Racing isn’t just about speed and style. Sometimes it is all about sheer guts. On trials day at Cheltenham, with the tacky ground sucking the life out of every leg, with every extra pound on a horse’s back feeling double on the lung-busting uphill drive to the post, courage mattered.
It was one of those heartening occasions too, so much more likely in jump racing, when smaller yards shared the spoils with the big boys. Not many in the Cheltenham crowd, I suspect, would vote left of centre. But racing crowds thrill nonetheless to a bit of redistribution of income and the victories of Joe Lively in the big race, the Letheby and Christopher Chase, and of The Sawyer in the Grade Three betchronicle.com Trophy were cheered to the echo.
Bob Buckler, whose Crewkerne yard has just 28 inhabitants, produced The Sawyer in perfect condition to take advantage of his light weight on heavy ground.
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