Our man at the track tells the story of Qatar Racing British Champions Day in six chapters.
The jockeys form a guard of honour as their new champion Billy Loughnane receives his trophy. Seems a genuinely popular fella with his colleagues and the racing public – really good reception for him from the early birds who gather around the presentation podium. Well they're not early birds – the first race is 25 minutes away.
We’ve already had one in fact and there are early signs of a potential track bias in the pony contest. Come Here To Me Now under Camilla Froggatt is the only runner to come down the centre of the track and wins by a furlong.
“Trust me, that one couldn’t win,” Dave Massey, our former Pony Racing expert, stresses after the race.
It did Dave – and by daylight.
We’ve a thriller for the opening two-year-old race. Arapaho Gold and Night In Vegas flash past the post together. In that order for me. “Has he won?” a colleague with a betting ticket on the northern raider asks.
“By a neck,” I confidently reply.
“First number six – Night In Vegas”
“Cheers Dave – great judge you.”
It could be one of those days.
Chapter One: The sucker punch from out the back
And it might me the day of days for Andrew Balding. He came into what promises to be a pivotal afternoon in the trainers’ title race with a lead of £100,000. For him to stay in the fight we thought Kalpana might have to win the Fillies & Mares. If she does that it might just seal it now. Because Mount Atlas, in the Mill Reef colours, has just picked the Ballydoyle pocket in the Qatar Racing British Champions Long Distance Cup.
Queenstown for one mile seven furlongs of the two-mile contest looks set to take the Irish team to the top of the leaderboard. But in behind Mount Atlas is weaving through, he slides through a small gap inside the distance and then right on by the leader.
It’s £283,550 to the Kingsclere coffers. Queenstown and Amelia Earhart £133,000 to the chasers.
Balding is smiling as he awaits the return of PJ McDonald and his winner. Coolmore’s Kevin Buckley offers a congratulatory hand.
As soon as he’s out of ear-shot, Lee Mottershead asks the successful trainer, “Is that a killer blow?”
“I think we have a long way to go… unfortunately. But it’s a help anyway!”
