September 6, 2006

Sir Nod and Sant Elena both finished second today so I am afraid we drew a blank from the list to follow. Both were given each way though.

I enjoyed a bit more success with my preview of the 2 year old races as both Tastahil and Benfleet Boy won at Kempton. The well bred Tastahil looked good and is one to keep in mind for the rest of the season and beyond. He held on well up the long Kempton Straight, something plenty of horses fail to do. Benfleet Boy looks the type that should improve with time as well.

I will start tonight’s bulletin with the Chepstow 2.00 where Alittlebitleft and Leptis Magna can be expected to come on for their debut outings. The well bred Colorado Rapid is an interesting newcomer.

In the 2.30 Beech Games has the most experience and may well make it count judged on a good second at Beverley last time out from an indifferent draw. Petara Bay was an expensive purchase and is related to some useful types including Echoes in Eternity.

There is an old adage that you should stick with in form sprinters. On that basis you have to give Meikle Barfil a chance to follow up on his first ever win at Salisbury last week in the 5.10.

Halla San has been a good servant to this column in the past. He handles soft ground well and should run a big race in the Haydock 2.20.

We have a couple of list horses in the 3.55. Ordnance Row has done his job for me having won a handicap at Chester at 20/1. He handles soft ground but has plenty to find with some of his rivals here. Goodricke has been off the track for a long time but has the quality to win this if he is straight after his absence. Our old friend Quito is the one they all have to beat though after his super run on Saturday behind Reverence.

In the 5.00 Conkering will certainly handle the ground as his only win so far came in the soft at Ripon. He has an each way chance I would say.

Bazroy has put in some good performances in better company and looks the one to be on in the 2.10 at Southwell. Miss Haversham is no forlorn hope at 66/1.

Godolphin have 3 of the 6 runners in the 3.45. I will stick with Into the Dark from our list to follow.

Finally, Cardinal Venture is an autumn type and should go well in the 4.50.

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The Gods of the Copybook Headings

by Rudyard Kipling

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision, and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
And when we disarmed They sold us delivered and bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selective Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four–
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man–
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:–
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

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