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Sean Clancy Cheltenham feels different. Where is the owners and trainers bar? Where do I buy polo mints? Where is the closest bathroom? In the middle of a massive renovation, it’s like someone has moved the furniture. A shell of a grandstand looms, like an erector set, half finished.
Fourteen days ago, this was going to be my Cheltenham 14. My favorite stories, horses, personalities, degenerates I’ve met at Cheltenham over the years, one per day leading up to the Festival, I started out bullish, regaling the likes of Istabraq, Junior and Saitensohn. And then I derailed.
Let the games begin. A year has passed, we have returned. An hour before first set at Manton, it is dark, the tapping of keys the only movement in a full house. The roar is hours away. Last year, we ran Valdez in the Arkle for the first day, so the excitement this year is big, but not the biggest. Different.
Jet lag dismissed as I went hard at it off the plane Saturday, enjoying the Imperial Cup at Sandown, two pints at the Pheasant Inn and family dinner with the Bakers at Manton. Slept until 11 Sunday morning, galloped three Monday morning and am starting to seize up already. Old bones.
It has been said many times. A statement that turned into a cliché, it’s usually uttered by a jockey trying to balance doubt in his horse and confidence in himself. “He’ll either win or he’ll fall.”
Rarely is this sentiment actually the truth.
And then it was. At the very top of the game.
Off to England. Sandown in the morning, easy day Sunday, Stratford or Taunton Monday, Cheltenham for four roiling days, then a day’s hunting and home for Sunday dinner. Daunting but delicious. I found this in my archives, from a few years back, I don’t think I can do better.
Most of it’s still pertinent, although we did have a runner last year when Valdez finished fifth in the Arkle. No runners this year. Plotting and planning for next year. I’ll send daily reports once I get there and hopefully continue with my Cheltenham Top 14, which was completely derailed by a trip to Florida and the numbing news about our hero Allen Jerkens, who is still in our thoughts and prayers.
Here goes.
I typed the words.
“Where the hell is everybody?”
Then I paused, walked around in circles and stared into the abyss of standing water below Allen Jerkens’ barn at Gulfstream Park. It didn’t feel right.
Legendary Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens was hospitalized over the weekend and remained in an intensive care unit at a South Florida hospital Monday morning fighting a severe infection. Jerkens, 85, was admitted to Aventua Hospital and Medical Center in Aventura near Gulfstream Park Saturday morning. Monday morning, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said his father was making progress.
“Did you read this?”
“What?”
“In the Racing Post. It says an unidentified American owner has purchased a German horse. Sait. En. Sohn. It says the three-time hurdle winner will be transferred to Jonjo O’Neill and be pointed at the SunAlliance at Cheltenham…”
My heart skipped. It doesn’t happen too often and I remember every time it has…Annie Kontos in 1990…first Steeplechase Times in 1994…Good Night Shirt in 2004… and a few others I probably shouldn’t mention.
It skipped at Cheltenham March 13, 2007.
