The turf
Serious stuff
Robin Oakley
It is the kind of morning that makes you wonder how any of us can ever bear to work in an office. The surrounding fields are stuffed with pheasants as fat as the sheep grazing beside them. In the early morning mist, Coverdale stretches to one side of the gallops on Middleham's Low Moor, Wensleydale to the other. A heron flies overhead in formation with a posse of crows. There's Patrick Haslam, dog at heel, watching his team along the all-weather gallop. There's Ferdy Murphy riding work on one of his string, George Moore aboard one of his. And now, as his lurcher Scampi and long-haired Jack Russell Mush Rat sniff for rabbits, here is the man I've come to see, ex jump-jockey and fast-rising train- er Micky Hammond. He's riding last year's Grand National fourth, Sir Peter Lely. Alongside him is assistant trainer and lead- ing amateur rider Chris Bonner, a man with 100 per cent record over the National fences. He's riding Del Piero, winner of an Irish bumper when with Willie Mullins.
For most of the horses it's a routine morning, just five furlongs twice at half speed along the all-weather track under the watchful eye of travelling head lad Jed O'Keeffe. Some of the chasers are still rough-coated, not long in from a summer break in the field. But as they complete their work and walk back to the grey stone yard in Tupgill Park and the second lot cir- cle in front of the stable ready to go out there are plenty who catch the eye. There's the smart hurdler Marchant Ming, the North's top juvenile hurdler last year and winner of the Victor Ludorum at Haydock. He was bought at Newmarket as a three- year-old. There's Elpidos, who won a nice race at Ayr and who should prosper in two- mile handicap hurdles this season, not being aimed too high too soon. There are hopes too for Prince of Saints, who missed last season after a single run in a bumper the year before.
There's the imposing chestnut Marble Man, a chasing sort who should win a hur- dle or two before he tackles the bigger obstacles, and UK Hygiene who has won already over hurdles and who will probably go straight over fences this jumping season. Sir Peter Lely himself, who put up such a bold show in last year's National, will be aimed at the race again, with some early autumn runs and a mid-winter break. Out- set, a winner at Aintree last year, should
pick up some useful prizes for a young sta- ble team that is clearly on the move.
In the six seasons that he has held a training licence, Micky Hammond has averaged over 40 winners. And the stable's well-being has been advertised by their fin- ishing third in the list of winners over the short summer jumping season, with new stable jockey Russ Garrity partnering seven of the ten successes already chalked up. He'll be off soon to Newmarket Sales look- ing for some useful three- and four-year- olds off the flat to train on mostly as dual- purpose horses: 'I look for something that has shown some ability by a stallion with plenty of speed from a dam with plenty of stamina. I don't like it the other way round.'
There's a practicality about the Ham- mond operation which is as engaging as the grin under his lop-sided flat cap. 'It will take time to build a team of young horses good enough for Ascot, Aintree and Hay- dock. It doesn't happen overnight.' He hasn't had a Cheltenham Festival winner yet and he does not oversell his horses. But when I ask him for the possibilities this year he lists Valiant Warrior, Pims Gunner, Elpidos, Marchant Ming, Hydro and Money Man as the hopes for Cheltenham or Aintree, together possibly with Chief Minister, who has come to him on Tom Dyer's retirement from training.
When I comment that we have seen a good few Hammond riders on southern tracks the stable team are quick to point out that they don't go just on the off chance. 'It costs an owner plenty to send a horse that far and there's no point if you haven't got a decent chance of coming back with prize money.' But though he comes initially from Guildford, Micky Hammond is happy to be Yorkshire-based in Middle- ham at a historic stable complex that is home, too, to Steve Kettlewell and Ernie Weymes. You need hills to train chasers and the old turf and the undulations, he believes, make Middleham ideal. They can be competitive because the overheads are less than in Newmarket or Lamboum. The standard of staff is high and they live in a community adjusted to racing. He is getting together a good mix of the sort of flat-bred horses which can produce quick results over the sticks that an up-and- coming stable needs and the young store horses from Ireland which might if given the time to develop slowly make champion chasers. Micky Hammond Racing is a well- marketed operation. There's the kind of stable newsletter and information line which is now becoming obligatory to attract small owners, together with some crucial sponsorship from Coloroll to ensure own- ers can claim back their VAT.
There is, too, the rugged determination that was displayed after Micky Hammond in his riding days had suffered a horrific fall, breaking his leg and collar bone as well as sustaining head injuries which had his family scurrying to hospital fearing the worst. Two or three days of his life at that time are a wipeout. He has no memory of them. But relatives told him that he was insistent on shaving himself when they arrived. Despite the fact that he was in such a state, the process took over two hours. No surprise then that when I asked him about the lighter side of running a sta- ble he was disinclined to dwell on it. As he puts it, 'Any professional sport has to be taken seriously. The difference between winning and losing is only a short head. Not many people remember what finished second in the Gold Cup.'
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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