2018: A Year In Review - Part 2

Oh so you came back for some more?

*thought I'd gotten away with that for a minute...*

July

The second of the four 'crown jewel' meetings saw most of the country head to the Welsh coast for what was rumoured to be (and has subsequently been confirmed as) the last staging of the Ceredigion two day festival at Aberystwyth.  This is a particular favourite with Scottish harness racing fans, mainly for the good weather, the great welcome and the better nightlife.  For us the weekend began with bitter disappointment as we had Stevie primed for an assault on Welsh turf, however Mr Self-Destruct had different ideas and a freshly-mangled leg put us out of the game only a couple of days before leaving.

Somehow I found myself on post-race interview duties again, although this time laid off the alcohol (purely because I was struggling to cope in the heat and also because I needed a clear head in order to carry off the fetching high-vis vest I was forced to wear to reduce the risk of being run over by horses...).

My Buddy delivered a popular Welsh win for owner/trainer/driver and postman (come ONNNN) Alan Jones in the Group 2 Travis Perkins Final, whilst the Laidlers returned to winning ways on the big stage with former stakes-sensation Springhill Glory landing the Group 1 Park Lodge Final.

#Squadgoals - with some of the crew at Aberystwyth

The Star Makers Final was staged at Tir Prince in the middle of the month, and although we had qualified Al Jolson for the event, an injury put him out for the season so we had no vested interest in the race.  Looking at it with an open mind it looked a highly competitive race, and it was the Jones family's Father Ted who landed the spoils on the night.  Despite stating that he would run a lap in only his underwear if the horse won, owner/trainer/driver Marc failed to live up to his promise...the jury is out as to whether we were cheated or secretly blessed!

Whilst we were bringing Dark Velvet, Rita & Denver home from Wales, Rodney Camden from the Foody stable was dominating at Wolsingham when winning the Joy Robson Memorial Final.

Towards the back end of the month the third 'crown jewel' fixture was staged at Musselburgh and it was a popular Scottish victory in the Group 2 Hurricane Pace Final on day one as the Gilvear family's Someones Fantasy toughed it to run out a gutsy winner.  The second day saw a Musselburgh queen return to the winner's circle as 2017 Hurricane Pace Final winner Rhyds Passion won both her heat and the coveted Group 1 Famous Musselburgh Pace Final in very impressive fashion.  I didn't think I could love her more after this day...but as the season progressed so did she!

Rhyds Passion & James Haythornthwaite cruising to victory in the Famous Musselburgh Pace Final (Bill Cardno photo)

OK I'm done talking about everyone else's July.  Especially when July was my month.  Well, not so much mine, more Elmo's.  After my co-owner Smarty tried to convince me to swap the horse for some semen (not the semen again) at Aberystwyth because he didn't think he'd turn into much, I remained firm in the face of adversity.  With Stevie nursing a mangled leg and Al scratched for the remainder of the year, on July 12th I joked that if Elmo Hanover was my stable star then it really showed how bad my stable was.  I arranged for one of the gaiting straps to snap at a convenient moment in the race to act as a deterrent for horses to get close to my pacing camel (disclaimer: I'm kidding, it happened BY ACCIDENT), and it worked.  We recorded win #1 with the mighty Elmo and boy did it feel gooooooood.  It wasn't graceful, but it didn't need to be.  My boy finally knew what winning felt like and I wanted him to remember that feeling in the hope that he might actually do it again.  And he did, just 2 weeks later at Corbiewood once again.  He also came SOOOOO CLOOOOOOSE to creating uproar at Musselburgh as he was just beaten by another Scottish horse, All Smiles from the Mackenzie stable.  I was stood with his previous owner as he came romping like a camel on an escape mission from a desert tour towards the finish line and the only thing that would have been better than the look on his face in that moment would be the look on his face if he'd actually won.  I may have been scraping him off the floor.  All of this was sufficient to secure Elmo the SHRC Horse of the Month award for July.  I hope you can feel the pride that is emanating from me as I write that.

After win number one - PROUD OWNER! (Annette Sproul photo)

August

On Scottish soil, former Scottish Horse of the Year Starzapan came to the fore at exactly the right moment to win the Greentree Standardbreds Mares Pacing Series Final for all at Trackside Racing Stables.  It was a delight to hand over the trophy to Mrs Mackenzie, the First Lady of Corbiewood and a woman all of us look up to (despite her diminuitive stature), whose son, Ally, trains the mare and whose grandson, Stuart, drove the mare to victory.

The First Lady of Corbiewood, Mrs Mackenzie, being presented with the trophy

My first foray out of Scotland in August came by way of the VDM weekend at Portmarnock, Dublin.  I had somehow landed the job of conducting some pre-race and post-race interviews alongside Darren.  I got to spend some quality time with my spirit sister Heather Vitale and I also met Heather and Mike Wilder for the first time, even interviewing Mike after a winning drive on the Sunday.  This meeting proved to be very beneficial when Smarty and I ventured across the Atlantic to the States later in the year.  Evenwood Sonofagun defied logic to overcome his rivals in the FFA and it was a brilliant Scottish win for the Gilvear family once again as their 2YO Northern Pride netted top honours in the VDM Colts Final.
 

Big Burd & Boots on tour at the VDM Weekend in Portmarnock, Dublin

Team Haythornthwaite reigned supreme at Bells Field in Scotland as the Fletcher's Tommy Camden won the Group 2 main event, whilst at the opposite end of the country on the same day Ayr Musketeer and Jaimie Davies took out the Group 2 Boughrood Final in Wales.  We had a 'mare at Bells Field as Stevie ran out on the paddock bend, broke, yet still got up for second to secure a place in the final.  Elmo, despite appearing to like the stiffer, staying style of racing, wasn't 100% and it showed as he trailed in mid-field.  Personally Bells isn't my favourite track to race at and I feel as though I've given it a fair go.  I wish Boughrood was closer, or not on the same day, as I'd rather be there in all honesty.

The fourth and final 'crown jewel' fixture at Tregaron was the best its been in recent years.  Wins for my friends the O'Neil family (with Ayr Treasure) and Emma Langford (with Camden Pro) went down a storm as I showed blatant disregard to the long drive home by getting drunk in the beer tent with friends from Ireland.  I joined Tim Kelleher, Barry 'Pinno' Pinnington and Darren Owen for a lively interview panel across both days, with Tim asking me (whilst under the influence in the beer tent) if my opinions really were my own, as they were 'quite good...for a girl'.  He's lucky he's got Irish charm, or I could take offence at that...Father Ted (of Star Makers Final fame) won the Strata Florida Final on the Friday and Teatime Preacher (of record-breaking maiden fame earlier in the year) landed the Welsh Classic Final on the Saturday to add another Group 1 to the Laidlers' haul for the year.

The point at which I decided Smarty could drive the full 7 hours home...and no, I don't know why Tim is on a chair.

From Tregaron we returned to the last event of the season at Appleby, with less fortune than we'd had on our previous visits with Stevie.  A third-placed effort in his heat got him a spot in the final but it wasn't to be and with hindsight we should have managed his campaign slightly better at that stage in the season.  We live and learn.  Team Laidler absolutely nailed Appleby in 2018, landing all four of the finals there as Merrington Checkm8 became the final piece in a successful jigsaw when winning the Brough Final.

Our last adventure of the month saw Smarty, George [Carson] and I head south to Kilnsey Show with Elmo and Sunnyside Clinton.  We were luckless on the day, but it spawned an idea which would see us drive on a 10+ hour round trip to the depths of Staffordshire just over a week later with the same team on board...the rest, as they say, is history.

Elmo (left) & Clinton...if only we knew what was on the horizon...

September

After having been reliably told by the Gaffer on Elmo's last start at Corbiewood that I wouldn't win another race with him because he didn't 'want to race', Smarty, George and I set off to Longnor.  I needed one more win in order for Smarty's infamous bet with Elmo's previous owner to pay off; with Cassius having notched up two wins at Pikehall and Bells Field, both horses were on two wins apiece.  Cassius found himself out for the season after Bells due to being sore so it was all eyes on Elmo.

