This blog is a follow up to
A Year in Horse Racing which chronicled my year in the Gordon Elliott Racing Club. I'm still a member and have started this blog for the new year and named it in honour of our 2018 club star - Smiling Eliza.
Cover photo by David Betts.
Boxing Day or St. Stephens Day is a big day for horse racing in the UK and Ireland. Down Royal is on in Northern Ireland, the King George VI Festival is on at Kempton and the Leopardstown Festival begins in Dublin. Four days of racing with the Savill Chase formerly known as the Lexus and the Ericsson on the third day - a race that, like the King George, will include many Cheltenham Gold Cup hopefuls.
As I drove, seamlessly, from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland passing trailers and lorries carrying race horses up the other direction to Down Royal, I did wonder if this will still be possible next Christmas with no Brexit solution in sight.
It's poetic that the first post of this blog should feature the horse that has given the club so much entertainment. Smiling Eliza has been on the go for a long time this year even before she became a club horse around May. She started off on the flat winning at Navan and placing on several other occasions. She then took to hurdling and was second twice before I saw her win at Down Royal and then she won again at Punchestown which booked her a run in a Mares Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree earlier this month. It might sound ridiculous to say she was unlucky with the ground turning very soft in December but this has been a very mild winter so far following a very hot summer and the going was still good up until the week of the race but then it rained every day. Since then it's been fairly dry again and after riding in the previous race, Eliza's Jockey, Mark Enright, told us the going was on the good side of yielding.
St. Stephens Day at Leopardstown is a big day out for all the young people. It was like 100 school formals had all descended upon the Foxrock track and made up the majority of the 13,000 crowd. A young lad asked me if I would pretend I was his father so he could get in for free! In retrospect, maybe most of them were outside trying to avoid paying €35 in. I told him I was no use to him as I had one complimentary ticket. There was a big crowd from the club as well and we gathered around Mark Enright waiting for Gordon Elliott to come over and give him final instructions. Gordon had five of the eleven runners so was running around each of his Jockeys as the bell rang to empty the parade ring. Jack Kennedy, who has won on Eliza twice, chose another of the Elliott horses - Coko Beach - which wasn't a great sign for us but Mark Enright is a very experienced horse man who won the Galway Plate for Gordon on Clarcam during the summer. However, I was concerned when he had her last but one as they went past the post the first time because Eliza has always looked better when she was ridden just off the front but that was how Jack Kennedy rode her, maybe Eliza's new pilot liked to do things differently. She did start to get into it a bit from about 3 out but got no further than mid division. There was drama at the last as one of the favourites came crashing down and on a day of surprises across racing it was a 14/1 shot Rocky Blue who won. Eliza stayed on and finished a neck behind 6th and 7th in 8th place. Coko Beach was 9th.
Mark Enright was full of praise for her afterwards as this was a very competitive Grade 2 race. Not sure what the plan will be for her now. It's clear she has her limitations - preferring firmer ground and was a bit outclassed when stepping up in grade. Hopefully Cheltenham is still an option but wouldn't be surprised to see her out again soon.
Pat's Oscar is a recent arrival for the club and she had a St. Stephens Day run out at Limerick in a 2m hurdle. The going was soft there but it looks like she needs heavy ground. She jumped ok but was never in it and came in last.
Alex reported that both horses returned home safe and well and were fine the next day.
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