenanigans were too much for Nick Rust who announced his intention to stand down as the chief executive of the BHA at the end of the year.
I say that with tongue in cheek of course, but he will no doubt be glad to walk away from such awkward issues.
Nobody can expect a universal appreciation of their contribution in a role such as the one Nick has occupied for the past few years. In an industry that is riddled with factions, that is an impossible ask.
But I think he deserves massive credit as the man who brought in the Judicial Panel in 2016, to be independent of the BHA’s regulatory functions and therefore engender confidence in the sport’s judicial system. It was a brilliant initiative and universally approved.
That was an example of his strong leadership. He is clearly very passionate about the game, has a tremendous work ethic and has gone about his business in an unfussy and thoroughly professional way.
Bear in mind that he was at one time commuting to London daily from his Yorkshire base to be able to attend to the needs of his wife Margarita who sadly passed away after a long illness just over a year ago.
I don’t doubt that over the next few months, Nick will be working hard on the welfare issues that concern our sport right now. He will be keen to make a good job of that.
Then he can sit back a bit and enjoy life in the company of his new wife, Tanya Stephenson. I wish them well.
SIRE DU BERLAIS BANG ON COURSE
When Sire Du Berlais denied Tobefair to win the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham last March, as the 4/1 favourite, it was very much a case of 'job done' for JP McManus and Gordon Elliott. That was the plan, as they say.
He will be back to try and defend his title in a couple of months' time and is bang on course, judging by his latest effort.
In fact, I don’t think I have met anybody whose eye wasn’t caught by the run of Sire Du Berlais in the Pertemps Qualifier at Warwick on Saturday where, under a welter burden of 11-12, he ran on very nicely from off the pace to take fourth place, giving upwards of 22lb to the first three.
Last season, he had qualified for the Final by finishing in the first six in a qualifier at Leopardstown over Christmas. Because he had only managed ninth place in the corresponding race this time, the trip to Warwick was necessary and, as Plan B’s go, this worked a treat.
On Saturday, he raced off a mark of 152, 7lb higher than his winning mark last March but, because he is a horse who is held up and only just does enough, you would be a brave man to believe it would be beyond him to successfully defend his title.
SOUTHWELL SPARKLING UNDER THE LIGHTS
I paid my first visit to a floodlit meeting at Southwell on Wednesday evening and was highly impressed.
Ever since I first saw racing under lights at Happy Valley about a quarter of a century ago, I have been a fan. The atmosphere changes instantly – for the better.
They really suit being at Southwell, too, as the track has essentially a rural feel. The high tech LED lights are similar to the ones in use at the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Shadows are at a minimum and that is not easily achieved. Mark Clayton, the executive director at Southwell, is right to be proud of them.
However, Clayton and his enthusiastic team are always looking forward and on Sunday March 8 on International Women’s Day, the course will stage the first all-lady riders mixed card, featuring four races on the Flat, two over hurdles and two more over fences.
That should be fun.
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