None of us had ever been to Longnor before.  Smarty had found videos on Youtube of previous meetings there to get some sort of idea of the type of thing we were letting ourselves in for; and everybody else who had ever been before told us it would be like nothing else we had ever encountered.  A slight technical hitch with the box meant that we had an unscheduled pit stop at a garage near Penrith (thanks to Google for helping us find a garage and to the mechanic for fitting us in and ordering a replacement part at such short notice - Clinton and Elmo spent the guts of an hour walking around an industrial estate and looking at sheep), but after the initial hiccup we managed to find Longnor with plenty of time to spare, which meant George and Smarty were able to walk the track before racing began and get a feel for what was in store.

A total lack of phone signal meant that for the next few hours we were living in a tiny bubble alongside some other hardcore harness racing enthusiasts - bearing in mind this was a Thursday afternoon and the only reason I wasn't in work was because I had booked the day off to go to Glasgow to see a band called 'Striking Matches', however they had cancelled the gig the week before which paved the way for this trek to Longnor.  'What's for you won't go by you', so the saying goes, and it's right.  On that day we were meant to be at Longnor.

For anyone reading this not acquainted with the handicap system, there exists an allowance or 'lift' of 10 or 20 yards for C Class (or novice) drivers depending on how many wins they have amassed.  The purpose of this is to encourage trainers to allow inexperienced drivers to drive for them, particularly on horses who would benefit from being brought back down a grade or 2 to be more competitive.  As Elmo was a Grade 1 (the lowest open handicap grade), he could not benefit from any lifts, and despite there being A Class drivers available in Elmo's race at Longnor, we still chose to put George (a C Class driver) on board.  The reason I am making this point is simple: whilst there was a sizeable bet at stake, and decent prize money on offer which would make the long journey far more bearable, the ultimate purpose of having Elmo to begin with was to have fun.  There seemed nothing more fun than letting our enthusiastic friend get involved.  We chose to put up a C Class driver with 2 career wins to his name over far more experienced drivers who were available, for no obvious benefit to ourselves.  The benefit, which was obvious to Smarty and I, was that it made George part of the team and part of the fun.  If you can't enjoy your hobby with like-minded friends, you're probably doing it wrong.

Long story short (but I'll post the video further down) is that despite a slightly hairy moment on the last two bends where I thought George and Elmo were going to get hooked up with long time leader Rhyds Gambler and James Haythornthwaite on their inside, as Wellfield Ginger and Sarah Allen mounted their challenge to their outside, Elmo and George won.  Win number 3.  The long drive, the breakdown, the wet weather which saw me rummaging around the back of the box to find a very unflattering pair of orange high vis overalls to keep me dry was all worthwhile.

Not 15 minutes later George was back out on the track with Sunnyside Clinton, a horse he was training for one of his owners, and he made it a quickfire double with a performance that could only be described as a procession as he led from pillar to post.  In the space of half an hour George had doubled his lifetime tally of winning drives.

We were able to enjoy the interim races between the heats and final before I had to prep my catch driver, Richard Haythornthwaite.  George was obliged to drive Clinton due to being his trainer, and with only one driver at the track who hadn't driven a horse to qualify for the final, Richard was my man (well technically his father Alan hadn't either, but he had decamped to the beer tent long before the rain had blown over).  For the last few years I have supposedly been acting as an unofficial agent for Richard, however never given him a drive on a horse of my own.  I don't think he expected his first drive for me to be on the mighty Elmo, a horse who up until that day drew more disparaging comments than complimentary.  The advice was simple - keep chasing him, do not let him switch off.  All of us at the box felt that Clinton had the strongest chance of winning, so I told Richard that in an ideal world he could finish second to George.  My parting words were 'but y'know, try to win'.

Elmo had slightly different ideas to us about racing and tried to mount an escape bid back off the track just before the off, so I found myself inside the track as the race began having walked him around in a circle as the starter began to get them under orders (think of it as being an outrider, but without the horse...like an 'outwalker').  I was alone for the race, bar a steward stood about 15 feet away from me, and had to go through the motions of trying to figure out if my horse was travelling well enough to be in the mix at the business end all by myself.  As they passed the crowd at the start of the final lap I could see Richard giving him a proper shake of the reins and he didn't look like he was going to find anything...then commentator Peter Deighton used a phrase which will stay with me forever - "can Richard conjure up a run with Elmo Hanover?  And he is doing, he's cutting him back all the time! Elmo Hanover - just look at him go!"

As they turned off the last bend and I realised that Elmo was actually going to win the final, I'm not ashamed to say I found myself on my knees and totally overcome with emotion.  The emotion was mainly shock and disbelief, but shortly afterwards it was replaced by the greatest sense of pride.  My 'Hopeless Hanover', the horse my other half tried to get me to swap for 'as many straws as you can get, but try for 6', the horse my stable driver told me was 'useless', the horse my future father-in-law told me only 2 weeks earlier wouldn't win another race that year...he won heat and final, two trophies, the most prize money I've ever won in one day and a sportsman's bet, all in one go.

You'll possibly never have seen anything like it, but you can watch both races here.

Winner Winner!

In other news throughout September, Mayfellden Hetty netted the Laidlers yet another final at Wolsingham Show, one of the greatest meetings of the season and the one I am touting to become the Little Brown Jug of the United Kingdom, and at Haugh Field it was the Laidlers with Rhyds Sapphire and Karen Kennedy with Evenwood Ruthless who took home the spoils, winning heat and final of the low grade handicap and high grade handicap respectively.  A week later we were back at Tir Prince for the Crock of Gold Final and Le Trot trotting finals; this year Evenwood Sonofagun was able to keep all the glory to himself as he was an outright winner of the country's top FFA (having dead-heated with long-time rival Miraculous in 2017).  Team Nicholson & Ronnie Ralph landed the £10,000 Gold Final with their French trotter, Diamant De Godrel, with Emmanuelle Morvilliers from Le Trot present on the evening to celebrate with all the final winners.  On the same day, the Foody's and Lee Fletcher were entertaining the crowds at Stanhope Show when winning the final there with Porterstown Jimmy - a few of us managed to catch the race via Facebook Live, although we couldn't see who was in front and just had to rely on the commentary.

Back on Scottish soil, the major weekend at Corbiewood, the Murdock Weekend, was one for the Cullens and Gilvears.  Lyons Nant Hall took out the Dark Rum FFA on the Saturday with Grant Cullen in the bike, and Puissant Hanover landed the Bob Kennedy Memorial for Gordon Gilvear.  On Sunday they dominated in the feature events again, with VDM Colts winner Northern Pride easing to an impressive win in the SHRC 2YO Futurity for GG, and Tyler Camden a popular winner of the Joe Murdock Memorial Final for Grant.

The last meeting that I attended in 2018 was at Dunstall Park, Wolverhampton on 29th September.  Acting as official photographer once again, it was an enjoyable day of racing with Rhyds Mystique winning the STAGBI Future Broodmares race, Wellfield Earl and Roy Sheedy showing the young ones how it's done in the C Class race and Evenwood Sonofagun holding off rivals in a thrilling 4-horse high grade handicap which saw all four coming to the line together.

Smarty ventured to Corbiewood the following day but I found myself at home packing for our two week trip to America which was due to begin in less than 24 hours...

Stay tuned for Part 3 (unless you did Ohio in the 90's, in which case you'll not find anything of interest in the next instalment).

Over and out,

#1 Groom

2018: A Year In Review - Part 1

Let me first start with a grovelling apology.  Firstly, because it's now well into 2019 which seems a bit rubbish that I'm only now getting around to my review of 2018.  Secondly, because you will notice by looking at my previous post that I basically dropped massively off the radar after July.  The second half of 2018 saw no new posts whatsoever from me, which is probably my worst record since I began blogging.  No excuses, I fell off the wagon big style.  I was still active on other social media platforms throughout that period, but with so many different things to juggle in life this blog was the first ball to get dropped.  Nobody is more disappointed about that than me, trust me, as I love sharing news, views and personal achievements right here.  I'm sorry to the handful of people who read these posts religiously, and the larger audience who dip in and out for some light-hearted entertainment!

