WITH British Champions Day upon us, there has been much discussion about the combatants, and one horse who has had more than his share of column inches this year has been 2017 Champion Stakes winner Cracksman, a devastating seven-length winner of the 10-furlong contest last year.

Much was expected of him this season, with everyone looking forward to a much-vaunted clash with stablemate Enable, but the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley, as they say down the pub, and that meeting has never materialised for various reasons.

One of those reasons, arguably, is that Cracksman has looked less enamoured of his work as a four-year-old entire, and while excuses were proffered for a workmanlike win the Coronation Cup at Epsom, when he reportedly banged his head on the stalls, not everyone was convinced by his demeanour, and a lacklustre effort in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot added fuel to the flames. Timeform, the sages of Halifax, had this to say about his performance there: “...he’s lost his focus, becoming lazy; this slightly indolent streak was evident even down at the start as Dettori actively tried to liven him up by showing the whip before loading the stalls, and as soon as they jumped he was bustling him up; … it might seem odd to say about a colt that has won two more Group 1s this year, but suddenly he does have a bit to prove, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if headgear was applied in the King George given the recent signals.”

PLANS SHELVED

There was no run in the King George, and plans to go to Longchamp for the Arc were shelved, with John Gosden stating that a repeat bid for the Champion Stakes was on the cards, which caused a few feathers to be ruffled, but what has really set the tongues wagging is his decision to fit Cracksman with a pair of blinkers.

While Timeform take the view that blinkers might help cure Cracksman of what they term “an indolent streak”, the reaction to a top-class horse wearing blinkers in Britain is that the horse must be a rogue – indeed blinkers were often referred to as ‘the rogue’s badge’ in bygone days, and this association has never really gone away.

Felix Leach, in his memoir Sods I Have Cut On The Turf, makes reference to this nickname, but explains why attitudes to the use of headgear in England and the USA have been so different.

Horses tend to get lazy faced with routine, Leach argued, but the nature of racing here meant that laziness is often a desirable trait, especially in long distance races, enabling horses to settle better and prove tractable for their riders, until asked for their effort late in the race.

This, he argued meant that horses took less out of themselves in races, and were tougher and more resilient as a result, meaning that this habit of racing behind the bridle was rarely seen as a disadvantage outside of sprints.

In the USA, and with dirt racing in particular, gate speed and sustained pace are much more important than preserving a turn of foot, and blinkers are routinely used to help horses into a forward-going outlook.

Two types of horse need blinkers here, the author argued – the rogue, and the genuine racehorse who had become a bit too lazy.

Blinkers work but once with a true rogue, who will be fooled into winning by the change, but being naturally cunning, will soon return to old habits.

The lazy horse, he maintained, was a different beast, and merely needed the headgear to offset his laziness, which often hid a perfectly genuine nature.

He went on to describe a number of horses who performed much better in blinkers than without, making much of their toughness and durability in doing so. We should, he argues, always look for the difference in the genuine horse who needs the help of headgear and the rogue who will quickly lose the benefit.

Unfortunately, that parade of rogues has tended to colour our attitude to headgear; they’ve given us a blinkered view, you might say, but that’s a shame, as some of the most likeable racehorses I’ve ever seen have worn that badge with pride, a personal favourite being Teleprompter.

“He wears a visor, but is the epitome of enthusiasm,” said Timeform, adding,

“It is to be hoped that racegoers have the pleasure of seeing him running his heart out for a few years yet.”

Unlike the wonderful Teleprompter, not all heroes wear masks, but some super ones do.