Back to the racing – Musselburgh Fair Day races have been run since 1893, and until 2009 were held on a Tuesday and Wednesday, when the meeting moved to the weekend. I went in 2011 when the meeting was moved to a Thursday and Friday, however last year they reverted to the weekend format. Smarty informed me over the weekend that, much like Appleby races, Musselburgh used to attract a large number of travellers however these days the crowd is mainly made up of harness racing folk with a few gypsies thrown in for good measure. The meeting is made up of heats and a final on both days, maiden, novice and Grade 1 races, the 3-year-old Scottish Grass Derby and a Free For All for the top handicapped horses.
On the Saturday we arrived early to find the racecourse packed with members of the general public, stalls, an Irish dance troupe and random people dressed in riding gear. I helped Vanessa write up Pinno’s ante-post prices for the final (she’d written them the night before but Baz wasn’t very careful loading the board back into the car after Haugh Field and they were subsequently rubbed off – she was not amused). Annoyingly, a message was then announced over the loudspeaker that everyone should vacate the racecourse in order for the harness racing to commence. I felt that this made it sound as though the general public had to ship out so we could come in, when perhaps they should have been notified that if they paid and obtained wristbands at the gate they could stay for the racing. For all I know people did just that, or perhaps not one of them wanted to stay and they had all planned to leave anyway. Sometimes I just wonder whether the powers that be actually want people who’ve never been before to come racing (Eric Witherspoon and Cilmery committee excluded).
Anyway, we’d been to Argos that morning to buy me a folding bar stool so that I didn’t aggravate my back again and I settled in for an evening’s racing. I must admit, Musselburgh isn’t my favourite place to race because for all the propriety that comes from having a paddock and a grandstand, some of the excitement of the racing itself is lost when you have to watch the horses on a big screen. That said, watching the horses coming past the crowd to the finish line does make up for it somewhat. My highlights from the Saturday meeting were turning around to catch sight of the Howard family exploding as Rhyds Fivestar powered home in the Free For All and watching Chris Nicol, owner of Ontop Girlcharmer, put his head in his hands briefly as his three year old colt hit the front in the hands of Stevie Lees in the Hurricane Pace Final.
Rhyds Fivestar was as much as 16-1 with some bookmakers, which seems hard to believe when the horse has won over £40,000 racing only in the UK. However, I have to admit that I was with many who believed that his best days were behind him. He’s been convincingly beaten several times this season and his owners, John Howard and family, would have been forgiven if they’d decided to retire him in favour of racing some of their younger stock. However, perseverance pays off. As Fivestar fought off favourite Forafewdollarsmore, the noise behind me in the stands caused me to turn around instead of watching the race finish. The whole Howard family, plus hangers on, were absolutely exploding in the grandstand; as the horse crossed the line, the winner by half a length at least, the group tumbled out of the stands and headed for the paddock to cheer their horse in. The whole scene made me smile – after all, it’s the people that make this sport so much fun to be a part of. Smarty later told me that Saturday was Fivestar’s fifth run at Musselburgh; this victory was his fourth, with only one horse having ever beaten him around the track – Stoneriggs Mystery beat him into second twelve months ago. It must be true what they say: it’s horses for courses and Fivestar is one for Musselburgh!
I’d changed the flashing message on Smarty’s board just before the final to read ‘THEY GO LIKE THE WIND, IT’S THE HURRICANE PACE FINAL!’ – and fly they did. Girlcharmer dead heated for first in his heat, but romped home in the final, the first three year old to do so since Pans Landing (so Smarty tells me). Mr Fettah was stood next to me shouting ‘Where’s Chris? Where’s Chris?’ as Stevie took it up comfortably a furlong from home, and it was at this point that I stopped watching the race and started watching the owner. I can watch replays of the race over and over, whenever I like. But Chris’ reaction wasn’t caught on camera, it will remain only as a memory to the few people who watched him and not his horse. The guy was absolutely ecstatic as his horse came home the convincing winner.
On Sunday the heavens opened and we were forced to set up in the rain. Thankfully it slackened off before the first race and the track itself wasn’t badly affected. The second day was more stressful for super-clerk (me) than the first, as we managed to dig ourselves a very big hole by race 7. To make matters worse, when Smarty picked me up from the airport on Friday night he told me he’d laid three ante-post bets for the final on Sunday. The most alarming of these was a £400 bet at 25-1 on a horse called West End Boy (owned and trained by the afore-mentioned Howard family). At the time, this didn’t seem like too scary a bet; however the horse qualified for the final with ease which hadn’t been part of the plan. Therefore, if the horse won the final, we stood to pay out £10,000 in one go. Thankfully our fortunes turned, perhaps because the gods took pity on us or perhaps because Smarty is a proper good bookmaker, and we went into the final where we’d started at the beginning of the day. When he shouted to me to ‘kill the board’ (turn off the prices from the computer at the back), I turned to watch the race with a feeling of dread. There were two other horses in the race that were losing us relatively substantial amounts of money; the rest were running for us. As the horses crossed the road, West End Boy broke stride badly, immediately hampering the horse behind him which in turn hampered the horse behind them both. As luck would have it the three losing horses for us in the race were taken out of the running in one swoop! In the space of five seconds our fortunes were completely reversed! I defy anyone to say horse racing is boring!
My highlights from the Sunday were Wellfield Official, aka ‘Fish’, winning his race in style; I put a fiver on for my friend Rachel who is his groom (you’ll remember that I went to visit Rachel and we took Wellfield Earl and Wellfield Official out for a ride earlier in the season). Rachel repaid me the favour by bringing me liquid refreshment in the form of a Bulmers – by this point I needed it! The other highlight was Ontop Girlcharmer returning from his double victory the day before to win the 3YO Scottish Grass Derby in style, ahead of an impressive Rhyds Yankee and in form Stamp Hill who just wasn’t good enough on the day. Smarty informs me this feat hasn’t been achieved for over 20 years – the last horse to win a heat and final on one day and the 3YO race the following day was Brave Decision (?) at Appleby, however as I’ve only been involved in the sport for six years he could tell me anything and I’d believe him. He is usually right though in matters relating to racing so we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt!
One last thing to note: on Saturday a horse that my family bred was racing at Musselburgh. I was immensely proud of the fact that he was even there, and didn’t mind one bit that he didn’t like the course and trailed in at the back of the field having never settled throughout. As I said previously, it’s horses for courses and perhaps this course wasn’t for Donnas Dreamboy. It was wonderful though to see him after nearly seven years; the last time I saw him was as he was loaded into a box from the sale in Builth back in 2006 as a foal. I also had the opportunity to talk at length with his owner and trainer Allan, but was disappointed not to meet his partner and Don’s biggest supporter, June. Don will be racing again this week at Corbiewood and I sincerely hope he can return to his winning form that saw him clinch victory on his first two runs of the 2013 season leading up to his unsuccessful run at Musselburgh. Here’s a few photos of him before he raced:
Sarah (#1 Clerk this weekend!)
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