Bit of a rush for a patient constable these days

Another warm spell is upon us. I need it and even when temperatures start to drop again I’ll wish I was in Aix -en- Provence, sipping a glass of chilled rose.

I can’t afford it, of course, and given my recent history of this ward and that and hospital bran flakes for breakfast, the travel insurance would probably run into thousands rather than hundreds. I shall not see Aix, or Arles, while my love of Paris will be confined to very old episodes of Maigret starring Rupert Davies.  You have to admire a man who habitually stops off for a coffee and a snifter of cognac as part of his investigation.

With the Newmarket July meeting the next major fixture I’m reminded of Whortleberry, my first £50 investment half a century ago. The bet was struck on a very warm day like today, when Abbot Ale was still brewed by Rayments before Greene King took them over. It was a sad development because ‘proper’ Abbot lost all of its distinctive flavour and is now merely a stronger version of IPA. Like several of my friends, Abbot  –  together with Courage Directors  –  has gone for ever. Such is life.

I thought I’d never hear of whortleberries again (trained by Noel Murless he was done on the line by one of Harry Wragg’s if you’re wondering) but they were similar to blueberries and Jim Old’s wife kindly made up a jar and sent it to me.

And now, more years having elapsed, I learn that whortleberries were part of the staple diet of Australia. Indeed, when the Ashes party arrived for the 1938 series, they talked about them all the time. I know this from reading David Foot’s fine profile of Jack Fingleton, former Test player and later a colourful and controversial writer and broadcaster. (He didn’t like Don Bradman.)

It was unusual for this year’s first hot spell  –  I was in hospital and missed it  –  to arrive in June. It reminded me of a routine British ‘B’ picture of the Sixties called Hot Enough For June, which was the phrase used by agents when meeting a possible contact. The film might have been instantly forgotten but for the remarkably versatile Dirk Bogarde and the wonderful John le Mesurier in his usual diffident, slightly baffled approach. I think of him every time I see Bill Nighy or Robert Cooper, though maybe that’s just me.

I still have reservations about the effect of the draw on the straight course at Ascot, especially on the first two days, but in every other respect I thought the royal meeting was quite magnificent this year  –  an occasion to set alongside Dubai, Japan, the Breeders Cup or any other top-flight, international shindig.

It was in my mind to write about changing times, with special reference to the Wokingham Stakes, but then  I read a fine piece by John Scanlon in Mark Johnston’s Kingsley Klarion magazine. I must emphasise that this is not a ‘tipping’ publication in any way, shape or form but it is certainly a classy item, especially if your interest stretches to veterinary matters.

Scanlon writes or edits much of the political content and his overall opinion of the BHA is, shall we say, refreshingly brisk. But in the current edition he allows himself a look back and wonders if we remember the summer of 1976.

He was working as a Manual Scoreboard Operator on courts 6, 7 and 14 at Wimbledon, the ‘show’ courts being out of reach because he went to Glasgow University, not Oxbridge. Jackets, shirts and ties were compulsory until and unless someone emerged from the referee’s office with permission to relax to a degree.

Oh my life, 1976! How we sweated as Southampton won the FA Cup for the only time and Bill Wightman’s Import just got home from one serious rival in the Wokingham. I don’t know which I loved more, the horse or the team, though maybe the fact that one of my passwords is PocketBobby in honour of the late Bobby Stokes who scored the only goal, is a clue.

It wasn’t all that hot the year Hot Enough For June graced the cinema screens. I couldn’t remember the Wokingham winner, which is hardly surprising  because the meeting was abandoned. I knew it wasn’t quite Nunshoney because I organised the school sweep and that was the year, 1965, when we visited Winchester jail and chatted to some of the lesser miscreants. We were meant to embark upon some chat about it being time for a fresh start but I ended up giving my chap Nunshoney and he was very grateful. At 33/1 there have been times when I wouldn’t have minded a fresh start like that myself.

The great cavalry charge is very different these days. I kept looking at Double Rush, who seemed different class, but then he needed to be, having gone from 90 to 95 to 105 in his three outings for Andrew Balding.

Would he have won a Listed or a Group 3? Maybe not quite, but he’d have been right there a furlong out. And that’s the difference, really. Nunshoney had only 7st 2lbs after the claim, like the lovable Patient Constable, winner of the 1966 Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood under 7st 7lbs. Both were three-year-olds, trained by people who gave the handicapper little room to manoeuvre and lightweight jockeys who knew the time of day.

It was up to us to go through the whole multi-runner affair and work out what might be possible with a horse apparently set to run loose  –  like Les Hall’s Ashurst Wonder, who had only a well-nigh unbelievable 6st 11lbs in the Stewards’ Cup of 1954.

We don’t need that level of concentration these days; we either thought Double Rush would take a 10lbs increase in his stride or we didn’t. The Wokingham is worth a lot of money and Balding does not make many mistakes. Double Rush just got there in a very tight finish. At 5/1 he was not short of admirers.

Just going back to the Kingsley Klarion, it is good to know that jockey Joe Fanning is well on the road to recovery after having his prostate removed. He’s been interviewed lately by journalist Nick Townsend, who has also been treated for the disease  –  an extraordinary, maybe even a unique relationship.

Which brings me back to Royal Ascot and the going. If you remain convinced that high numbers have the edge on good to fast ground, do bear in mind that things can change entirely by the time Champions’ Day comes around in October.

Hard against the far rail, Joe made all the running on Johnston’s The Gatekeeper a while back and was still comfortably in front at the line. At 25/1 this was my best result of recent years and paid for two more guests at the HWPA lunch. The previous year, David O’Meara won with an 80/1 complete outsider previously beaten in an optional claimer. So make a mental or maybe even a pen and ink note now.

(Sorry, showing my age again.)

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