What more can anyone say about Ryan Moore? In my long experience of the flat, over sixty-years, he is, in my opinion, the best of the best. When Frankie was riding, I ebbed and flowed on whether he or Ryan was the better. Ryan was always the more consistent, though I loved the way Frankie rode, which was usually one crack of the whip to get his horse to lengthen and then hands and heels and keeping his horse balanced and running in a true line (most of the time) to the finishing post. But by the time of his retirement, I had come to the conclusion that Ryan was by a neck or a head the better of the two. And, yes, I had both of them in front of Lester, though that is based mainly on style of riding.
I watched a replay of Benvenuto Cellini's race at Keeneland yesterday and at the halfway mark it would have taken someone of mystic powers to place money in running on Ryan Moore. Yet come the straight (the stretch) he was perfectly placed to launch his challenge. It would be only fitting if the Queen were to nudge the King's arm to suggest a knighthood for Ryan Moore.
It is the same with Aidan, not that he is going to ever get to become Sir Aidan. The dictionary has run-out of superlatives to describe the man's c.v.. The surprising aspect of his career is that he has not rewritten the trainers' handbook, as is attributed to Martin Pipe, as no one it seems has thought to copy his training methods. Yesterday at The Curragh, the 3-year-old filly Amelia Earheart, making what I would guess as her twelth+ race since May when she won the Cheshire Oaks, won a Group 3 over 2-miles. No other trainer would have given a 3-year-old filly such an arduous season, certainly not one as blue-blooded as Amelia Earhart. Or, as with Sun Goddess, so many runs for a top-class 2-year-old filly. Aidan's horses are exercised 7-days a week, with the horses partnered by the same riders day after day and have the same exercise routine throughout the season. It seems to be that simplicity equals genius.
Once upon a time the phrase 'horse of a lifetime' was sparingly used. Arkle was a horse of anyone's lifetime. Yet now it is a phrase so often bandied about that it has become stale, cliched, run-of-the-mill. Gordon Elliott has more than one 'horse of a lifetime' in training at the moment, although the phrase will only ever be applied correctly to one horse he trains in his lifetime, Tiger Roll. The recently retired Colonel Mustard was a great horse for Lorna Fowler, yet she no idea if a better, more kinder, horse will come into her life.
By this time tomorrow we will know the winner of the Melbourne Cup. Now, I am not overly in love with the race, and I will not get any earlier than I do already to watch the race live, though I prefer it by the length of the Flemington racetrack to the Breeders Cup. Aussie form means little to me and as outsiders frequently win the race, Aussie form must be as much a cryptic clue to Australians as to a mere pom, so I'll go, as I normally do, with my instincts and plump for Enfjaar but it is a tip that comes with nothing more than a Tom Collins one star.
Chelmsford makes it latest comeback from the dead tonight. As I believe we could save money and increase field sizes if we lost three all-weather racecourse, I am not enthralled by Chelmsford's survival, as much as it saddens me to read about places in this country which used to have racecourses and no longer do. Chelmsford is all-weather, though it has a turf course in preparation, and that to me is less worthy than the loss of racecourses like Birmingham, Manchester, Hurst Park and Bogside, racecourses with a long history.
Why The Jockey Club did not step in to buy Chelmsford baffles me. If they are to lose Kempton Park, not decide to sell as that is now out of their hands, Chelmsford would, being close to London, be a perfect venue for their all-weather schedule. It is the same with Windsor, a perfect place for The Jockey Club to stage the King George. Boxing Day by the Thames.