Friday 20 December 2013

FRIDAY DECEMBER 20th RACING POST 2013. LAST DAY FOR DAVID ASHFORTH AT UTTOXETER IN HIS CHALLANGE TO WIN A GRAND FOR CHRISTMAS GRAND TOTAL SO FAR WIN £546.61


FRIDAY DECEMBER 20th RACING POST 2013
WEEK MONDAY DECEMBER 16th  TO SUNDAY DECEMBER 22nd
http://www.racingpost.com/news/live.sd
Ch4 Racing Channel
REVIEW YESTERDAY'S EQUUS  RESULTS
       
PREVIEW TODAY'S EQUUS CARDS 
http://www.racingpost.com/horses2/cards/home.sd

BIG RACE ENTRIES
 
 Please use this join-up and scroll down for David's 'Grab a Grand for Christmas'
 
 Aim Info: Can he do it?


 


 
STORIES OF 2013 MAY


 "Breaking the hoodoo not once but twice" .

Nicholas Godfrey
" On  a jockey who achieved landmark success as he became champion again" .
"IF RICHARD HUGHES had been asked .....
 

Ahern career left in tatters

GOOD MONTH FOR CHARLES HILLS

BAD MONTH FOR FRANKIE DETTORI




 
CLIVE BRITTAIN THE SMILING PIONEER
INTRODUCTION: PART SIX
 MYSTIKO partner MICHAEL (Muis)  ROBERTS
 
"You don't win races with wooden horses. They must have fire and passion and it's our job to control it."
 
Clive Brittain on his feisty 2,000 Guineas winner Mystiko.

"SOUTH AFRICA'S SUNDAY TRIBUNE  greeted Mystiko's victory in the 2,000 Guineas of 1991 with the headline 'Our Champion!; ' saying that the victory of jockey Michael (Muis) Roberts' took South African racing to the top of the world" . The South African champion, who had ridden the winners of 16 Classics in his home country, was described as having ridden the race of his life after driving Mystiko to rally over the last 50 yards of the race and deny Steve Cauthen on the French raider Lycius by a head in a photo finish. The pair were six lengths clear of another French runner, Ganges, in third place.

 

Clive  says "Mystiko wouldn't have won a Classic with just an ordinary  jockey.  Mystiko was a tearaway. There were only so many gallops in him.  Clive says  "Michael Roberts got on well with Mystiko.. "Roberts wins a lot of races before the finish with his tactical skills during the race. As a man he has great character. Nothing is too much trouble.  If there is a problem  with a horse, say with his temperament , he makes light of the difficulty. Roberts is a tremendous horseman. And if you listen he is always there with something worthwhile to say.  To understand why there was such empathy between Clive and the 11-times South  
African  champion you only had to listen to Roberts enthusing about Mtoto, the great horse he used to ride for Alex Stewart, I don't like just to get up on a horse, ride it and forget it. Horses love attention, love to be fussed over. When you get a special one you give it special treatment, treasure it. ' That was a natural match with Clive's 'Put your horse first and let him tell you' patience'  and Roberts' key contribution was in getting Mystiko  to keep his head down and relax.

 

"Clive has always been quick to spot the potential of emerging riders from home and abroad. He was one of the first to give significant opportunities to the hard -working former South African champion when he tried his luck in Britain. and he and he and Roberts developed a fruitful partnership, at least until Roberts was riding regularly for Henry Cecil and the Maktoum family. Clive says: "The more I used him the more I appreciated he had a racing brain second to none. Plotting and planning a race were second nature to him. "

 

"Trainer and jockey trusted each other's judgement. Preparing for the Free Handicap run with Mystiko on his reappearance as a three-year-old, the jockey was told to do what he liked with him. One day he found Mystiko so relaxed that he went past the watching trainer at no more than a hack canter. When he pulled up Clive went over to him and Roberts thought, "Oh hell, he's never given me a rollocking and this morning he's going to go mad. "

"He adds: "I explained I couldn't ask the horse to work as he was so relaxed and he said, "If you think its right, you can't be wrong" .

 

 
 
 


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