The turf
Perseverance pays
Robin Oakley
Running a racecourse these days goes a little further than seeing the grass is watered. During my five-minute chat with Major-General David Pank, Newbury's chief executive, in the unsaddling enclosure last Saturday, he had to field queries about the economics of the racecourse crèche, which course outlets would accept a £50 note and how many ambulances have to be on site to allow racing to proceed. (Not such a fringe question as you might think. On one day there were two coronaries within ten minutes, and no more than 15 yards apart. And it is the presence of paramedic teams on site, rather than the vehicles to take casualties to hospital, which counts.)
But David Pank is clearly a man with a keen eye for a camera angle too. Kutta and Ballynakelly had flashed past the post together after an epic struggle for the Tote Autumn Cup. Most seasoned professionals around me reckoned that Richard Hills on Kutta had snatched it in the last few strides. With Ballynakelly carrying the extra penalty of one of my larger bets I dolefully shared their conclusion. But General Pank told us all that twice before he had reckoned in close finishes at Newbury that the result was a dead heat and he believed this to be another. When the judge's verdict was announced he had it right again. I'll be lis- tening to him closely next time the bookies are taking bets on the outcome of a photo.
It was a marvellous race. Humping the maximum ten stone, Robert Armstrong's Kutta put up a brave performance. But I'd give odds as short as the skirt of the young lady, whose stocking tops were drawing admiring gazes all round Newbury, that there's no gutsier horse in training than Reg Akehurst's Ballynakelly, who has now won eight races in succession, moving some 261b up the handicap as he has done so.
Sharaf had taken them off at a frighten- ing lick and stretched the field after a fur- long. Ballynakelly was the only one who could go with him and the only one in touch as they turned into the straight. But then the front runner fell away and Bally- nakelly was left in the lead far sooner than his connections would have wished, a target for all the others. Kutta came at him and, for my money, passed him once, but Bally- nakelly, says Seb Sanders, is the kind of horse who responds to every challenge and never gives up. 'It needs a really brave one to pass him.' The chestnut stuck his neck out once again and stole back a share of the prize on the line.
Seb has been one of the finds of this sea- son, riding with ever greater confidence. I remember a handy hat-trick at Chepstow on Wizard King, Perpetual and Shalateeno and a peach of a ride to land Crowded Avenue the winner of a Sandown sprint with a per- fectly timed challenge. Having waited cool- ly for the leader Dashing Blue to move off the rails, he pounced through the gap.
The 25-year-old Midlander's career has been a triumph of perseverance rather than a rocket to the stars. He began his appren- ticeship with Brian McMahon in Tamworth and although his first ride Bank On The Run was a winner there were only three in his first season, just two in the second. Numbers increased little over the next two years and he was running out of time for the breakthrough. A switch to the larger Epsom yard of Reg Akehurst in 1994 made all the difference, even though he did not ride a winner there for his first six months. A nice win in the apprentices' Derby at Epsom, a big handicap success on the sprinter Astrac and a burst of success on the Lingfield all-weather track confirmed the arrival of a genuine talent. Last year's champion apprentice, he has smoothly managed the transition which many find so hard to riding without an allowance and is now knocking 70 winners this season. One early disaster taught him a real les- son, when he dropped his hands coasting home for what should have been an easy win on Neville Callaghan's Battleship Bruce and was caught on the line. He pays tribute to Akehurst for smoothing off a lot of rough edges. A traditional British jockey rather than an American `croucher' (`it just doesn't seem to suit my body'), he is now riding out regularly, too, for Peter Makin, Roger Charlton, Sir Mark Prescott and James Toiler.
He's hoping for success in next year's three-year-old events on Toiler's Compton Place and the Akehurst-trained Shitake and there must be a real live hope of a win in this year's Cesarewitch with the gallant Ballynakelly. Reg Akehurst confirmed at Newbury that Seb Sanders will ride the colt at Newmarket, where the distance will suit him better than the Newbury race. He is quietly pleased about Sanders's progress, saying, 'He's built like a jockey and he's getting stronger all the time.' But he would like him to get a little bit stronger yet and to stabilise his weight around the present eight stone mark. The jockey currently goes to scale at around 8st 11b, but he admits to putting on a pound or two. 'It's a long sea- son. You can't punish your body all the time or you would finish up as a zombie.' His trainer/mentor has a terse explanation for that: 'Too many junk foods.' Surely not jockeys too?
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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