On that note, my New Year's resolution is to keep this blog going for 2019.  I can't promise weekly updates, but I can promise that I won't go AWOL half way through the season!!

Now to look back at 2018.  I figured the easiest and best way to do that would be to break the year down into the 12 months, before announcing my annual 'alternative' award winners (note: as with previous years, there are no prizes, monetary or otherwise, and don't be expecting a trophy.  Just know that to have one of my awards bestowed upon you is enough).

Here goes...

January

Taking into consideration that the harness racing season only stretches from May to October, there isn't much happening during these 'off-season' months.  However, in January 2018 the Scottish Harness Racing Club staged its annual awards event at the Golden Lion Hotel in Stirling.  This was the first year that I was able to attend since moving to Scotland in 2014, and Smarty and I were keen to do so as our good friend George Carson was to receive the 'Horse of the Month - July' award for his successes with Valentine Camden (owned by George's father, Gilmour, and trained by George himself).  The highlight of Val's July [2017] campaign had been his heat win in the Hurricane Pace at Musselburgh followed up with a second placed finish in the final behind BHRC Mare of the Year Rhyds Passion.  Along with the O'Neil family, we wanted to support George on the night, and in addition to this I had also convinced the committee to allow me to compile and show presentation videos for each of the winners (which was a great success, in my opinion at least).

Trainer George Carson, currently at Pompano Park in Florida

February

The awards season rolled on and before I knew it the BHRC & STAGBI awards evening was upon us.  For the first time Trot Britain joined in with the celebrations and added their awards to proceedings.  Another first was host Darren Owen sharing the stage for the evening...with yours truly.  This was my first 'gig' on stage, and I was terrified.  It didn't help that we had major technical issues regarding the audio for the videos that I had spent weeks preparing and I was running around like a headless chicken trying to fix things whilst also introducing the awards I was responsible for.  I made a few errors, I fluffed my lines a couple of times and I definitely announced the coveted 'Horse of the Year' winner before the official envelope was opened (I had to know in advance for the purposes of preparing the video, and I think in my desperation for the whole experience of being on stage to be over I rushed it...FAIL).  BUT, everyone enjoyed themselves, the videos were posted online after the event for people to enjoy fully and in their own time and a few people tried to rebuild my dented confidence by reassuring me that I wasn't the total disaster that I had convinced myself I was.  At the end of the day, we celebrated and we had fun.  That's a win in my eyes.

Making my hosting debut at the BHRC & STAGBI awards in Haydock

March

Upon consultation with Smarty, we have decided nothing happened in March.  Well, except it snowed, really, really bad.  That caused a lot of interruption to many people's training regime as a large number of horses were already back in training for the 2018 season (our horses included) so for a week to 10 days a lot of horses were kept off their work due to weather conditions.  Not the champion stable though; the Laidlers cleared their track and kept on trucking through it from their base in County Durham, and this dedication at the roughest point of the year weatherwise really paid dividends once the season was finally upon us.

April

Qualifiers and workout days started up at Tir Prince.  I didn't go to any as they were mid-week events but Smarty disappeared down south a couple of times (much to other people's bewilderment when they saw him).  Nothing else to report!

May

FINALLY the harness racing season was upon us, with proceedings kicking off at Tir Prince for their only fixture of the season where handicap races were the feature.  Commentator Darren Owen suggested we give a Facebook Live preview and post-racing review for the first time, and this spawned the beginning of many similar videos throughout the season both together as a double act, and separately when we were at opposite ends of the country.  We managed to get a wide variety of different people involved in these videos as the season marched on, and I've received a huge amount of positive feedback about them so expect more in 2019!

Team Haythornthwaite took out the first handicap final of the year (Anto Russell Memorial Final @ Tir Prince) with Plan B; the three-year-old Merrington Movinup landed the Camden Stud Spring Final @ Tregaron quite effortlessly for the Laidlers; Live In Star recorded his second final win in pitch darkness at Corbiewood for the Cullen stable; Team Laidler took home their second handicap final win with Easy Company at Presteigne; and not to be outdone the Haythornthwaites took their second final with Oaks Telstar at Corbiewood.  The first of the four 'crown jewel' events at Appleby saw the Laidlers dominate, with Springhill Ruby landing the Group 2 Sunday final and Jack Swagger (driven by 'Super Sub' William Greenhorn, co-owner of the horse and husband of the breeder, Joyce) taking out the Group 1 Monday final.  From a Scottish perspective, brothers Keir and Grant Cullen had to be commended for their training and driving performances respectively, finishing second in both finals (Springhill Catch - Sunday; Live In Star - Monday).

The two day meeting was also the platform upon which I launched my post-race interviewing 'career'.  The usual host was unavailable so Darren [Owen] asked if I would step into the breach.  Not one to say no to anything I duly obliged.  Terrified and completely clueless, but aided by copious amounts of fruit cider and gin & tonic (thanks to my BFF and my mother) it all went rather well.  Well, until I asked the crowd to ' please give a massive round of applause for the Appleby Monday Final winner JACK SWAGGER, and your winning driver ROCKER LAIDLER...'*turns mic off*...*looks over at William Greenhorn walking back to the paddock*...*realises he was the winning driver*...*turns mic back on* '...your winning driver WILLIAM GREENHORN!'.  People knew what I meant.

William Greenhorn & Jack Swagger (Sarah Thomas photo)

Breeder Joyce Greenhorn with Jack Swagger (Sarah Thomas photo)

On a personal level we welcomed a Hasty Hall colt into the world (Crosshill Diablo, aka Denver); re-qualified Young Stephen (aka Stevie) and raced him for the first time in 2 years; and won a qualifying leg of the inaugural Star Makers Series with David Lowther's Al Jolson (who taught me very quickly the pitfalls of training a grey horse - borderline impossible to keep clean!).  Sadly we also had to say goodbye to a very good friend of ours, Gilmour Carson, after a lengthy battle with cancer, and this hit all of us in our group hard.  Gilmour would do anything for anyone and in the short time that I knew him he came to my rescue on more than one occasion.  Racing hasn't been the same without him as part of the crew, but we have all ralled around his son, George, to make sure that he's never stuck.  Much like his father, George has come to my rescue a few times since then as well so I'm not really sure anymore who's helping who.

Probably spotted a speck of dirt on Al's face...

Crosshill Diablo (c, Hasty Hall-Vain In Spain-Artsplace)

June

Only a week after the Laidler domination at the Appleby two day festival racegoers in the northern half of the country returned to the track for the New Fair meeting.  Clearly on a roll, the champion trainer made it 3 finals from 3 when Blackwell Tiana, owned by Wilf Burton & Jonjo McMeekin, narrowly defeated our very own Young Stephen in a nail biting final.  Although disappointed that Stevie was once again denied his day in the sun, and this time by the narrowest of margins, I was delighted for connections of the winner.  We had after all won our heat with Hugh Menzies driving Stevie for the first time, so I knew there was life in the old dog yet (Stevie, not Hugh...).  Social media erupted later on that day with claims that the sport was being unfairly dominated by the Laidler camp, but to keep this short I shall simply refer you back to 'March'.  I had even stated in the preview with Darren on FB Live that whilst I had big hopes for Stevie in his heat, he was short of a workout (the snow had delayed us somewhat earlier in the spring).

Young Stephen & Hugh Menzies head to victory at the New Fair meeting (Bill Cardno photo)

The Laidler train kept on rolling as Teatime Preacher set a new track record for her age & sex when becoming the fastest maiden winner in Tir Prince's history on a night that saw multiple track records fall.  Rockin Mambo had his first taste of FFA success in the first of the Crock of Gold heats, although connections still held hopes of winning a major handicap with the son of Rocknroll Hanover before switching to FFA events exclusively.

