The turf
Spring in my step
Robin Oakley
The sky was cloudless. Sideways-leaning stable lads and lasses were hurrying back and forth to the saddling boxes with buck- ets, sponges and tack under their arms. A small-scale trainer in an overtight suit was gently scratching the nose of a novice hur- dler which was whinnying to those already in the parade ring as if to inquire what the hell was going on. It may not quite have been heaven, but surely within sight of the pearly gates they must have something like Newbury in spring sunshine with a good jumping card ...
A winning investment on Susan Nock's bold-jumping grey Senor el Betrutti, an old favourite of mine, in the first and a head win for Kim Bailey's Lucia Forte after I had taken the advice of the polished course commentator Mike Cattermole and plunged on her in the mares' hurdle cer- tainly helped. But it was one of those days when you would have gone home happy even if you were skint.
True, the curse of Oakley had struck once again. No sooner had I wished Adrian Maguire well for Cheltenham than he broke his arm. I had travelled to Newbury hoping to secure an interview with the stylish Jamie Osborne, who looked set to beat his best-ever season's total of 108 win- ners that day. Sadly, after he had led all the way on Senor without ever having to ask him any serious questions, he was catapult- ed out of the saddle on Martin Pipe's Hamilton Silk at the second last in the next race and stood down, badly bruised, for the rest of the day's card.
But what made the day was the infec- tious enthusiasm of the connections after the top weight Kadastrof had won the handicap hurdle for the small-to-middling Stratford-upon-Avon stable of Robin Dickin. The sporting owners, Phil and Colin Paton, had been happy to accept the trainer's recommendation that the tricky ride should be given to the yard's 71b- claimer Xavier Aizpuru. The trainer's orders were to sit in handy or make it early and then steadily increase the pace. 'It's like driving a big diesel lorry,' says Robin Dickin. Kadastrofs jockeys on the flat and over hurdles are told never to stop increas- ing the pace, but to do so ever so gently. 'The trick is to destroy the others without destroying yourself.' The mighty Richard Quinn is a past master at it on the flat: it is asking a lot of a jockey with just 13 winners behind him to show that sort of pace judg- ment over hurdles. But 'Shay' Aizpuru led all the way, kicked clear round the final bend before the straight and kept his mount going tidily to secure a well- deserved victory.
Robin Dickin told us afterwards, 'He's a dream of a horse who keeps me afloat in the hard times and it's wonderful to have such a talented young rider in the yard.' He says the horse jumps impeccably for his young rider. Is that because he presents him well at the obstacles? 'The average punter thinks a jockey just has to press the button at the right time and the horse takes off. But it's more than that. The truly great jockeys like Richard Dunwoody and Jamie 'I'm afraid you're addicted to drudges.' Osborne become part of the horse, an extra limb, and it gives the horse confidence.' They still need to work, though, on polish- ing the Aizpuru finish. Dickin, who was 12 years in David Nicholson's stable as a rider himself, reck- ons Xavier Aizpuru, who has the advantage of a name that few will forget, could go all the way. The 22-year-old Aizpuru, son of a Spanish mother and Basque father who ran a Cotswold restaurant, is in fact Glouces- tershire born and bred and he too did time in Nicholson's yard before coming to Dickin.
Unlike some young riders who are 16 and 17 when they are going through their claim, 'Shay' has had a good education and is 22. Blessed with natural confidence, he is one of the smilers of the weighing room and, crucially, he can relate to the owners as well as the rides. 'When he jumps off and talks through the race the owners feel they've ridden half of it with him,' says Robin Dickin. Many a jockey forgets how crucial that is to securing the next ride. Aizpuru is lucky, though, to be with a trainer who takes pleasure in bringing on young jockeys and who does not phone the big boys' agents the moment he has a ride worth offering but is content to rely most times on home-grown talent. Robin and Claire Dickin's Stratford yard is the kind you want to be in too if you are a small sporting owner. There is no dominant fig- ure with a dozen horses and the capacity to pull the plug on the operation. The motto is 'affordable fun' and Dickin, one of those who has found it easier to train winners than ride them, has had around 150 since he started ten years ago. 'I take it as a priv- ilege,' he says, 'to be able to earn a living doing the professional sport I love.' He has had some useful horses, like the mare Northern Jinks, Ballasecret and Fair fields Cone, as well as Buckskins Best who won a Chepstow Gold Trophy and who was sadly killed in his first chase at Bangor. 'It s like humans, nothing ever seems to happen to a bad bugger. ...' says the trainer, whose yard contains around 25 horses, eight. of them for the flat. Xavier Aizpuru's first winner over fences was Dr Rocket, only ten times out of the prize money in the 93 races he was won.
Kadastrof will continue running on the flat this year, though only when it is soft; But before then he goes for the Distillers. sponsored hurdle at Fairyhouse. Robin Dickin has a couple of nice handicap sprinters, he reckons, for later in the year with Breffni and Deerly. Whatever the.Y prove to be, you can be sure that, from this yard, they will have the equine equivalent of a smile on their faces. Training at Robin Dickin's level, he points out, means 'a lot of your horses are other people's failures. It's a question of getting inside their heals and finding what makes them tick. It s healthy, happy horses which win races.'
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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