The turf
Battle of the oldies
Robin Oakley
Who could have predicted that what is likely to turn out as the best finish of the season would be fought out between two substitute jockeys who are 101 years old between them? The Coral Eclipse Stakes, the first contest of the season between the three-year-old Classic generation and older horses, is always a fascinating race. This year it was a corker.
With Michael Kinane suffering from a bad back, Aidan O'Brien had turned to George Duffield, who at 53 is the oldest man in the weighing room, to partner Giant's Causeway. Sir Michael Stoute, forced to find a substitute for the injured Kieren Fallon on Kalanisi, went for 48- year-old Pat Eddery. Neither could have made a better choice.
The hefty Giant's Causeway is a horse 'It's a stained-glass ceiling.' who needs cranking up and O'Brien's instructions to George Duffield, the jockey told us afterwards, were: 'Whatever you ask him for, he'll give you. Go when you straighten up and let them come for you.' He obeyed the instructions to the letter, going past the Derby second Sakhee soon after the last turn and setting sail for home. But entering the last furlong, Eddery drove Kalanisi, in the Aga Khan's famous red and green silks, up to the leader. It looked like another triumph for the Aga. The last sight in the world any jockey wants to see at that stage is Pat Eddery, determination in full motion, coming upsides. But the old grey fox has seen it all before, including that, and he was not conceding. Fifty yards out, Pat had Kalanisi's muzzle in front but Duffield and Giant's Causeway out-gritted them. Just before the line the Irish horse got his head back in front for an epic victory.
As the crowds applauded them back, Duffield was sportingly pointing at his mount, as if to indicate that victory was all down to the horse. It was his triumph too, but the courage shown by Giant's Cause- way did seem to me to cast doubt on the argument that the horse is not, by nature, a competitor with an inbuilt will to win. Sir Mark Prescott, to whom George Duffield is stable jockey and who has forgotten more about racing than I will ever know, once argued that while a greyhound is propelled through the pain barrier to supreme effort by the desire to sink its teeth into the tanta- lising white bottom of the hare it is chasing, and that while the desire for stardom and riches will drive on human athletes, the horse has no such motivation. But I find it hard to believe that Duffield's driving of Giant's Causeway would have received the response it did unless there was some inbuilt desire to win in the animal as well.
Cynics might take another view, for there was an unfortunate postscript to the Eclipse. Duffield had hit Giant's Causeway more than 15 times with his whip in the straight; Eddery had given his mount a sim- ilar number of reminders. Both jockeys have been referred to Jockey Club head- quarters for excessive use of the whip and face lengthy suspensions in consequence. On top of other recent punishments it could cost Eddery his chance of another champion jockey's title. Admitting he broke the rules and would have to pay a price, Duffield said, 'It was a true champi- onship race, the kind that people come to see.' He would, he said, do it again if he had to win the race. An upset Eddery said, 'Bans are ruining the game,' adding, 'We are doing our best for everyone. It was exciting for the public and we have to suf- fer for it.'
I find myself with mixed feelings. Neither horse appeared damaged after the race. Both of them responded gamely to their jockey's urgings. And we expect the author- ities to come down on jockeys who don't make every effort to win. I admire both the riders concerned. But I note that Pat Eddery has been involved several times when finishes in major races have led to punishment for whip offences. He, Dettori and Kieren Fallon all received bans for excessive use after the 1998 Juddmonte International, one of the best races of that season, when Eddery hit One So Wonder- ful 23 times. The Jockey Club has handled this problem sensitively, revising the rules several times in recent years, attempting to match the needs of the sport with concern for the welfare of the horses. The introduc- tion of minimum ten-day bans for offences in Group One races, where the financial rewards involve the strongest temptation to make excessive use of the whip, did result in a sharp decline in such offences. But that was recently changed merely to auto- matic referral to Portman Square. George Duffield's comments suggest we are here in the world of the conscious professional foul. Some would like to see horses dis- qualified in such cases. I see other prob- lems with that, but it could be time for the rules to be tweaked again.
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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