The Fletcher and Haythornthwaite combo dominated the SHRC 3YOs at Corbiewood when Casimir Royal Flush and Crack A Smile took out the fillies and colts/geldings divisions respectively.  James [Haythornthwaite] was on somewhat of a roll himself, landing the £5000 Cumberland Show Final with a catch drive onboard Jimmy Winter's Midnight Diamond.  Unfortunately the meeting was marred by multiple incidents on, off and inside the track and such was the threat to the reputation of the sport at the venue and the total lack of impartiality from officials present that I was compelled to submit an independent report of events to the governing body.  To date not all parties have been formally dealt with, which is disappointing, but not entirely surprising.  I hope never to find myself in a position where I am apologising on behalf of my fellow horsemen for their conduct again.

The fortunes of the 'smaller' stables continued following Winter's success at Carlisle, with all 7 races at Hellifield won by stables outwith the typical 'professional' stables.  Team Foody landed heat and final with All Good Hanover, as well as a maiden with Rodney Camden, and were denied a fourth victory following a stewards enquiry involving Jack Sparrow (first past the post, but placings altered due to interference with the eventual winner, GDs Hurricane).

The field lines up at the picturesque Hellifield (Sarah Thomas photo)

The month of June was rounded off with Rockin Mambo recording another FFA win at Tir Prince when beating 2017 Horse of the Year Evenwood Sonofagun in the British Pacing Classic over 1m 2f.

At home with the Smart squad, I decided to take Dark Velvet, dam of Young Stephen and Wild Bill Hickok, back to the stallion after having been in the wilderness since her last foal in 2011.  I had purchased a service to first-season stallion Matador Hall as part of a fundraiser stallion auction and Smarty's late grandfather had once told me I could take a foal off the mare if I wanted to.  So that's what I'm doing.  We also bade farewell to big elephant features Cassius Clay as he was sold as part of a deal which saw (the famous on Facebook) Elmo Hanover join the ranks.  Now you know we're just warming up...

Fear not dear readers, part 2 (and indeed, possibly parts 3 and 4) will be posted imminently.  Let me just get myself another G & T....

Interviewing my driver at Appleby New Fair, after he won on my horse...

Over and out,

#1 Scottish Groom

Harness Racing: finding new ways to reject trotters...but why?

Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Some people dislike trotters because they think they break excessively.
Some people dislike trotters because they think they are difficult to train.
And some people dislike trotters because they can't pronounce their names, or remember which ones they've previously gambled for future flutters with the bookies.

I know right, hard to believe anyone has ever admitted to the third complaint.  Alas, the debate is currently raging on Facebook about this very thing, and it has had me laughing and holding my head in my hands in despair in equal measure.

I don't speak a word of French.  When I arrived in Paris in December 2016 on my first international visit as a STAGBI Director, I literally showed a taxi driver the printed address I had for the hotel that all delegates were staying at.  When he dropped me off at the hotel and handed me my suitcase from the boot of the car, I couldn't for the life of me remember how to say 'thank you' in French.  So I ended up saying 'thanks' (CRINGE).  Now if Le Trot were in fact Der Trab and the trip had been to Munich not Paris, I would have been able to hold half a conversation with the taxi driver.  Unfortunately for me and my semi-fluency in German, this is not the case.

One of the best things about going racing with William Smart Snr before he passed away was sitting in the car with him at a track and going through the card together.  Smarty and I used to purposefully skip to the trot race and get him to tell us which ones he fancied.  Remember this was back before the TF had arrived en masse, so it was a variety of Swedish, Norwegian and Dutch trotters primarily, but even at that...he just could not pronounce a single one correctly.  His variations on their names were so much better than their actual names.  Over the past few years we've often joked about what he would have called some of these French Trotters that have arrived.  It would have been a hoot.

When I was at Portmarnock back in August for the VDM meeting, Darren [Owen] and I went around the paddock before racing on the Saturday to interview some of the trainers and drivers for pre-recorded segments to be shown during the course of the afternoon on the big screen.  I interviewed Sean Kane, who coincidentally has been on both of my trips hosted by Le Trot at Vincennes, and we had a huge debate before filming as to the name of one of his horses.  I thought I had gone mad because I had three Irishmen trying to tell me how to pronounce the horse's name and what they were saying versus what I was reading on the racecard appeared to be two different things.  Darren got involved and his interpretation was different to both versions that had previously been mooted.  The main thing is: we had a laugh about it.  It didn't matter in the grand scheme how we chose to pronounce it.  After all, there are two very separate and distinct camps when it comes to pronouncing the late and great Kauto Star.  Tomato/tomato, potato/potato...even names which appear so distinctly 'British' can confuse people.

For it to then be bandied about on social media this afternoon that in order for trotting (as opposed to general harness racing, including pacing races) to be shown on a mainstream racing channel such as At The Races ('ATR') and be welcomed by the general public, horses from France should have their names changed in order for them to be more easily remembered and for people to start following these horses, to me seems absolutely ludicrous.  One comment from a horse owner was that if their horse was exported to a country where its name wasn't easily pronounced or understood, they would have no issue with the horse's name being changed to something more appropriate in that new country of residence.  Whilst as an owner they may be happy for a name change, I suspect that the majority of breeders would not be.  I know I certainly wouldn't want any of my horses' names changed.  Some of mine have our registered prefix; some do not.  We don't simply allocate names by plucking them from thin air without any forethought.  A lot of time goes into choosing a name that often means something to us, even if the history behind the name never becomes common knowledge.  Naming a horse is a breeder's way of putting their stamp on something they helped to create.

Some people might tell you that it doesn't matter what a horse is called; if it's good, it's good.  It doesn't know what its name is and that has no bearing or relevance on its ability to race.  Therefore, its name should be adapted where necessary to suit those whose sole involvement in racing is to hand their money over to bookmakers and hope for more back.  These people, apparently, can only remember anglicised names; they are only willing to remember anglicised names.  So either the country is full of close-minded racing fans or these people making these bold claims are massively underrating their compatriots.  Somehow though, I suspect these people didn't forget to back Buveur D'Air from one Champion Hurdle victory to the next.

I don't hang about with big gamblers.  I don't make a habit of hanging around with bookmakers either, save the one I happen to live with.  I do hang about with a lot of occasional gamblers though; people who put a 50p accumulator on at the weekend or beg for a tip off me in the week so they can have something to cheer on at the weekend in front of the telly.  I know, from spending time with them, that it doesn't matter if a horse has an easy to pronounce and remember name or not - if it puts money in their pocket on a Saturday afternoon then they follow it from that day forth.  When I was younger, I followed Hors La Loi III.  The fact that his name isn't the easiest to get your tongue around had absolutely no bearing on my support for him.  Edredon Bleu, Voy Pur Ustedes, even Senor El Betrutti (not French, no, but one of my all-time faves)...they hardly roll off the tongue do they?  And yet the betting public were able to get behind them one way or another.

So what is in a name?

To those of us not connected to a particular horse, nothing.  But to the person who bred the horse, potentially everything.  Every breeder has a method of naming, whether it's a prefix or suffix, naming with the same start letter as the dam, following a theme of the dam's name, following a theme of something the person is interested in...anything.  It might even be something totally random in the moment of decision-making, but from that point onwards that name belongs to that horse.  No matter where that horse ends up, the breeder has given it something that will stay with it forever.

I'm that much of a naming obsessive that I have to tell people the stable names of horses I sell.  I was affronted after selling Merrington Missile (known to me simply as Missile) as a rider to learn that his new owners had renamed him 'Sgt Bash', or 'Bash'.  One of my friends nicknamed his foal one name, then changed it when the horse was a yearling.  I told him it was bad luck.  Another of my friends bought a horse that I had known several owners previously.  I told him its stable name from when I knew it (which he thought was weird that I would know such a thing) and he told me its new stable name.  Within a fortnight he was back to calling it by its original stable name, the name I had told him.

