Monday Musings: Getting Older

When I was in my early days in Fleet Street, the term “dizzy blonde” used to be a regular description in the Red Top newspapers of young, outgoing females, the blondeness used to express silliness, whether deserved or not, writes Tony Stafford. I have never been blonde, if answering to “bald” nowadays, and now I know what “dizzy” feels like.

Last month, soon after spending three days in the extreme heat of the Newmarket July meeting, I was sitting as I am now in front of my computer screen and everything started rolling around. It lasted two days, innumerable bouts of vomiting which was just bile rather than anything solid and the world kept on spinning.

Vertigo was the obvious answer. Why, though, after all this time? Then Steve Gilbey, my good friend and Raymond Tooth’s long-term security and driver, called the first night when I was too sick to contemplate talking to anyone. He told my wife that two other people he knew had had a similar problem a couple of days earlier and, again, for the first time in their lengthy lives. The conclusion must be the effects of too many hours at such high temperatures.

It wasn’t just human old-timers that were affected. The previous week, before the attack on the players at the Test match by swarms of ladybirds, we had been afflicted in the same way with them all over every surface inside and out for several hours.

When I was young, I used to have awful bouts of migraine, once missing a whole week of school slumped in my bed listening to the radio. It’s coming back to me now, hearing “I Enjoy Being a Girl” by Pat Suzuki from Flower Drum Song – probably 67 years ago, when I was 12. Why that song I’ve no idea. Don’t worry, I’m not for changing!

For the next four decades at least, mention of the word “migraine” had me panicking, often getting another lesser episode. I would hate to think the work “vertigo” would send me toppling over in a similar fashion.

At that time, I even was brought to a teaching hospital in Central London, sitting next to a specialist in a large, tiered hall, in front of a sizeable group of medical students as he related my case to them. I’m not sure it helped, but I have been clear for half a century thankfully.

Two friends also have suffered from the condition. Quite a while ago, Harry Taylor informed me he was unable to come racing with me whatever day it was, as he had vertigo. He ended up in bed for a week and has had the occasional reminder on a milder scale since.

Ironically, when my first attack started, I had been going through and editing the manuscript of the book I’ve recently written with owner-trainer and 82-year-old work rider Victor Thompson and partner Gina Coulson. I’d just got past a chapter, ten minutes earlier, where Victor describes his experiences – you’d never believe it – with vertigo and his remedy for countering it.

He focuses on a spot in the distance, if he’s riding work; one on the ceiling if he’s unable to sleep, and another on the floor if he’s dealing with a horse’s feet. My vision didn’t stop long enough to focus anywhere for two days at least.

Still, the ECG when the medical team – I understand two attractive young women, but I never opened my eyes while they were here, so cannot confirm it - was clear while the blood pressure was very high. So, no biscuits, cakes or sugar of any kind. I’ve no idea what I can eat when I get back to my regular monthly lunches with Editor Matt Bisogno, or in the box at York later this month, which probably will be my full comeback to racing, all being well. Is my room still available, Mr Cannon?

Ten years after that 1958 migraine episode, a young trainer was making his first steps towards a terrific career. Paul Cole could hardly have come from better tutors, having been assistant to Richmond Sturdy and then George Todd, who owned Manton before Robert Sangster acquired it in the 1990s.

I admit my lying low prevented my noticing that Cole, after 57 years as a licensed trainer at the beautiful Whatcombe estate in Berkshire - the last six seasons in concert with middle son Oliver - had retired, at the ripe old age of 83.

There has been little or no discernible change in the success rate of the stable since the joint ownership of the licence, and while I realised that Paul had been around for the whole time I’ve been involved with the sport, it had never occurred to me that he must have been in his mid-80s.

To say he’d served his time was an understatement and always with, at his side, his wife Vanessa. Her death last year was an obvious blow to a man who always showed a stern outlook especially to outsiders.

His training career was little short of miraculous. He regarded 1990 Derby winner Generous as the best he trained. To show his class, he had the speed to win a five-furlong race at Ascot as a two-year-old, something few winners of the great race could have done to start their careers.

