A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Races - Tales Of The Turf, the Chester May Meeting, 2004

A few years back, I was working as a photographer on behalf of Chester Racecourse at their excellent May meeting. I stayed at a bed and breakfast in the leafy green district of Queens Park on the banks of The River Dee, a ten minutes’ walk from the racecourse. On the morning of the first day of the meeting, Chester Cup Day, I woke to a wet and drizzly Cheshire morning. I dressed quickly and unperturbed by the weather, headed out in search of a copy of the Racing Post, to browse through over breakfast before heading off to the meeting.

Under a flimsy umbrella, I set off through the rain in search of a newsagents. It was around seven thirty in the morning and there wasn’t a soul around. As I approached the picturesque art deco Queens Park Bridge, a tall stooping man emerged from a pathway ahead of me to my right. He wore a brown trilby hat and was walking a small dog on a lead.

As he approached, he looked at me and in a cheerful voice said: ‘Good morning’.

‘Good morning,’ I replied and with that he was gone. As I made my way across the bridge, his face reappeared in my mind. It looked vaguely familiar though try as I did, I was unable to put a name to it.

Later that day I stood poised with my camera inside Chester’s small winner’s circle. Their marketing manager had requested some photographs of a winning horse, smiling jockey and jubilant connections entering the winners enclosure. For this purpose, I had chosen The Cheshire Oaks race. Though the rain had long since stopped, the first day of the meeting was taking place on good to soft ground. I followed the race as it unfolded up on the big screen. As the runners charged up the home straight, it soon became clear to me that an upset was on the cards, as a filly called Hidden Hope, the outsider of the field, got the better of Menhoubah and Crystal Curling close home. As the result was made official, I scrunched up the betting slip in my pocket.

A swathe of well-wishers swarmed over to where I was stood to catch a close up look at the winning filly. I was quickly surrounded by other photographers and journalists. We were soon jockeying for position for a picture or a quote from the winning filly’s trainer. After the third and second placed horses were led by, there was a short pause in proceedings. I raised my camera to eye level and waited for Hidden Hope and her connections. Moments later they arrived. First came a mud splattered Ted Durcan, smiling broadly, donning his cap to the on looking crowd, sat aloft upon the glistening Hidden Hope. I pressed the shutter button and my motor drive triggered into action. Next came two immaculately dressed girls in navy blue outfits, bearing the sponsors name across their silver-coloured sachets, quickly followed by an excited looking couple whom I took for being Hidden Hope’s owners. They were busy congratulating a tall, stooping man sporting a brown trilby hat. As I continued taking pictures, it simultaneously struck me who the stooping man in the brown trilby hat was - the very same person who had greeted me this morning out walking his dog. His name was Geoff Wragg and he had just trained the winner of The Cheshire Oaks at whopping odds of 14/1.

I learnt two lessons that day at Chester. The first is to always take heed of an old racing adage, which is as follows. Whenever you spend a day at the races, always bet on the horse trained by the first trainer you see. And the second, more important lesson? Make sure you drink a cup of strong black coffee before heading out in in the morning in search of a Racing Post, in order that you have your wits about you from the moment you step outside.

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