2005

DOWN Royal’s jumping showpiece meeting was dramatically abandoned after just two races had been run last Saturday.

A coded warning, detailing where three devices had been placed, was received by the PSNI and immediately conveyed to the course. Evacuation procedures were deployed straightaway and the crowd, estimated at between 8,000 and 9,000, was told to move out of the stands and bars onto the centre of the racecourse.

The crowds milled around in the infield, those who had parked there managing a delayed exit. The bomb squad arrived and then there was a muffled detonation at around 3.30pm. Realisation that the meeting was lost for good didn’t take long and then it became a case of getting out.

Frustrations built up but the horseboxes began to roll within minutes of stable staff being allowed in to tend to their abandoned charges. That was just after 5pm, in darkness, through a cordoned-off crime scene.

The weighroom and pressroom were not going to be opened and thousands of pounds in cash were still in the bars and marquees. The bookmakers’ joints were still standing, those with computers facing a night in the open. The layers were finally allowed in at 7.20pm to take their equipment out.

Racecourse manager Mike Todd, bitterly disappointed and undergoing the full spectrum of anger control after the abandonment, could only comment on Sunday: “This was meant to be Northern Ireland’s big National Hunt day, yet people were denied the opportunity to see our racing at its best by the mindless act of a few idiots.”

The bomb alert turned out to be a hoax eventually, but that didn’t stop the racecourse complex being bathed in arc lights for the duration of Saturday night. It was finally cleared by the police on Sunday afternoon when the weighroom was reopened and jockeys’ valet Dave Fox was able to retrieve all his equipment, as well as jockey’s clothes and car keys. Even the pressroom had been abandoned in a hurry, leaving laptops behind.

The racecourse will have suffered major loss and Mike Todd fears for the corporate side of his business. “Can we get them back to enjoy a day’s racing here again?” he asked. The rescheduling of the feature races was never going to be a possibility. The calendar yields no space when it comes to slotting in a €140,000 chase at this time of year, and the race is sadly lost for this season.

Then, suddenly, he was gone

1985

THE presentations to Joe Mercer were finally over. The last in a long series of tributes at Doncaster concluded.

Somehow they all forgot he had one final ride on Bold Rex, a 20/1 outsider in the William Hill November Handicap. It seemed just too good to be true, but there he was punching away in that neat, rhythmic, copybook style on Bold Rex as they steadily drew clear of the pack in the long Doncaster straight.

So old Joe came back to the sort of reception that he will remember for the rest of his days. There were more presentations, interviews and eulogies and then, suddenly, he was gone to join Lester Piggott and Edward Hide in retirement. Only three jockeys, Sir Gordon Richards, Lester Piggott and Doug Smith have won more races than Joe Mercer, who began as an apprentice with Major Fred Sneyd at the age of 12 in 1947.

Life under Major Sneyd’s military-style regime was unbearably hard at first. The wages were low, the hours long and spare time almost non-existent. Anyone late back from the weekly visit to the cinema was not allowed out the following week.

On Derby day 1976 came the shock announcement that his retainer with Major Dick Hern’s owners would end and that he would be replaced by the younger Willie Carson. Joe Mercer licked his wounds, kept his views to himself, and fought back to become champion jockey with 168 winners in 1979.

JFK becomes president-elect

1960

ONE result of the election of Senator John Kennedy as President of the United States may well be the creation of an even greater interest among the sportsmen of the United States in the land of the new President’s forefathers, Ireland.

Not the least factor in this regard is the presence of a particularly efficient and charming public relations officer who has been a frequent visitor for many years to the Kennedy home, and who is keenly interested in Irish hunting as a tourist attraction. She is Mrs Dorothy Tubridy, the widow of one of the most polished horsemen that Ireland is ever likely to produce, the late Captain Michael Tubridy of the Irish Army jumping team.

Already there are considerable bookings with numerous Irish packs from American sportsmen, and recent events are likely to increase their number considerably during the coming season.

Italian double deserves special recognition

1955

TO win the Ascot Gold Up and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the same year, and with two different horses, is a great achievement for a country whose annual output of foals rarely exceeds the 300 mark.

Italy owes an enormous debt to the late Federico Tesio, architect of these victories and one of the greatest breeders of bloodstock ever.

The tragedy is that Tesio never lived to see his Ribot run, and I am sure that had he seen him slamming his field by 15 lengths in the Premio del Jockey Club there would have been no doubts in his mind that this was the horse he had been trying to breed for almost 60 years.

In the space of a hundred yards he was five lengths clear of his field, and I have since heard from television viewers that the camera had the greatest difficulty in keeping the first and second in the picture, so fast was he moving.

Camici and Ribot received a terrific ovation on returning to scale. The colt will now be trained for the Ascot Gold Cup and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. I have no hesitation in saying that, unless there is an outstanding three-year-old in Europe next year, Ribot will never be beaten.

The victory of Ribot should now silence those who criticised the Italian National Stud when they purchased Tenerani. On many occasions I have emphasised that Tenerani not only stayed for ever, but had speed out of the ordinary.

The following year Ribot won both the King George and a second Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. He was undefeated in 16 races and is recognised as one of the greatest racehorses of all time. A multiple champion sire, two of his sons won the Prix de l’Arc, and his influence on the breed has been enduring.

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