OK, so French names are a little challenging.  They aren't as challenging for us as they are for our commentators.  I simply take my lead from Darren Owen.  Whatever he calls them, I call them.  And yes, it can be confusing with the three- and four-year-old trotters, whose names all begin with the same letter, but that is the naming system in place in France and we must respect that.  Remember that one of those horses whose name begins with a certain letter may have been the only foal bred that year by its breeder - it wasn't one horse lost in a sea of horses with names beginning with the same letter.  I dislike the younger trotters personally, but not because their names are so difficult to differentiate on a start sheet or a bookie's board.  I adore the older trotters (and I appreciate that the younger trotters of today will become the aged trotters of tomorrow).  I don't have a photographic memory.  In fact, I have a memory like a sieve.  If things aren't written down, I've no hope of remembering them.  But we have a finite number of horses racing in this country.  We see them almost on a weekly basis.  If you can't remember the names of horses, that's your problem and not the problem of those who name the horses.

I didn't hear anyone demanding that the Kane family change the name of Maitha Buachaill, even though to date that remains THE hardest name for any non-Gaelic speaking person to pronounce.  Martha Buckle got bandied about A LOT.  Ffairrhoshillbilly, or Fire House Hill Billy as he's known to the non-Welsh speaking division of our household (that's Smarty, in case you're wondering) - not so simple is it?

Let's just face the facts here: people who moan the loudest about the French Trotters aren't going to like them even if they had anglicised names.  Then they say they don't like them because they gallop excessively.  I put forward to you that the aged trotters gallop about as frequently as pacers do, and yet those who moan will still *try* to find fault.  They moan that the trotters do not provide a spectacle for race-goers and are too unpredictable to gamble (or lay).  The fact that they are racing for vastly increased purses compared to pacers is irrelevant to them because racing should be doing more for the spectators.

And yet, these same people are almost always the first to complain that pacers don't race for enough money and the sport doesn't do enough for those involved in owning/training/driving horses.  Pacers provide a better spectacle for the crowd, they say.

WHAT DO YOU WANT?

Do you want a good spectacle and betting opportunity or do you want the money in the sport to be better for those directly involved?

'Both'.

Well to have both, you need to accept both divisions.  By accepting both divisions, we might actually have a chance to move forward so that the trotters can begin to become a better spectacle for the crowd and the pacers can start to race for increased prize money.

Moaning, on the other hand, because you don't like the 'new' (hardly new now, but comparatively speaking, it is) style of racing on these shores, and finding fault in anything and everything (including the horses' names) won't bring about any positive change.  I see things I don't like and I approach the relevant groups or individuals privately to express my concerns and to make suggestions for improvement.  This doesn't always go down well, but I have learnt over the years (and from the mistakes in the past of jumping straight on social media to crab things) that this is the proper and appropriate way to do things.

If trotting from France makes it on to the telly in the UK, at least people in this country won't automatically assume we're all road-racing travellers who leave horses in the ditches to die.  They'll have half an idea about what our sport is.  Names, and galloping when they should be trotting, won't come in to it.

There's not much going wrong here... (Pikehall, 2017, Sarah Thomas photo)

Over and out,

#1 Groom

Aka Sarah, not Sara, because Sarah is my name and I don't want it changed, thanks.

Harness Racing: The Shows

Let's totally ignore the fact I haven't posted since about five years ago (OK, so more like two months ago, but we'll get back to that another time) and just jump straight into talking about something REALLY IMPORTANT:

The Shows.

Cumberland
Kilnsey
Wolsingham
Longnor
Stanhope

(Feel free to click on any of the above to take a peek at their respective websites).

'What's so great about these shows?' I hear you ask.

Well, if you've never been, let me paint a picture for you:

Imagine thousands of people descending onto a grass field, often on the outskirts of the village/town that the event is named after, browsing various stalls and stands, arts and crafts tents, machinery displays; enjoying fairground rides and main ring attractions; and taking part in various competitions such as animal showing (sheep, cattle, in-hand and ridden horses), gymkhana, jumping, 'Best Cabbage' etc.  Then at the climax of the day these thousands of people, many of whom only see harness racing on ONE DAY OF THE YEAR, line the entire length of the home straight to cheer on those taking part in the most thrilling event on the schedule.

I'm not over-egging the pudding - there are literally thousands of people at these events all picking a horse, having a bet and cheering it home.

These shows have one thing in common which separates them from any other harness racing events in the entire country: after each of the races, the crowd give a genuine ROUND OF APPLAUSE.  These people are clapping in appreciation of the spectacle that we, harness racing people, are putting on.  Just imagine that.  Now I know this isn't something which goes unnoticed, as Kilnsey 2018 was driver Lauren Moran's first ever visit to the show and immediately after the first race she turned to me and Richard [Haythornthwaite] in disbelief and said 'they're clapping?!'.  I felt the exact same way back in 2013 when I attended Kilnsey for the first time.  I couldn't believe that such a large number of people were applauding what I, and others who race on a weekly basis, take for granted.  I know that after most races at Corbiewood for example, most of the crowd don't even watch the winner's presentation as they have their backs turned to the track waiting for the bookies to price up the next race.

When did we stop appreciating the spectacle of what we are doing?

I'll leave you all to ponder that one.  Try to take a step back and consider what you have achieved this year in your efforts as an owner/trainer/driver/groom.  You may not have hit the heights that you dreamed of back in the spring when the racing season was a distant glow on the horizon, but I can guarantee that you have achieved something along the way that plenty of people who go about their day-to-day lives haven't.  Remember that.

All too often we hear complaints that as a collective we are not doing enough to promote the sport of harness racing.  It can be very difficult to tap in to such a competitive market with a product that is so far behind its Thoroughbred counterpart.  Yet, these shows are ready-made platforms upon which we can reach out to the masses to showcase what we have on offer.  Yes, we are racing, but we could be doing more.  Pre-race and post-race driver interviews, an introduction to the breed and sport, demonstrations and explanations of the harness used (and why).  Filling the race cards with the fixture list, BHRC website, social media pages, information for people to read when they get home after an enjoyable day at the show.  A trade stand to draw people in and get the message about what we do out there to people who might be interested in getting involved.  There are people with even better ideas than these crying out for their voice to be heard and for an opportunity to take on some of the workload involved.  Let's see if we can work in conjunction with these show committees to make these things happen.  Jump on my 2019 Show Bandwagon if you dare!

Now, I can hear some of you readers saying to yourselves 'why is she making such a big song and dance about racing at the shows?'.

I'll tell you why.

Some of these shows are beginning to struggle for entries.  You may say that's because they are 'low level' racing, unsuitable for big name stables and high quality horses.  You're wrong.

Firstly, these shows offer phenomenal prize money in comparison with other weekly meetings on dedicated harness racing tracks where racing is the sole event.  Prove it, you say.  Well, in 2018, Cumberland Show ran a £4000 handicap final; Kilnsey Show ran a £900 handicap final; Wolsingham Show ran a £1000 handicap final; Longnor Sports ran a £500 handicap final; and Stanhope Show ran a £900 handicap final.  Do you see a pattern emerging?

There is really good prize money on offer.  Longnor Sports even gave FREE entry to all horses to race, and to all connections of horses into the event.  I myself travelled to Longnor with Smarty and G Whizz, our driver for the day, with two horses.  Winning both heats and the final, we left that day with £1100 in prize money between us.  Not a bad day's work, especially as our costs were limited to the fuel to get us there and back.

Secondly, the quality of the tracks is often exaggerated to their detriment.  Having attended all bar Stanhope (which is on my bucket list for 2019), all I can say is that as long as you drive according to the conditions on the day (which should apply everywhere) and harness your horse according to the track (again, which should apply everywhere), there is little wrong with the tracks.  You're not going to set any records or earn a decent lifetime mark there, granted, but the variety that these places offer compared to the larger tracks allows for horses who don't necessarily suit speed mile racing to excel.  There's a lot to be said for three minute racing as well as two minute racing after all!  And variety is the spice of life, so they say...

Thirdly, these places DO attract successful horses from big stables.  Happy Hands (trained by Alexis Laidler and driven by Rocker Laidler) was the winner of Kilnsey 2018; Rhyds Solution (from the same barn) has won TWO Scorton Feast finals (a meeting which was not staged this year due to an archaeological dig at the venue but which it is hoped will return in the future).  Over the years, there have been numerous top class horses which have raced and won at these shows.

