'Like so many, I'll miss his brilliant prose and wonderful wit' – Racing Post readers pay tribute to Alastair Down

Reading the many tributes to Alastair Down takes me back to when I was editor of Pacemaker magazine in the early 80s. 

Although then still relatively young, I was already follicly challenged, a fact that Alastair never let me forget. 

One day we got together for lunch at a lovely Chelsea restaurant called Monkeys. To say it was a long lunch would be an understatement. It stretched into dinner time and the only reason it ended was probably because I suddenly realised, to Alastair’s great amusement, that I had a hair appointment somewhere on the King’s Road. 

It was the time when Alastair was writing his Weekender column and he devoted the whole of his next article to our lunch. It was a hilarious piece, mainly at my expense, and his concluding paragraph is forever etched on my memory: “. . . and Harris slalomed off into the night declaring he was going for a haircut (not a long job).”

Like so many, I will miss Alastair for his brilliant prose and wonderful wit.
Michael Harris
Former editor of the Racing Post

No fan of the deadline

Alastair Down’s untimely death demonstrates extraordinary prescience by those in charge of ­Cheltenham’s press room. Other press rooms – namely Ascot, Doncaster and Aintree – have traditionally waited until the journalist so honoured has passed away. At least my old friend and colleague could indulge his gregarious nature one last time, surrounded by admiring friends and colleagues.

He has been compared in various tributes to the finest sports writer of my era, Hugh McIllvanney, who died in 2019. 

Like Hugh, Alastair was able to translate the mundane into literature, the commonplace into a thriller. But they also shared one enormous ­journalistic failing – the deadline.

I was a young reporter on the Daily Express when, in 1972, I was despatched to Epsom for Roberto’s Derby. My chief role was to assist the Express’s new signing (from the Observer) to get his magic filed, by telephone, to the office by 9pm. 

I was getting grief from the news editor every time I telephoned to say Hugh’s copy would be another 30 minutes. In the end he filed at around 9.30pm, ensuring that the avid readers in the outer regions of the UK missed the McIllvanney debut in the first edition of the paper.

After fewer than 12 months, the Express and its star writer parted company and Hugh returned to the Observer where he had more than a few hours to pen his distillation of sporting stories. 

Alastair had a similar hatred of the deadline and the compromise to his copy. He was also a much-loved colleague, generous with his time and happy to help the young. 

I hope the Horserace Writers and Photographers Association name an award after him. 

RIP Alastair.
Colin Mackenzie
London

He crafted rich tapestries

It is tragic news that Alastair Down has passed away at such a relatively early age and so soon after the ­Cheltenham press room was renamed in his honour.

Alastair crafted rich tapestries using the warp and weft of human and equine endeavour. He wrote about gut-wrenching raw emotion, unconstrained joy and reverential contemplation, but he also fired off broadsides at those in power who sought to undermine or threaten the reputation of his beloved sport.

He had the power to excite, infuriate and to induce tears of joy and sorrow.

Come the opening day of the ­Cheltenham Festival next year, when the runners for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle are sent on their way with the traditional roar from the crowd, there will be one additional voice from the press room in the sky, raised glass in hand.
James Cunningham
Ruislip, London

Artist of the written word

I wanted to thank you for publishing the excellent supplement in tribute to Alastair Down (November 3). 

I enjoyed immensely re-reading his articles, especially those on Sir Henry Cecil, and Henrietta Knight and Terry Biddlecombe, which brought a tear to my eye for the second time.

Alastair was an artist of both the written and spoken word, having the gift to transport the reader to whatever or whomever he was describing and that is a rare talent indeed. 

I think it likely the majority of racing fans will miss his writings, which, like the sport he wrote about, were filled with passion and drama.

People will say there will never be another Alastair, but hopefully a writer of his quality will emerge to enthral future generations of racing fans in the same inimitable fashion that he conjured for my generation.
Andrew Watson
Randalstown, County Antrim

Unique customer care

Years ago, following the closure of The Sporting Life of which I was an avid reader, I wrote to the Racing Post complaining about its content and layout.

Having sent the letter, one day my wife informed me that Alastair Down had been on the telephone and that he would ring back in an hour. Much to my surprise he called soon after.

We had a very pleasant conversation, at the end of which I said that I was sorry if my observations came across as rather strident but that I hoped they might help to improve the paper. Alastair replied: “At least you didn’t wipe your backside on a copy and send it in!” 

He will be sorely missed.
Dave Robinson 

Read more tributes on Alastair here: 

'Those extraordinary words came from the heart' - friends and colleagues pay tribute to Alastair Down 

Alastair Down: a master conjuror of words and a cherished advocate for racing 

'He had a gift and an extraordinary one' - AP McCoy, Nicky Henderson and more remember racing hero Alastair Down 

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