SHARPE MIND: Hoo’d Believe It?

In this week’s SHARPE MIND blog, where sports betting PR legend GRAHAM SHARPE aims to bring you a rundown of Sensational, Hard to believe, Amusing, Remarkable, Pertinent & Entertaining events which have happened over the years in the worlds of racing and betting during each specific week of the year, he digs out some of the golden moments from the week between 26 April and 2 May.

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▫️ OPEN FOR BUSINESS… ON MONDAY, MAY 1, 1961, betting shops became legal in Britain……..ironically, they were unable to match some of the facilities their illegal equivalents had offered illegally, such as television screens and refreshments for patrons.

▫️ HOO’D BELIEVE IT?… The Hoo racecourse, situated at the village of Kimpton, near Hertfordshire town, Hitchin on the state of one Lord Dacre, staged racing from APRIL 28, 1821 until APRIL 26, 1862. Along the way, on APRIL 26, 1851 the Omnibus Stakes resulted in Defaulter, Squire Of Malton, Reindeer and Pulcherrina running a rare, if not unprecedented, four-way dead-heat.

▫️ UNLUCKY FOR SOME?… Thirteen year old Brienz won the Ely Handicap Chase at Cardiff, ridden by Tommy Carey on APRIL 26, 1939. A mere TEN years previously, the horse had finished third by three and a half lengths in the 1929 Derby, at odds of 50/1.

▫️ P.S. – I GOT THERE FIRST… Jockey Peter Scudamore rode a Towcester four-timer on APRIL 27, 1989 – the third of which, Gay Moore, made him the first jump jockey to win 200 races in a season.

▫️ LONGCHAMP NAP… Eclaireur won the first race run at new French course Longchamp on Sunday, APRIL 27, 1857, in front of 10,000 spectators, and the Emperor Napoleon III, who had performed the official opening.

▫️ GRAND RESULT FOR TOMMY… Having won the Grand National on Red Rum, Tommy Stack became a trainer following his retirement. Sending out 12/1 Las Meninas to contest the 1000 Guineas on APRIL 28, 1994 – and winning it after an extraordinary 17minute wait for the photo finish to be decided, Stack was confirmed as only the second to complete that double of National and English Classic, after Joe Canno, who also did it via riding Regal in the 1876 National, and training Pilgrimage to win the 1878 1000 Guineas and Petronel the 1880 2000 Gns.

▫️ YOU’RE ALL DISQUALIFIED…OH, HANG ON, NO YOU’RE NOT… All eight runners were disqualified and the Plumpton Restart (!) Claiming Hurdle on APRIL 29, 2002, was voided, after they all took the wrong course………well, it was, until the Jockey Club instigated an inquiry, and as a result reinstated the outcome, with Martin Pipe-trained 7/1 shot Potentate, declared the winner, under jockey Gerry Supple.

▫️ SIMPLE AS THAT… Asked why he decided to become a jockey, Adrian Maguire, born on APRIL 29, 1971, explained that ‘I was too small to become a window cleaner and too big to be a garden gnome.’ On his 23rd birthday he took his first ride at Southwell, winning on Buckra Mellisuga.

▫️ BRINGING HOME THE… 10/1 chance Rag Time Belle, landed a streaky win at Redcar on APRIL 30, 1992, bringing home the bacon for pig-breeder owner Roger Hughes, pig-keeper, trainer Malcolm Eckley, and breeder Victor Wadge, a pig farmer.

▫️ WEAVING HIS WAY TO VICTORY… Now a common sight and listenable sound on racing tv programmes, former jockey Jason Weaver was having his first ride in a Classic on APRIL 30, 1994, on board 16/1 Mister Baileys for Middleham trainer Mark Johnston, resulting in the first Northern-trained 2000 Guineas for 33 years. Martin Pipe’s firs Classic runner, Cotteir Chief, was unplaced.

▫️ STRIKING OUTCOME… Pickets were on duty at the 1000 Guineas meeting at Newmarket on MAY 1, 1975, where stable lads, striking over a pay dispute – average weekly wage £28 – provoked ugly scenes, during which jockey Willie Carson was dragged from his mount. Carson reportedly said in 2001: ‘There was an agreement that they would not interrupt the racing and they went and broke their word. One or two of them must have egged the others on and they piled on to the course and tried to stop the horses going to post.’ As fights broke out, the crowd started pushing the protesters off the course and onto a heath near the starting stalls.

“I was riding a horse called Pericet, who was a coward, and got me into trouble.’ remembered Carson in 2015, ‘He wasn’t very brave with all the people about, he stuck his toes in, and I was pulled off. There was a lot of sympathy for the stable lads, certainly I was sympathetic, but when one of them whacked me with my own whip when I was on the ground I started seeing things differently. ”

The crowd were asked to return to the grandstand and the police eventually succeeded in clearing the course. Carson added: ‘The next day I was pulled into the steward’s room and given a dressing-down by the chief constable of Cambridgeshire. He told me that he should have arrested me for inciting a riot.’

▫️ DERBY DOUBLE WORTH TALKING ABOUT…. Commentator Mark Johnson called the Kentucky Derby for the first time on MAY 2, 2009, as 50/1 Mine That Bird went from a tailed-off last at the first turn, to a seven length winner under jockey Calvin Borel. Johnson thus became the first commentator to do the honours for both the US and UK blue riband races.

▫️ 39 YEAR CLASSIC SPAN… Lester Piggott landed his 30th Classic victory on 6/1 Rodrigo De Triano in the 2000 Guineas on MAY 2, 1992. His first was 38 years previously on Never Say Die in the Derby – the longest-ever first-to-last Classic span.

▫️ AND FINALLY… I was at Ascot races on APRIL 28 2004, hoping to see the great stayer, Persian Punch winning. His regular jockey, Martin Dwyer said of the horse, ‘When you go out to ride him you don’t feel you’re going out to ride a horse; it feels like you’re going to meet one of your old mates for a pint.’ As we watched the race, Persian Punch sadly collapsed and died at the end of the contest. The eerie silence which fell over the entire course was extremely moving, and conclusive proof of the feelings engendered by racehorses, not only felt by their close connections but also by the racegoers who follow their careers. Persian Punch(1993-2004) was often heralded by the racing media and his fans as the most popular horse in training, and had his own fan club and website.

He was trained throughout his racing career by Desert Orchid’s handler, David Elsworth. Persian Punch, owned by Jeff Smith, won 20 of his 63 races and was placed in 19, amassing prize money of over £1million. He won 13 European Pattern races, equaling the record of Ardross, Acatenango and Brigadier Gerard.

GRAHAM SHARPE

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