Generous went on to win that year’s Dewhurst and, at three, the Derby, Irish Derby and King George. Cole attributed those achievements to the sort of speed he exhibited first time out. Generous’ owner, Fahd Salman, was the main supporter around that time and I remember well the three Royal Ascot Prince Fahd juvenile winners in one week, all backed as though defeat was out of the question. It wasn’t.

If Paul Cole has been rather taciturn throughout his career, son Ollie and for that matter elder son Alex, racing manager to Jim and Fitri Hay, are anything but. I don’t remember meeting the third sibling, Mark.

Ollie has long looked forward to his eventual taking over as sole trainer at Whatcombe and, as he says, “We’d been talking about it for some time, but it was still a surprise when my father finally said a few weeks ago that he was ready to hand it over to me.

“All his life he had been used to getting up at 5 a.m. and in the yard at 5.30. It runs so deeply in his life. Stopping was a wrench for him, but it was finally time to stop. Since my mother’s death last year, it has been horrible for him to be on his own.”

Ollie related that his grandparents had two farms but were unable to provide anything towards the young Paul as he began his journey. “He had to do it all himself, from scratch. He was too tall to be a jockey – trainers wouldn’t employ him to ride their horses so he had to do it the hard way, and what a stellar career it was!

“All my life I’ve been watching and learning and now I’m in the happy position of having had lots of experience and can use all the knowledge I’ve picked up from him over so many years.

“Whatcombe is a wonderful place to train horses and many of our owners are as much friends as clients. Few trainers are as fortunate. My older brother Alex of course has been a big help as manager to the Hays and Anthony Ramsden of Valmont has become a very good friend and is the second-biggest owner in the yard.

"I’m looking forward to continuing Whatcombe’s success and have some ideas to let the potential owners around the sport know that we are a young, dynamic set-up that intends getting back to the top echelon in the sport - and quickly."

Ollie has always been very engaging and has been around the international scene, first as his father’s assistant and then joint trainer. He had big plans to reinvigorate the stable five years ago when he joined forces, but now he can express himself.

The Hays are very much involved as owners at Whatcombe as are Valmont, original owners of last year’s Irish Oaks winner You Got To Me, which Graham Smith Bernal’s syndicate bought into before her victory at the Curragh for the Ralph Beckett stable.

Oliver Cole was quickly off the mark with the three-year-old filly Bela Sonata, who had also won first time out this year for the joint handlers. She easily won a well-contested fillies’ handicap at Newbury last month in the style of an improving filly.

Cole’s placing of the filly in that race was either fortuitous or reflected a keen sense of timing. She is owned by Weatherbys Racing Club and no doubt racing’s administrators’ much-travelled senior director Nick Craven would have been on site to enjoy the post-race celebrations.

It came only three races after the Weatherbys Super Sprint, their biggest sponsorship of the season, won by race-specialist Rod Millman’s Anthelia. That was the principal reason for Nick’s attendance.

He’ll also be needed tomorrow when he and I have a go through Victor’s “80 Years In The Fast Lane” with the production team. Weatherbys will be publishing it later this year.

Nick was on duty at Goodwood last week when the star of the meeting was Beckett’s 150/1 shot Qirat, belying his pacemaker status in benefit of long odds-on Juddmonte-owned Field Of Gold in the Sussex Stakes.

Beckett had convinced the Juddmonte management team to allow him to supplement the four-year-old at the five-day stage for £70,000 that would have got back £57k if he had managed fourth behind the three apparent major players, Field Of Gold, Rosallion and Henri Matisse, the latter pair running second and third. Instead, it was Field Of Gold who got the consolation prize for fourth, John Gosden stating that he “just didn’t fire”.

Not far behind in terms of merit was Coolmore’s Whirl in the Nassau, Aidan O’Brien’s filly making all from an old-style barrier start under Ryan Moore. She coped admirably with the rain-drenched conditions and must be the top staying filly around.

The Coolmore boys would also have been happy at the half-length Haskell win of Journalism, into which they had bought an interest, at Saratoga on Saturday evening.

Apart from his two defeats by generational leader Sovereignty, Journalism comfortably heads the remainder in what looks a very solid team of Classic three-year-olds in the US.

• TS

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