Lesson to self: don’t put a bet on in autumn

When things went wrong in his days running the Daily Mirror, the scoundrel Robert Maxwell used to shout: ‘Which effing idiot thought of doing that?’ Told once by a bolder-than-average subordinate that what proved to have been a disaster had been his own idea, he responded: ‘In that case what effing idiot let me do it?’

Thanks partly to generous layers who pay up to six places in Heritage handicaps, it has been a prosperous punting season for me but at Newbury last Saturday it was bookmakers 7 – Oakley nil and I have nobody to blame but myself. Every year I counsel myself to hold back as the autumn rains start changing the going and making a nonsense of form figures achieved on good to firm.

At this point of the season, too, racecards are flooded with over-the-top handicappers having one run too many because their owners are looking for a contribution towards their winter keep. Two-year-old fields swell with un-raced babies whose trainers are anxious to get a run into them before winter, whether they are ready or not.

It is a period to shelve the betting books and go racing purely to watch out for next season’s prospects but did I hell. In the first two races there were bankers, previous winners trained by Charlie Appleby, en route once again to be champion trainer and ridden by William Buick, crowned already as this year’s champion jockey. Both were hot favourites but Batal Dubai finished seventh of eight, and Striking Star last of nine on ground which churned from soft to heavy.

Ralph Beckett’s Quantum Impact , owned by lucky Marc Chan, took the opening nursery handicap in the hands of Andrea Atzeni. Izzi Beckett, deputising for her spouse, called him a lovely horse who is going forward. ‘I imagine that will be it for the year, though I’m not one for second-guessing my husband.’ When I noted that we don’t often see Atzeni riding for the yard the reply was: ‘He’s hard to get but it’s useful when we can get him.’

It could be rather easier now. After their many Group 1 successes together over eight years in the yellow with black dots, Andrea’s retainer with Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum contract has been terminated. When I asked him if more rides for the Beckett yard were likely he declared: ‘I’m pretty free now so it’s whoever wants me.’

The second race, the Group 3 Horris Hill Stakes, was won conclusively by the Simon and Ed Crisford-trained Knight, who immediately earned a 25-1 quote for the 2000 Guineas. Said Ed of the 10-1 winner: ‘He’s got a high knee action so we thought he’d be OK [in the mud] but you never know.’ The Crisford operation is nothing if not up to date and Ed and jockey David Egan recorded a commentary video on the spot for KHK Racing: it is a service owners are coming to expect.

After the third, the Group 3 St Simon Stakes, Izzi Beckett was back in the winners’ enclosure to do the honours with the Rossa Ryan-ridden Max Vega, who had edged out William Haggas’s Hamish by a head in a driving finish. This time Izzi and the excited Pickford Hill Partnership had to wait for the prize-giving after the klaxon warned of a stewards’ inquiry following contact between the rivals in the final furlong. She led them out of the winners’ enclosure while they awaited the verdict (‘We didn’t want to have to do the walk of shame!’) but it was all smiles when the placings were upheld. Izzi’s only regret was that she had meant to have £2 each way at the generous odds of 22-1 but became too busy. Max Vega had won over course and distance in the spring and she promised: ‘He’ll be around next year. He’s part of the furniture at Kimpton.’

There was another tight finish in the fillies novice stakes over a mile between King Charles’s Value Added, ridden by William Buick for Richard Hughes, and Opera Forever, trained by Andrew Balding and ridden by P.J. McDonald, who triumphed by a neck. Just as well for the rider who surprisingly was partnering his first ever winner at the course. When he heard that, Andrew joked ‘If I’d known I’d never have booked him.’ Of course P.J. rides mainly in the North and as he told me: ‘I mostly only come South for Group 1 days and the like and it’s harder to win races on those days. But it’s a feather in my cap anyway.’

Finally I must note that U-turns can be welcomed in racing as well as in politics. As late as the first week in August, despite a crisis in field sizes and the consequent betting revenue, the British Horseracing Authority was insisting it had no plans to rethink its ban on overseas visitors (mostly from Ireland) in low grade handicaps. Last week it announced the ban was ending. Three cheers for common sense.