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Sean Clancy Trainers, flat or jump, have to let go. After all the preps, all the worries, all the directions, they eventually stand back and let the horse decide the outcomes. Saturday, Shug McGaughey will hand Orb to the Florida Derby (or hand the Florida Derby to Orb?). Janet Elliot will do the same in Camden, S.C., when Alajmal makes his seasonal debut in the Carolina Cup Novice Stakes.
Here’s the rest of the 15-minute conversation with Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey, who saddles Orb in Saturday’s Besilu Stable’s Florida Derby.
Shug McGaughey knew he liked what he saw. Knew, he really liked it. On a quiet January morning at Payson Park in Florida, the Hall of Fame trainer watched a big, bay colt breeze 3 furlongs in 37 seconds, drove back to his barn and waited for work rider Jen Patterson to return. Waited for confirmation.
Youngsters and veterans collide in Aiken’s feature, the $50,000 Imperial Cup, Saturday in Aiken, S.C. Only in steeplechasing, the youngsters are 6 and the veterans are 10 and up. Sunshine Numbers, Country Cousin and Cuse provide the wisdom while Pullyourfingerout and Extraextraordinary provide the enthusiasm.
Leaving already? It seems I just got home. Four days to get over jet lag, wash clothes, eat a couple of home-cooked meals, reintroduce myself to my wife and son, catch a cold (let the cold catch me) and then gone again. Cheltenham last week, Florida this week. Trading tweed suits for track suits, 12-year-old geldings for 2-year-old colts.
Nicky Henderson peered through his binoculars, clutching them like he had caught two rats by their necks. Then he lowered them and checked the infield big screen. Then he picked up his binoculars, watched. Again, he set them down. Again, he picked them up.
We pull out the tweed. Analyze the card. We stuff handkerchiefs in lapel pockets. We shine our shoes. Check our badges. Buy the Racing Post. A Cheltenham radio. Souvenirs for home. Play the Place Pot. We meet at Guinness Village. We bemoan a tough trip. Celebrate a crafty ride. Gather at the winner’s enclosure. Cheer for the winners. Turn the page, 27 times in four days. Loving every moment. Celebrating the brilliance of the occasion. We conjure up words like bliss, ethereal, scintillating. Cauldron, Mecca, gladiatorial.
The third-to-last of the Queen Mother. The bedlam of the crowd so far away. Silence. Peaceful. Hoof beats in a vacuum.
Hurricane Fly balked. Hesitated. Waited. Ruby Walsh grabbed his ear, which had been flat back for most of the Champion Hurdle, and gave it a good-natured shake. The horse walked forward. The crowd erupted. It was the only hesitation from the champion, who regained his crown in a gallant performance at Cheltenham Tuesday.
And suddenly, unbelievably, a year has gone. It is Cheltenham again. As my grandmother, Nora Clancy, used to say, “When I was young, the days were short and the years were long. As I got older, the days are long and the years are short.” Indeed, the years seem so short. Imagine, a year has passed since we were last at Prestbury Park, rooting home Rock On Ruby, Finian’s Rainbow, Big Buck’s and Synchronized.
