My racing moment of the year

It takes a little bit of magic to train any racehorse. It takes plenty of magic to keep a 13-year-old sprinter bursting with energy and raring to go. I’m there applauding the superstars of British racing on many big occasions, but my racing moment of the year came in a woodland paddock behind Liphook Golf Club in Hampshire where, as he nuzzled his trainer John Bridger, Pettochside, a battle-hardened bay by Refuse To Bend with a white dab on his forehead, gratefully nibbled a few Polos from my hand and sniffed inquiringly at my notebook.

In racing we tend to form loyalties: loyalties to an up-and-coming apprentice jockey whom we have spotted heading for the big time; loyalties to heart-on-sleeve trainers whose joy in their charges’ success is totally infectious; loyalties to horses who have done us a good turn on the racetrack at a decent price. A few years back, my friend Derek Sinclair and I began noting the bounding enthusiasm of a gutsy five-furlong specialist with a particular liking for Goodwood and Ascot and we have followed every step of Pettochside’s career since. Pettochside isn’t a big-earning superstar from a gold-plated yard creaming the top Group races, but he is the perfect example of the joy to be had in racing at lower levels. Every year, since his first victory at 25-1 on the all-weather track at Wolverhampton in January 2012, Pettochside has won at least one race. What is remarkable is that, at the age of 13, as a specialist over the minimum sprint distance, Pettochside is still rocking up with all his old energy and enthusiasm.