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DAVID CARR |
Weblog: What do you mean the Wi-Fi doesn't work? The life of a Racing Post reporter
Sad end for a great old thing
You don't have to be as well-known as Kauto Star or Carruthers to be the subject of a tear-jerking tale that deserves to be told.
So this is the story of Kappelhoff - and fittingly for a horse who takes his name from Doris Day's original surname, it is something of a weepie.
He was never in the same ballpark as the stars of the jumps game, a low-grade chaser who at his very peak earned a BHA rating of just 80 - that's more than 100lb behind Kauto's best.
It took him four years to win a race, too. Yet he got better with age - not many horses double their career tally of wins as a 13-year-old but that is what he did by coming home in front three times last year.
Still no danger of his being classified as anything other than modest but he long ago earned a big place in the heart of Lydia Richards, who'd bought him as a three-year-old and had him in her yard in Chichester ever since.
Until today, when I had to call her to check on the horse's condition after a nasty fall at Fontwell, where he won five races. And the news was not good.
The only fall of his life - remarkable in itself for a 14-year-old - had broken his femur. He'd been in awful pain and the only choice was to put him down.
All details related in a matter-of-fact way by Mrs Richards, who has been around horses far too long to be sentimental - but her affection for 'a great old thing, lovely and part of the furniture,' was clear. And her suggestion that 'the yard is very quiet today' was very easy to understand.
Happier news for youngster Harry Derham, though obviously trivial in nature compared to matters of life and death. Paul Nicholls' nephew keeps the ride on improving Brampour at Cheltenham on Saturday even though he won't be able to claim his 7lb allowance.
A rare example of loyalty in racing - a prize fund of £130,000 would be 130,000 reasons for many owners to call for stable jockey Ruby Walsh without a moment's thought.
But a less-than-rare example of the maxim that most people in the sport have some form of personal tie to each other if you look hard enough. Part-owner Arron Banks is an old friend of Nicholls' sister and was a neighbour - so he has known Derham since he was eight.
Let's finish with news that shows the press can still be a power for good, whatever those at the Leveson Inquiry might say.
Within three days of writing here about the stopped clock in the Aintree press room, I got a text message saying it had been fixed and that additional ones had been ordered for the Grand National meeting.
It won't make it any easier to find the winner next April - but at least we'll know what time our hope falls.
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