The fact that so many people look down upon these shows is having a detrimental effect on their viability for the future.  In addition to Longnor struggling for entries (which seems mad considering the already-mentioned FREE ENTRY and good prize money), it now appears to be a given that these show meetings are allowed to suffer fixture clashes with other harness racing events that definitely draw participants and spectators away from the shows.  Those in charge of approving the annual fixture list do not seem to appreciate the importance of supporting these shows.  If harness racing dwindles at these events and fizzles out completely, they will be lost.  To explain the severity of this, let me explain that all of these shows, bar Cumberland, have the majority (if not all) of the prize money provided by the show itself.  If a harness racing event which has harness racing sponsors is lost, there is a possibility of that sponsorship money being secured and redistributed at another harness racing event.  If the racing at the shows is lost, that prize money is also lost.  It would not be handed over to another event entirely separate to the show.  These show committees have ringfenced prize money for us and we must not be so shortsighted as to forget this.  Remember: the shows don't need us, but we do need them.

As I write this, Smarty has the pre-race parade from the Little Brown Jug at Delaware County Fair, Ohio, blaring from his laptop.  If that isn't akin to our shows over here, I don't know what is.  In America they've managed to make one of their 'shows' one of THE biggest events of the racing calendar.  Over here, our LBJ would be Wolsingham Show.  I don't often say we should 'copy' other countries (because I get annoyed that we pick and choose what we copy, often inappropriately) but in this instance, I think we should.  Let's celebrate the show circuit and make Wolsingham the BIG ONE.

And if Wolsingham Show is our LBJ, then Peter Deighton is our Roger Huston.  He has his critics, but man you can't knock him for his commentary at the shows.  Peter has a real knack for bringing the crowd right into the action and encouraging them to support the different horses and drivers as the races progress.  He did suggest at Longnor a couple of weeks ago that this year would be his last as commentator, but both Smarty and I sincerely hope this isn't the case as he brings something to the table that I'm yet to hear from any other commentator (although young Stephen Lees Jnr showed great promise at Longnor!).  The way he notches things up as the horses head into the last bend and he begins throwing suggestions out about this horse needing to make a big move or that horse taking the tough route three wide to mount a challenge, it all adds to the atmosphere and the crowd really gets into it.  I've been there, immersed amongst all these people who don't really have any idea what's going on but who wholeheartedly get behind the competitors, and I tell you what, it's really hard not to get caught up in it all.  I think I cheer loudest at the shows than I do anywhere else, even if I haven't got a horse racing.  At Longnor Sports he announced to the crowd that we had travelled all the way from Motherwell to support the meeting (OK, Motherwell was like the closest big town that G could give him as a point of reference for Cleland and Allanton respectively) and people actually stopped me in the crowd to double check that we'd really travelled that far.  It was almost like being famous for an afternoon.  He even thanked us publicly on the mic after the final.  Madness.

I would also like to take a quick moment to congratulate the winners of the finals from the 2018 show season:

Cumberland Show: Midnight Diamond - owned and trained by James Winter, driven by James Haythornthwaite
Kilnsey Show: Happy Hands - owned by Raymond Huschka, trained by Alexis Laidler, driven by Rocker Laidler
Wolsingham Show: Mayfellden Hetty - owned by Brian Laidler, trained by Alexis Laidler, driven by William Greenhorn
Longnor Sports: Elmo Hanover - owned and trained by William Smart, driven by Richard Haythornthwaite
Stanhope Show: Porterstown Jimmy - owned by Jody Foody, trained by Jack Foody, driven by Lee Fletcher

Mayfellden Hetty @ Wolsingham Show (Sarah Thomas photo)

Elmo Hanover @ Longnor Sports (Graham Rees photo)

I was present at four of the five events to enjoy the success of those involved (especially as Elmo is actually my horse, and I watched the race from inside the last two bends so I had a front row seat for the perfectly-timed challenge on the long time leader in the last eighth!), and despite being at Tir Prince for Crock of Gold Final night when Stanhope Show was being staged, I actually missed the draw for the racing because I was glued to my phone (along with a number of boys from the north east) watching the final from Stanhope on Facebook Live.  We had our priorities right!  It also allowed me to give Lee Fletcher and Porterstown Jimmy a big shout out on the mic when we did the draw for the CoG in front of the crowd.

Before I sign off, I think I need to ask the question:

What does the future hold for the shows?

Well, I'm no Mystic Meg so I can't tell you.  As long as the respective committees keep asking us to come back, and we keep providing the horses, the future remains relatively settled.  But we shouldn't 'settle for settled'.  We should be looking to build on these solid foundations that have been laid over multiple generations.

Firstly, I think we need to ensure that these shows have some sort of protected status when it comes to the fixture list.  In particular, Stanhope and Wolsingham.  Next year will be the 240th year for Wolsingham.  In 2018 it attracted 25,000 (yes, 25,000) people through the gate.  They are planning to be bigger than ever next year.  We need to tap into this, big time.  Having checked the dates, the 240th staging of the show will be on 7th and 8th September.  I would hope that no major event would be allowed to clash with this as although the event attracts primarily those in the north east of England (and Scotland), many of the top trainers are based in this area and it seems unfair to draw them away to other parts of the country.

Secondly, I think we need to work in closer conjunction with the show committees to really make our event on their schedule more than just racing horses.  I have stood and watched other displays at these shows and all the while that the spectacle is happening, there is always someone on a microphone talking the crowd through what goes into making this happen and what is actually happening.  I know we are the best people at talking about what we do, so let's do more of it.

Thirdly, we need to shake off this idea that the tracks at the shows are not fit for purpose.  I have raced my horses around two of the five this year and cannot fault them.  I fully intend to continue racing, when possible (remember I need to travel a minimum of about two hours - and a maximum of five and a half hours) at these tracks in the future.  The leading stable for the last eleven years bagged two of the five this year.  Bigger isn't always better and it's horses for courses as well.

I was asked to write something to draw some positive light onto the diamonds in the rough that are the show meetings.  I've tried to dispell some of the myths surrounding them.  If you've never been, I encourage you to go.  If you have been, let me know what ideas you have to make them even better than they are.  The shows have been running for, in some cases, hundreds of years with great success and for reasons unknown to me, they are allowing us to piggyback on their success so let's not waste these opportunities.  If we build on the existing shows, we might even be able to tap into new shows and before you know it, the Yanks might be flying over HERE for WOLSINGHAM before we all fly back over THERE for the LBJ!

Over and out,

#1 Groom

Described as "far-fetched, but funny"

2018 Season: Weeks 8 - 12 - The hiatus explained (except, not really)

Just...yeah.  The last few weeks haven't been a barrel of laughs.  You're probably thinking 'her social media posts suggest otherwise'.  I was once accused (jokingly, by someone I still to this day admire despite not seeing them very often anymore) of 'living [my] life on Facebook'.   As hard as it might be to believe, what you see or know about me from my social media pages would be roughly 10% of what happens or goes on in my life on a daily basis.  I choose what I share with you, my friends, the wider world, and I choose carefully.  I paint the best possible picture that I can because in typical British fashion, it wouldn't do to share with you all the rough stuff that happens, or the bad days, or to draw your attention to the flaws in my personality.  Plus I want you to like me.  You'll like me more if I'm funny and upbeat.

To make this easier for me, I'll use a weather analogy.  Let's just say the weather for the last few weeks has been cloudy.  Pretty damn cloudy.  Like the thick, dark kinda clouds.  And they haven't shifted.  And there's moments where the sunlight breaks through and I hope today is the day the sun comes out for good and then it's cloudy again.  But we live in hope of sunny weather because it's been sunny before so it has to be sunny again.  And all the times you see me in public and I have this big smile on my face and I haven't a care in the world, well it's not always the case.  Not right now anyway, right now it's not the case at all.  Sometimes I'm aware I'm trying too hard, and I know I'm coming across as over the top or borderline neurotic.  But that's better than the reality, at least in my mind anyway, because at least then I'm deflecting attention away from how I feel.  One of my friends in high school once told me she wished she had my confidence, and inside my head I was shouting 'IF ONLY YOU KNEW'.  I've just become very good at faking it over the years.
 
