Santorini – And some lesser stars

From the number of sympathetic messages I received about the Southampton-Middlesbrough fiasco (otherwise known as Spygate) a lot of people thought I was as dedicated to the Saints as ever.

In fact, that’s not the case. I go back to the days of  Terry Paine and Martin Chivers, to Big John McGrath and the unstoppable Ron Davies, and when I left SIS as main presenter – broadcasting to betting shops with punters facing the other way – I was free to travel with the club to away games as well as home ones.

But now I don’t feel the same way and that isn’t just confined to Southampton. The game has changed, with agents often calling the shots; plenty of cheating on and off the pitch and the Premier League, with plenty of devotees in the press, awash with money.

So for me Spygate was just another murky story and I soon lost interest, although I felt justice was served when Hull beat Boro in the final. I missed Goodwood as well, with George Materna, of Czech extraction but a great Hull supporter, heading for Wembley and cancelling his facility booking on the South Downs. He is some supporter!

I’m sure my passion for racing will never go the way of my love for football, although you have to separate racing and betting because it is many years since the latter caused me any financial problems.

My long dry run was never going to come to an end on a balmy evening in Paris in late May, although I must say I was sorely tempted by the William Haggas-trained Santorini Star in the Group 1 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier. What a race this was! A smallish field but packed with quality and I doubt we shall see a better contest this summer.

Others were preferred in the betting but I just felt that Santorini Star’s reappearance triumph at Newmarket would give her the edge and I was so nearly right. She was given a superb ride by Tom Marquand, who dictated the pace and then kicked on again inside the two-furlong marker. She had the far rail and kicked on again. The last thing any top-class jockey wants to see, however, is a late thrust from Oisin Murphy and she was ultimately worn down in the last two or three strides, while still trying to battle back. It was a wonderful sight.

And how good it was to see the meeting so well supported, the cameras picking up a fairly dense crowd as the principals hit the line. Needless to say, I imagine myself there, the filly just holds on and I take myself off to a quiet little bistro just around the corner from Longchamp. A drop of Chateauneuf du Pape perhaps, with a glorious free day strolling around Paris to follow the next day. ‘Tis the stuff such dreams are made of.’

That stroll might encourage a little creativity as well. I’ve been toying with the idea of a book about ordinary horses who still mean a lot to me – old Bunto winning a Newbury sprint for Doug Marks and Les Hall’s Liberty Lawyer inching home in one of those valuable two-year-old sellers at Newmarket. We were paid out only after an interminable photo, the front two having raced apart the whole width of the Rowley Mile.

Or the memorable day at Salisbury when Albert Finney’s Brother Ray, following up a Nottingham victory, passed the whole field as though victory was a formality, which at 15/8 in a multi-runner handicap it needed to be. The only problem is that I wanted to include a horse like John Meacock’s Vakil-ul-Mulk, who finished last in the Derby, as he was bound to do, before winning a handicap hurdle later in his career. He may have been ‘ordinary’ but he was quite famous for a while.

As for Jim Goldie’s Hawkeyethenoo, who stormed through his Stewards’ Cup field like Ghengis Khan on speed in 2012, there was nothing ordinary about him at all. So I might settle for Jim’s Call Me Ginger instead. I bored readers rigid by going on about him when he struggled to make any impression at all but suddenly the penny dropped and, off a decent mark, he couldn’t stop winning and included the Portland Handicap in the hottest of hot streaks.

Jim is also an excellent trainer of young riders. Amie Waugh was very polished on Call Me Ginger and I have no hesitation in putting up Lauren Young, who also claims 5lb at this stage of her career, alongside her. I draw to your attention Woohoo, who has generally looked a Class 4 performer but she ran very well in a Class 3 at Hamilton the other day after seeing very little daylight. I doubt she will match Ginger, but there is a decent handicap in her before too long.

Ian Carnaby’s books are available to buy on our website by clicking here