64 the spectator | 31 march 2012 | www.spectator.co.uk

LIFE

My only sorrow was that we did not get another ‘Norton’s Coin’ result in the shape of victory for David Bridgwater’s 50–1 sec-ond The Giant Bolster, especially for Tom Scudamore, his rider, who is one of the most approachable and articulate characters in the weighing room today.

Tom’s grandfather Michael rode Oxo to win a Grand National and his father Peter, the former champion jockey, rode 1,678 winners. It hasn’t been so easy for Tom to scale those heights because David Pipe’s yard doesn’t have quite the same firepower as when David Johnson had squadrons of horses there. But he has still racked up big winners in races like the Hennessy Gold Cup, the Victor Chandler Chase and the Long Walk Hurdle (with his old favourite Lough Derg).

While stars such as Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty fly in from Ireland to part-ner the superstars for Nicholls and Hend-erson, Tom, who has been stable jockey now for six years, is there much of the time riding work and schooling David’s young horses, helping to shape their careers. ‘It’s a straightforward relationship: all the deci-sions are with him but we consult about a lot of things. Like Jason Maguire with Don-ald McCain we are similar ages and have known each other for a long time. I rode for

him when he was point-to-pointing. When he took over the yard he told me I would be getting a few rides and within six months I was made stable jockey.’

Some riders pass you on the weighing-room steps ashen-faced and agonised; Tom usually has a smile and a word. When he won on The Giant Bolster at Cheltenham in January his two little daughters joined in the photo as if it was a family day out. So is there no sense of strain? ‘Oh, there’s probably plenty of paddling underneath but I don’t feel any outside pressures. It does help when you know exactly how you want to ride. I am always sure of what I want to do.’

With the Pipes that often means riding a race from in front. ‘The horses are always fit and well and they don’t like giving away track position. I’ll do what gives us the best chance of winning races and most of the time that means playing to our strengths — they are fit, they are tough and they jump well.’

For all that obvious, and necessary, con-fidence Tom does confess to the habit that drives jockeys’ wives wild. When his gran-dad rode a National winner jockeys were lucky if they saw themselves on film once a year on the Pathé News. Now they can all press the DVD rewind button 20 times a night to analyse how they might have done better. As Tom says, ‘You’ve got to do it. At the end of the day it’s not a game: it’s your livelihood.’

The turf Auntie pulls up Robin Oakley

As political editor of the BBC I once had to appear on the Today programme just after the 7 a.m. news to discuss the passing of an MP who had tragically died experimenting with auto-eroticism. Two minutes before we went on air I was still engaged in a confer-ence call with BBC executives anxious as to whether I would mention the women’s stockings he was wearing or the orange in his mouth. I never had such interference when I was reporting on political skul-duggery: what concerns BBC managers is ‘image’ and whether the Corporation might finish up in the newspapers.

Similar thinking has had much to do with the BBC’s pathetic surrendering of its coverage of major horse races such as the Grand National and Royal Ascot. BBC Sport executives, who know nothing about horseracing and care less, have been whit-tling down the Beeb’s coverage of the sport, which has an audience second only to foot-ball. It had already been cut to a mere 13 days a year, next year it will fall to zero. Never mind that we racing lovers are like everyone else subject to the BBC ‘poll tax’ that the TV licence represents. Our sport is no longer to be carried on the national broadcasting system, largely so that those BBC panjandrums will be spared embar-rassment if a horse ever happens to die in the course of its coverage. Never mind that in the likes of Clare Balding the BBC had top-rate racing presenters, the BBC’s nego-tiation for its remaining few fixtures lacked credibility, effort or any sense of realism. They simply weren’t trying.

It is not that Channel 4 is in any way lacking: the likes of Alastair Down, Alice Plunkett and John Francome communicate brilliantly their passion for the sport. It is just that there should be diversity in the cov-erage of racing and our national broadcaster should be part of it.

The BBC’s abject surrender overshad-owed a wonderful Cheltenham Festival. We sometimes forget as Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls rack up their totals of Festival winners that former jockey Jonjo O’Neill fires in two or three Festival win-ners most years as well, particularly in the staying chases. His success in the Gold Cup with Synchronised, whom most of us had wrongly categorised as the sort of worthy plodder whose successes would be confined to a Welsh Grand National, was glorious confirmation of that. It was confirmation, too, of the extraordinary talent of ‘AP’ Tony McCoy. No other jockey riding would have managed to keep Synchronised in close enough touch to go on and win it up the hill as he did.

We racing lovers are like everyone else subject to the BBC ‘poll tax’ that the

TV licence represents NW E

S

Bridge Susanna Gross

Fanatical bridge players often view life through a bridge lens. Even so, I can’t help wondering whether my friend Catherine Howard, who teaches bridge in Manchester, is taking it a bit far. A couple of weeks ago, I asked her whether she was exaggerating a funny story she was telling, and she admit-ted, ‘Well, I may be overbidding a bit.’ Later, thinking she was looking peaky, I asked how she was, and she answered, ‘Not very slam-my, I’m afraid — rather part-scorish’.

In an attempt to comfort her, I asked whether that was such a bad thing. After all, life doesn’t always have to be about slams; one can derive all sorts of satisfaction at a lower level. In fact, I reminded her, the hand she had most enjoyed playing — and I had most enjoyed watching — during the previ-ous evening’s duplicate had been a non-vul-nerable part-score:

Dealer South Neither side vulnerable

West led the ♠4. I put down dummy (what a load of rubbish), and Catherine mumbled that she should have bid 2♣ not 3♣… East put up the ♠A, and Catherine stopped to think. She took a look at her opponents’ system card and discovered that from three small cards in partner’s suit, the second highest was led; the lowest of three cards promised an honour. Catherine played the ♠Q under East’s ♠A.

East continued with ♥A and anoth-er trump. Catherine drew the remaining trumps, discovering that West started with four. Next, she cashed the ◆A and the two top clubs. Then, instead of playing on clubs, she exited with the ♠2. West had to win and lead a spade or a diamond, giving her two more tricks. And if it turned out that clubs were 3-3 all along? It wouldn’t help West to exit with a club, as declarer’s clubs would then be established.

West North East South 1♥Pass Pass 1♠ 3♣Pass 3♥ All pass

♠ Q 2

♥ K Q 10 9 7

◆ A

♣ A K 10 8 2

♠ A 10 9 8 7

♥ A 6

◆ 10 8

♣ Q J 9 5

♠ J 5 3

♥ J 2

◆ K 9 6 5 3 2

♣ 7 4

♠ K 6 4

♥ 8 5 4 3

◆ Q J 7 4

♣ 6 3

Life_31 Mar 2012_The Spectator_ 64 27/3/12 14:18:23