The turf
Newbury tonic
Robin Oakley
0 n those days when you are a glass or two short of being in the best of spirits there is no better place to be than the race- course. Being bundled out ahead of time from the best job in British journalism is not a fun experience. As the BBC's politi- cal editor you work 12- to 15-hour days which destroy your social life. Your mis- takes are made in public. You are subject to the gossip columns as no newspaper journalist is. But I have loved every minute of it. You are on the in-track, part of the buzz. You are at the start and the heart of one great story after another. You have unprecedented access to decision-makers anxious to reach the BBC's huge audi- ences. You work with an extraordinarily talented bunch of people. And, as I discov- ered again at Newbury on Saturday, you receive the most generous responses from complete strangers. (Sadly, though, it is a myth that ravishing women write to you proposing secret trysts. In my case it was mostly Christmas cards in spindly writing from South Coast nursing homes.) Anyway, thanks to all those friends and strangers who did come to offer their com- miserations at Newbury. I appreciated the kind comments, the lunch invitations and the messages which I will largely refrain from passing on to my BBC bosses. (One or two of the suggestions as to what they should do with themselves were, I am pret- ty sure, anatomically impossible anyway.) A peaceful day's racing with some of the non-racing flotsam and jetsam who some- times make it to the course diverted else- where by the Cup Final proved to be another benefit day for the Boys in Blue. Godolphin may not have much of a hand for the Classics this year but their older horses have certainly run into form. As a grinning Frankie Dettori rode the powerful Aljabr back into the winning enclosure after taking the Group One Juddmonte Lockinge Stakes, he shouted to the crowd, `I got it right today.' And well he might. Once more Godolphin had run two in the race, as they had done in 1998 and 1999.
In the first of those years Daragh O'Donohoe brought the outsider Cape Cross home the winner at 201, beating Frankie's mount Kahal at 11-2 into fourth place. Last year Willie Supple won on the 9-1 Fly To The Stars with the 4-7 hot favourite Intikhab, ridden by Richard Hills, again one place outside the frame. But this time there was no mistake for Godolphin's No. 1 as Aljabr powered his way down the straight mile, beating off challenges from Indian Lodge and Sugarfoot and running home well in command from Trans Island.
Simon Crisford, Godolphin's racing man- ager, explained after the race that Aljabr had cracked a bone in his knee when disap- pointing at the end of last season behind Sendawar in the Prix du Moulin and had been out of action for a few months. But he has come back refreshed and on this show- ing will take some beating in the top mile events this year. Aljabr is the sort who always tries. Sea Wave, who won the Listed Grundon Recycle Stakes, does not always display the same resolution and was nearly among the victims of the Godolphin clearout last autumn. 'He came pretty close to missing the cut,' said Crisford. But they dropped him in class to give him some con- fidence and get back in winning ways and he ran on well enough to beat Wafic Said's Lightning Arrow, who will be worth an interest next time following his improved run. 'I was pleased with how he didn't throw in the towel when he was passed,' said Tim Bulwer-Long, Said's racing man- ager. 'That was a Classic horse.' Watch out too for Michael Blanshard's nice two-year- old, Patsy's Double, who quickened up well to win the Kingwood Maiden Stakes, and for the Queen's Snow Bunting, who ran on well when eventually finding some space to do so in the same race.
But if Godolphin have found where to place Sea Wave, who was winning for the first time since he took the Great Voltigeur Stakes in 1998, they still have a problem with Worldly Manner, their second runner in the Lockinge. Indeed one even wonders if such a scientific, practical outfit were tempting the Fates to play a trick again with their outsider in the race. The colt was bought for $5 million as a candidate for the Kentucky Derby and was running on grass for the first time in England after a series of flops on dirt. But he trailed in last at 14-1 and did not show much interest. 'He needs a bit of cut in the ground,' said Crisford. 'It's just a question of tapping his undoubted ability.' He too, like Sea Wave, will be found an easier target to give him a bit of confidence, but I am afraid I will be leaving him off my list until he has discov- ered where the winning post is as well.
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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