Behind the stable door: Jumping king Tony shows he can jive
At least I can now say I've been to the Oscars. Well, the horse racing version anyway.
On Sunday evening in London, a who's who of racing turned up to enjoy the annual Lesters awards, which were sponsored for the first time by Shadwell Stud, owned by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai.
As expected, 14-time champion jumps jockey Tony McCoy was there to enjoy the night and was one of the last men standing at the end of the evening due to keeping himself pretty busy on the dance floor.
He picked up two awards, one as top jockey (no surprises there) but also collected the best ride of the year accolade after his never-say-die efforts aboard Wichita Lineman at the Cheltenham Festival.
Privilege
I actually remember watching that particular race with some fellow jumping fans at a local establishment and the way McCoy galvanised his lazy companion was testament to the talent in the saddle he is.
I managed to have a quick word with him before the ceremony started and, while he's not usually the most talkative, on this occasion he was thoroughly obliging and was a privilege to speak to.
Before the trophies were handed out, a group of former champions took to the stage to say cheese to the cameras. Pat Eddery, Joe Mercer, Frankie Dettori and of course the great man himself, Lester Piggott, were among the flat riders, while the dominant McCoy, Jonjo O'Neil and John Francome formed part of select line-up of jumps boys.
The irritating UK talk show host Jeremy Kyle compered the event alongside Derek Thompson, and while the latter seemingly kept the show going smoothly, Kyle did conduct a very informative interview with Mick Kinane who received the Best International Jockey award. And as the recently retired Irishman spoke about the first time he sat on the great Sea The Stars the whole room was filled with silence.
Richard Lancaster, representing the sponsors, certainly got the biggest cheer of the night when reminding everyone that it's the grooms and riders who do much of the work on the gallops in the mornings and who inevitably help the jockeys with the praise they receive on the track in the afternoons.
Francome conducted a charity auction with some top lots up for grabs including a trip to the Ballydoyle stable of Aidan O'Brien.
Quite a few members of the audience seemed interested but the hammer was eventually knocked down to none other than a certain Mick Kinane (who used to ride for the stable) and who must be pretty keen to gain some inside information.
All in all it was a fantastic night and a massive thank you must go to Shadwell for their support of the ceremony.
To see all of horse racing's prized possessions in one place giving and receiving credit for the work they do was a humbling experience and judging by the atmosphere on the night it shows that horse racing is perhaps not in such a mess as many people think.
