The turf
Going swimmingly
Robin Oakley
It is a lucky yard, the only one in Lam- bourn which has been home to two Derby winners, and you could call Roger Curtis a lucky man too. Last year he nearly died of meningitis, but there was no denying the energy as he rushed about the yard in jeans and green wellies briefing the vet about one horse, stopping to check the legs of another, Don'tleavethenest. The novice chaser had won a race at Exeter the day before and the stable had scored a double with the experienced Hillwalk at Chel- tenham. Since the 26-box trainer isn't quite yet a household name, they had been allowed to start at 8-1 and 14-1 respectively and the owner and a few other stable con- nections had backed them singly and in doubles.
There was a leg up for stable jockey Der- rick Morris, the conditional Jason Park- house and for pretty stable lass Kerry Blundell. Just a few weeks in the yard since doing her training at the Northern Racing College, she'd been sent to the races for the first time the day before with the old trusty Hillwalk and had not only made it to the winner's enclosure but taken the £50 prize for the best turned-out horse as well.
Something of a Leonard Rossiter looka- like without the lugubriousness, Roger Curtis has a compelling enthusiasm for the game, an eye for detail and a wry humour about his charges. Hillwalk, he says, needs good ground and warm weather. In the cold the condition simply drops off him. Equity Player has real ability 'but saves most of it for himself'. One horse is known as Roland in the yard 'because his previous stable reckon he's a rat'.
The promising Stepaside Boy, who ran out in a couple of point to points and creamed the opposition in a couple more, takes all the work they can give him and still comes back overweight. 'Some horses would disappear doing the work he's doing.' So they've been swimming him in Peter Walwyn's pool. 'Turns out he's the Mark Spitz of the equine world. Puts his head down and goes. If they had swimming races for horses he'd be odds on.' As we bump up to the gallops in the four-wheel drive, trainer and owner Paul Warren joke about entering Stepaside Boy for triathlons if they could only teach him to ride a bike.
Up amid the luxuriant, bewildering array of Lambourn's gallops there is the same care. At intervals Roger leaps out to poke a stick in the turf to test the surfaces. Indi- cating the craters made by a previous train- er's string on a woodchip gallop, he points out how easy it is for a horse to land awk- wardly on the edge of such a hole and strain a tendon. 'Some of these so-called all-weather surfaces are only certain weath- er surfaces, depending on the amount of moisture absorbed.'
Having operated formerly in Epsom and in Carshalton, Surrey, Roger is full of praise for the tractormen who maintain the Lambourn gallops and for the friendliness of Lambourn trainers. When Oliver Sher- wood's string passes me, he muses, 'They probably cost an average £30,000. Mine average about £4,000 and we've got to go out and beat them.' But he does so without a trace of bitterness, just a 'let's get on with life' practicality. He came into racing in 1986 after years doing stud work and takes the view that any fool can train horses and get a few winners, especially if there is money to spend. 'The problem is in keep- ing them sound, what to do with them and what not to do with them.'
There are some decent prospects at Delamere House. Along with Stepaside Boy, a Montelimar filly looked to be learn- ing what it was all about, Our Own Fellow won hurdles last year and Hillwalk should be placed to win again before it gets too frosty. Pleasureland also ran a pleasing race at Cheltenham the day we met, though not quite getting the trip. Roger Curtis has the patience to get the best out of his horses and when they start winning they tend to go on. He has his own views too about riders. You won't often see the star jockeys aboard a Curtis runner. Most are ridden by the highly capable stable rider Derrick Morris who has been with him for eight years. If you instruct a top freelance how to ride one of your horses, Curtis reckons, you are telling him too how to get your horse beaten next time he's rid- ing against him for another stable.
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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