Yesterday, 50 years ago, I attended my first ever race meeting when I went to the Doncaster Lincoln meeting on 22nd March 1975 with a bunch of mates from Sheffield University. Obviously I caught the bug as I'm still going racing today as well as having bred 67 flat racehorses to date!
There were some cracking jockeys present including Lester Piggott, Pat Eddery, Willie Carson, Eddie Hide, Frankie Durr, Paul Cook, Geoff Lewis, Greville Starkey, John Reid to name a few! Also some famous trainers such as Harry Wragg, John Dunlop, Bill Wightman, Mick Easterby, John Dunlop, Atty Corbett, Doug Smith, Denys Smith, Richard Hannon Snr, Bill Watts, Reg Hollinshead, Fulke Johnson Houghton, Peter Walwyn, Barry Hills & Gordon W Richards. So how did they all do on this Spring day in South Yorkshire and did I back a winner?
The first race, a handicap for 3yos over 7f, was off at 1.45pm and was won by the Doug Smith trained Jacmel at 5/1. Pat Eddery was 2nd on Super Kelly and I noticed that the higher numbers in the draw filled the first three places. Half an hour later and the Denys Smith trained First Quay took the seasonal 2yo pipe opener The Brocklesby Stakes under jockey Paul Kelleher. Again, the higher numbers were favoured with numbers 7, 8 & 9 of the 10 runners filling the 1-2-3. Muggins here backed Pets First who was drawn number 3 and came in last. You could say I was on a learning curve! Little did I know that 34 years later I would be at this meeting again as part owner of Brocklesby winner Hearts Of Fire trained by the one and only Pat Eddery.
The Irish Sweeps Lincoln Handicap race was next with 24 runners fighting for a 1st prize of £6677 which today would be worth about £72,000. Interestingly, the 1st prize for this year's encounter next Saturday is £77,310 so slightly better than 50 years ago. Southwark Star (drawn 18) trained by Peter-Hoblyn and ridden by Richard Fox caused a surprise when charging up the stand side to win at 33/1. The crowd was pretty muted I remember including myself who backed top weight Gloss, ridden by Pat Eddery, drawn 6 and finished nowhere. Evidently I wasn't learning quickly about the draw impact on the straight course as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th were drawn 22, 16 & 21 respectively. As that was the last race of the day on the straight course, I'd have to save that piece of learning for another day. Incidentally, Arsenal footballer Alan Ball was owner of the aptly named Go Go Gunner ridden by Willie Carson and sporting his team's colours of red with white sleeves and collar. Although he was favourably drawn, he didn't "go go" that day.
Next up was a 10f race for 3 & 4yos which was won by that man again, Pat Eddery, at 4/7. Lester Piggott was third on Quick Attraction. Again, I didn't back the winner and should have read the "Tufts of Turf" paragraph on the same page as the racecard for this race which highlighted that Pat had won this race twice in the last 5 years and that in 1974 he had won both this and the last race riding for Pater Walwyn, something he was about to repeat this year as well. Ok, both were odds on but a winner is a winner!
Race 5 over 12f was won by Willie Carson on the G W Richards trained King Midas at 7/2 with Lester coming in 2nd on Silver Strand before Pat rounded off the day with his double winner Hilarious which was a 3yo race over 8f.
The front cover of the racecard for the day lists the officials, something which would be hidden away inside a racecard of today, and cost 10p which today is equivalent to about £1.20 given the effects of inflation since 1975. Ok, today's glossy cards are much more informative than this function black & white one but they are also 3 to 4 times more expensive. Listed as auctioneer is Mr R M Botterill who I believe was the father of recently passed away Tattersalls auctioneer Richard Botterill and from a multi generation family that operated in that sphere.
Overall, I loved the day out and have been racing on countless occasions since as well as ending up as an owner-breeder and, fortunately, I have generally fared much better with the betting than I did on that initial foray which returned "nul points"!