And that's it, in a nutshell.  There's a bit more to it, but Smarty says I need to be mindful of not being long-winded. I'm OK but I'm not OK, if you get me.  I'm trying.  Believe me, I am always trying. 

Now back to what you actually came here for: the racing recap.  Don't think from the above that I haven't enjoyed myself at times over the past few weeks, because I have.  Sometimes being out and about with good company in glorious sunshine is exactly what's needed.

I had a really nice day at Hellifield a couple of weeks back; I really enjoyed the racing there.  I was asked to take some photos which could be used on posters for future meetings so I had to try to channel my creative self.  Turns out I don't have one of those and after some failed attempts at 'panning' (people in my camera club keep telling me that's what I should do for racing photos) I opted for framing photos with flowers and trees and stuff.  Just like my dad always showed me when we went on family holidays and him and I had little digital cameras and a whole load of landscapes to photograph.  Darren Owen told the world in our Facebook Live review of the racing that I was stalking William Greenhorn (who had three winners on the day for the Foody stable).  For the record I'm not, he just has a wicked sense of humour on and off the track and he's tremendously good fun.  The day was a real day for the 'small' stables, with the Foody's (who have some of the country's finest horses in their stable) taking three of the seven races with Rodney Camden and All Good Hanover (heat and final winner); Pam Haythornthwaite's Oaks Maddico winning with brother Alan at the reins; John Towe and Moorside Icon (one of my favourite horses) and James Haythornthwaite getting a driving double with the Nicholson stable's Tasty and then John Wood's GDs Hurricane who was awarded a race following a stewards' enquiry after some interference from the horse that passed the line in front.

One for Elsa and her posters

All Good Hanover & William Greenhorn

The cheeky chappy himself (STALKER ALERT)

The following weekend we were at Tir Prince on the Saturday night and then Pikehall on the Sunday with a hotel stopover in between to save driving all the way back to Scotland just to head back down to Derbyshire the following day.  My main highlights of the Saturday night were Rockin Mambo notching up his third win of the season at Tir Prince when winning the three-horse British Pacing Classic.  I just think Marc and Jenny Jones have got him running tremendously and he seems to love the track in North Wales (as do they!).  Also Rhyds Passion beating Rhyds Nightlife in the STAGBI Future Broodmares Race - both mares are by The One Night Pan who in my mind was one of the country's most underrated stallions.  I was impressed with the winner and the runner up, driven by brothers Richard and James Haythornthwaite respectively.

At Pikehall I was the official photographer, having stepped in last year when the winning connections of the first race were standing patiently in the winner's circle waiting for their photo and I realised nobody was coming forward to take it.  This year I knew where to stand and I risked working with the new camera for the first time - I think it paid off because I got some nice shots.  Having sold Cassius Clay at the start of June, this was his first outing for new connections and he romped home in his heat to win from the eventual final winner, Olivia Camden.  I was delighted to see him win, even though it meant he drew first blood in the competition between him and Elmo.  That made it 1-0 to Cassius with Elmo only finishing third on his first start for us three days earlier at Corbiewood.  Time for us to get a move on (try telling Elmo that!).

I was particularly impressed with the Gilvear family's Lose My Mind (aka Cheddar) who won his maiden in style, and also Olivia Camden who was somewhat a surprise winner of the final and who was confirmed on the day as making the line up for the Star Makers Final at Tir Prince on 14th July.

Winning connections with Cassius Clay

The eye-catching Lose My Mind & Gordon Gilvear

Next up on the circuit was the two day festival at Aberystwyth, which has historically been one of my absolute favourite meetings of the season.  After my stint on the mic at Appleby, I was drafted in to do some interviews here which once again I absolutely loved doing.  I was able to see first hand the efforts of the organisers and stewards in keeping the meeting running smoothly, even with the pressures of having to run to third party timings as S4C's Rasus were streaming live between scheduled times.  We had intended to take Young Stephen to this meeting and were really looking forward to it as we felt the track would suit him, however 3 days before the meeting he had an accident in the field and despite our best efforts, on the morning of the Friday when we planned to leave we made the decision not to take him.  The eventual final winner, My Buddy, and the runner up Rhyds Nightlife, both came from what would have been Stevie's heat - racing him at not 100% would have been pointless in that calibre of race.  My remarks when interviewing winner owner/trainer/driver Alan Jones, who is a postman when not driving major handicap final winners, did not go down as hoped with the crowd.  After his heat win, I told him that it was a first class performance, and I hoped that he could deliver in the final.  I'm wasted on you all.

Rhyds Nightlife's two big runs on the Saturday suggested Tir Prince the previous week was good form, and indeed Rhyds Passion won her heat on the Sunday to give owners Kelvin and Shelley Tucker an absolute thrill.  JMs Macy Hallstar also impressed me when winning her heat.  But it was Springhill Glory on his first appearance for the Laidler stable who took all the glory - winning both heat and final very impressively.  His 3YO season last year was littered with big wins and perhaps he wasn't given the praise he should have been come the end of it when other horses had come to the fore.  It won't happen again, that's for sure!

My favourite part of the weekend whilst doing the interviews was speaking to some of the 'forgotten' characters of our sport - the children of the trainers and drivers.  First up on the mic I had Poppy and Ruby Cairns, daughters of trainer Joanne and driver Andrew.  After Wellfield Witch had won, Andrew had to rush back to the box as he had a drive in the next race, so Poppy and Ruby stepped up to the plate to give a tremendous interview with their thoughts on their dad's winning drive and his chances in the next race.  I'm pretty sure it was described as 'amazing' and 'great'!  I also got to interview Ollie, son of driver Vicky Gill, after her win with American Mistress.  Although a little shy, we broke the ice and I think I have encouraged him to get involved on the mic more going forward (as I'll touch upon later on in this post when mentioning Musselburgh).

One thing you may have noticed is missing are my reviews of Corbiewood.  Don't worry, it's been plodding on in the background during all these weeks of racing.  We brought Elmo out for his first start on 28th June where he finished third.  We had tried working him out alone and with another horse in the build up to racing him however he was totally not on the same page as us with that so we decided to launch him into races to see how he progressed instead.  I was delighted with third, especially as he didn't get a good draw.  Most importantly, he stayed on well at the finish passing horses to land the third, however the officials misread this as potential non-trying and my driver paid his first visit to the stewards' room.  It wasn't to be the last!  The following week, on 5th July, he was drawn 6 of 6 and despite looking like getting a half decent start, he found himself affected by traffic which hampered his chances a bit.  Again he finished well, albeit fifth and in a slow time, but the driver and I were quite happy.  Smarty and the Gaffer on the other hand were not.  They both told me he did not have the requisite speed to be competitive at Corbiewood and appeared to be more of a stayer, which would suit half mile grass tracks rather than the tight, speedy turns of Corbiewood.  I was advised to look to sell and replace with a more suitable horse.  I did not heed this advice.

Good job I didn't, because the following week we returned for a career-defining run for Elmo Hanover.  With a good draw, he would be made to leave a gate to demonstrate what speed, if any, he had, and from there he would just need to run as fast as his little legs could carry him and we'd hope for the best.  We got the draw - 2, with an erratic horse on our inside which did not get up on to the gate as forcefully as others might have (and subsequently broke after the car pulled away).  We then got challenged aggressively by Hawthorns Dream & William Greenhorn to go a 29.1 first quarter, but Elmo held them off.  After a short respite, they came again before the half to keep the pressure on.  Again, the attack was repelled.  Going down the back for the final time I could see the Jockey getting on at Elmo and I ran to the rail to shout at him as he turned for home, because Smarty told me he seems to respond to a bit of vocal encouragement, and he ran out quite a comfortable winner in the end - much to my absolute DELIGHT.

Unfortunately in the very early stages of the race, the outside gaiting strap snapped at the head of the shaft and trailed behind the cart for the remainder of the race.  I describe this as unfortunate because it was not deliberate, nor was it anticipated.  It was a piece of equipment which, at that particular moment, broke.  It hit my driver in the leg when it did so (something he has only mentioned once or twice...).  It was a little disheartening that in the immediate aftermath of the race, connections of other horses in the race felt it more appropriate to point out my broken equipment (and potentially insinuating it gave us some sort of advantage) rather than just say a simple 'well done'.  I did offer at the time to pay any fine for unsafe equipment out of my winning prize money.  The offer was not taken up.

Track photographer Bill Cardno wasn't present on the night and after I had heard my draw, and realised there was a slim chance of winning, I was worried that I wouldn't have a photo of Elmo for my Wall of Fame.  This is how I met Annette Sproul and Fiona Brims, two very accomplished photographers.  I accosted them, told them my horse was number 15 and a camel and not very photogenic and unlikely to win, but if he did surprise everyone on the planet, could they please try to capture it on camera.  They didn't let me down!

Elmo Hanover & the Jockey (Fiona Brims photo)

Sam & Smarty joined the Jockey & me in the winner's circle (Annette Sproul photo)

One of those moments of sun breaking through (Annette Sproul photo)

Cassius...1
Elmo...1

After the highs of Corbiewood came the lows of heading to Tir Prince minus Al who had qualified for the Star Makers Final but had been sick for a couple of weeks leading up to the event.  Instead we took an empty lorry to collect Stevie's dam, Dark Velvet (aka Peggy), who had spent a number of weeks with Matador Hall as his first ever lady caller, and Vain In Spain (aka Rita) and her colt foal Denver from Hasty Hall where she had been successfully scanned in foal with Denver's wee brother or sister.

It was disappointing not to be a part of such an exciting event, which for me was the highlight of the entire evening.  Earlier in the evening we had witnessed Valseur Du Cygne notch up his sixth successive win of the season, proving that right now he is the best trotter in the UK by some way, regardless of distance or track.  Rockin Mambo went on to record his fourth win at the track when taking his second Crock of Gold heat which sees him fast-tracked straight to the final on 8th September.  At the start of the season we weren't considering him to be a FFA star, but here he is and absolutely smashing it.  It's a joy to see, especially as Marc and Jenny [Jones] always seem so surprised by their success!

And on top of winning with their two-year-old filly The Mocking Jay, and then Rockin Mambo, they went on to land the Star Makers Final with Father Ted, a horse previously responsible for Marc running a lap of his training track at home in his underwear whilst being filmed by his rather disparaging teenage daughters (the commentary is worth it alone!).  Three horses, three winners.  That's some night out for the team!

Runners line up behind the start car for the Star Makers Final

Father Ted & Marc Jones heading for victory

Owner Jenny plants a kiss on Rockin Mambo after his Crock of Gold heat win

Due to us collecting the mares and foal, we chose to skip Wolsingham the following day.  Sometimes there is such a thing as 'too much'.  A long drive back north, but everybody on board travelled well and we were glad to get home at a respectable time.  Most of all I was glad to have my boy back where he belongs.  I can't wait to see how he grows and develops.

Crosshill Diablo (aka Denver) - Hasty Hall-Vain In Spain-Artsplace

And finally that brings us round to Musselburgh, this weekend just gone.  Another one of my favourites, and perhaps I wasted the buzz a bit this year by agreeing to work a betting without pitch for Smarty.  But, as I said to a few people, I couldn't turn down good wages in favour of taking photos in the paddock and soaking up the atmosphere.  Money is what makes the world turn.  I still got to hear the crowd roar in the stands at every finish, and that is what Musselburgh is most famous for (well, that and the road).  We had Stevie and Elmo on for the Saturday; Stevie's injury had been a slow recovery process and although we felt he was close to being back to where he was at pre-injury, we also had doubts about how much he liked the track.  Our doubts were confirmed both by his performance and from what the driver told us afterwards, and we agreed that should Stevie come back in to training next year (which is a BIG if), we won't take him back to the track again.  Three failed attempts at winning there, time for us to call it a day on the dream being realised by him.  His mother, Peggy, a winner at Musselburgh herself is yet to produce a winner there BUT I have a good feeling about my potential Matador Hall embryo (if there's one in there).

Now that we've got Stevie's slightly lacklustre run out of the way, let's talk about Elmo.  This is for Anthony Fettah, to whom I promised I would never say this again (I LIED): SO CLOSE.  We were SO CLOSE.  That was the funniest looking half a length I ever did see.  Second.  Second with the most eye-catching finishing run of the field.  Second and closing with every stride.  Second and oh how I wish he'd got the slightly better trip, the slightly sooner run on the leader, the slightly cheekier start.  But look, he exceeded expectations.  He gave his all.  He proved any doubters still remaining after his maiden victory the previous week wrong.  He's making headway.  Game on.

Big Bird & Elmo thinking about how CLOSE we got

Of all the other races, there are probably too many highlights to mention.  To all of the winners, well done.  Musselburgh is woven into all of your histories and as someone who was only converted to it last year (the penny finally dropped for me), I now appreciate in some small way how important winning there is to you.  To the Gilvear family and Someones Fantasy (who won his maiden there last year), you were thoroughly deserving winners of the Red John Hurricane Pace Final.  Your patience with your horses is so highly commendable, having visited your stable and been treated to an insight into how you operate, I am delighted that you were able to win such a prestigious race on such a big stage.  A great team effort from top to bottom.   To Sally Teeboon and her team, and Kelvin and Shelley Tucker who once again couldn't be there, you have an unbelievable mare on your hands.  Rhyds Passion, who last year won the Red John Hurricane Pace Final as a rank outsider, returned on the back of some great form to firstly win her heat and then go on to win the big one, the Famous Musselburgh Pace off a 40 yard trail.  A mare, in mixed open company, on a trail.  She is a machine.  A glorious, female, staying machine.  I have loved her for 12 months and now I love her even more.  She had my vote for Mare of the Year last year (which she won) and she gets it now with half the season to go.  And to James Haythornthwaite, so reserved and humble in victory.  You deserved your moment because this was only one of many, many superb drives you have given in a relatively short driving career.  Both you and that mare could go anywhere in the world and have success, of that I am 100% sure.

Finally, I want to thank all of the people who worked tirelessly to keep harness racing fans both home and away up to date with videos, results, previews and reviews of the racing.  Lisa Farrelly, Karen Kennedy and Carmel Stewart - thank you.  Everyone appreciated the information and footage you put out so promptly (even if my phone went berserk with notifications - 'British Harness Racing Club is now live').  To Thomas Bennett for all of the interviews, many of which had me laughing at the joint both days.  On the Thursday evening before the two days at Musselburgh I bumped into Ollie, my interviewee from Aberystwyth, and he seemed much more at ease with the idea of being interviewed at Musselburgh.  After Mahogany Ash won the 2YO race for Vicky and owners Margaret Ferns and Pat Anderson, I missed the interviews but I was assured that Ollie was involved somewhere.  Good on you kid!  To Darren Owen - you are the driving force behind trying to show off what we have and also trying to engage with people all over the world.  The messages I have received about our mini broadcasts have been great, it's mad to think the world is watching us (and apparently enjoying it).  To Elizabeth O'Neil for her standard top quality video service - we would be lost without you.  And last but not least, to Craig Stevenson and Anthony Fettah (and all the other volunteers) for putting on such a competitive and well-run event.  Keep up the good work!

As I sign off on this, Corbiewood looms large on the horizon again.  Some people believe the weekly cards right now are of poor quality, but I live for my Thursday nights.  As sick as I'm sure everyone is of hearing about bloody Elmo, he is often the ray of light shining through the clouds as I plough on through each week.  I'm clinging to that pure, untarnished fun that comes from racing what others deem to be an average horse every week and seeing if I can get a bit of prize money and a rosette, or better, a winner's photo from Bill.  Fortunately I am not alone, and I have surrounded myself with a group of people who feel exactly the same.  If you need to find us tomorrow night, we'll be eating cake and drinking tea in a lorry.  Stop by and say 'hi'.

Over and out,

#1 Groom