Regular followers of this blog will doubtless be aware that one of my main ambitions in life is to be in some part responsible for the first ever Israeli racehorse to win a race in Great Britain. Regular followers might also be somewhat 'lighter of pocket' as a result of following my Israeli-based racing tips.

Tipping horses is like so many other things in life; it seemed so much easier to do when you were younger and did it by instinct!

When I hatched the cunning plan to send the sweet chestnut three-year-old filly Vanilla Bally to England to land a massive international betting coup, it all seemed spookily possible. Take a horse who had won just about everything in its backwater racing state, slip under the radar of those who might otherwise take its chance seriously, have one or two runs to get her acquainted with the completely different conditions, then bang, let her go, like an arrow from a crossbow, and hit the target (and the bookies) where it hurts.

Racehorse trainer George Baker, based at Moreton Morrell in Warwickshire, proved a tremendous sport in being prepared to take a chance that I might be on to something. (I would not be in the least surprised if now, looking back, he thought it more likely that I was 'on something' when I came up with the ruse), and his sporting friends James, Dean & Partners footed the bill and sponsored Israel's first serious challenger for British honours and should be rightly commended for their support. 

The Israeli TV documentary that I made about the bid proved a very happy experience, working alongside Muli and Tslil Landesman, and of course sharing the experience with Vanilla Bally's owner, Oren Sada. Lovely TV piece though it was, (though I say it myself), 'Vanilla' never really adapted to the British weather and eventually found the whole experience a little too much for her and returned home. She was introduced to a nicely bred horse who did the dirty deed and is now pregnant, due in March.

Vanilla's bid to grab the limelight came at a time of demonstrations against Israeli sporting competitors; Shahar Peer was forced off court in her tennis match in New Zealand, and the Israeli basketball team also had to leave the arena in an international match in Europe. Believe it or not, there was a hint that even Vanilla Bally's debut run at Wolverhampton might be jeopardised by protesters. All credit to George who quite rightly refused to let politics impact on a thoroughbred horse trying to win a race and would not be distracted from giving her a chance to show what she could do.

Prior to Vanilla Bally crossing continents to join George's team, I had helped Israeli owner/breeder Arik Rayzner and his wife Betty send a couple of home bred horses to George, and whilst Royal Tiger is a slow maturing, potential hurdler or steeplechaser and has yet to race (he may run soon though – watch this space), his year younger half-brother Royal Torbo was soon shaping up well alongside the more blue-blooded members of the Baker string.

My dream of providing Israel with its first ever winning racehorse in Britain had been compared in the media both here and in the UK, to that of the Jamaican bobsleigh team who competed at the Winter Olympics some years ago, or that of the Lebanese team in the Rugby World Cup. But sport and competition is all about dreams and sometimes they do come true. This year, Snow Fairy, a filly who cost her owners just 1800 euros, (absolute bargain basement for a British racehorse), won two Classic races – the Epsom Oaks and the Irish Oaks – and is now worth a rather large fortune.

Back to Royal Torbo. Having shown promise in training, Arik's horse, (by his stallion Tabari), made his debut at Wolverhampton last December, finishing 8th of 10 runners and clearly looking as if the experience would be good for him. He then finished sixth in his next race before very nearly pulling off a major surprise. Leading from the start in a Wolverhampton maiden race in January, he was still in front and galloping on strongly inside the last 200 yards, only for the favourite to come with a powerful late run and catch him on the line and win in a photo finish. We were so close to having achieved the dream.

After that effort confidence was high that Royal Torbo would be able to win races, but in his next four outings he was generally disappointing before running third of eight in a fair handicap race back at Wolverhampton.

It was decided that he could do with a break having been in action throughout the very hard winter, and it was also decided that as he was never going to be good enough to be a horse of choice for breeders, he should be gelded (have his balls cut off!), to allow him to concentrate more fully on his racing career and not on the opposite sex. This eventuality happens to probably 99% of male racehorses, with only the cream of the crop remaining 'entire' to go on to breed the next generations.

After the 'unkindest cut of all', Royal Torbo quickly recovered and was training enthusiastically. On his comeback run at Wolverhampton he ran very well when not fully wound up to be beaten just three lengths in a blanket finish. Up to this point he had only raced on sand tracks, but George and I felt the time was right to run him on turf and over a longer distance of two miles, as he had been finishing well over a mile-and-a-half the time before.

I was on holiday in England at the time, so headed off to Nottingham in my capacity as racing manager to the Rayzners, and the horse looked tremendous in the parade ring before the race. He went to post nicely, and although an outsider in the betting (40/1), we expected him to run with credit. He didn't. He ran an absolute shocker, seemingly hating the firm ground and never striding out. With more than half a mile to run he was well behind and his jockey quite sensibly decided to just let him trot home in his own time. It was terribly disappointing. We figured he had hated the turf and probably the distance was too far for him.

Back to Wolverhampton and to the sand he went, only to run in just the same way, having worked very well indeed in training a few days before.

It's terribly frustrating when you have a horse with some ability that suddenly decides he'd rather be standing in a field munching grass at your expense than working for a living trying to win races. There are two schools of though; the first being the Robert Redford approach of being a horse whisperer and trying to get inside the mind of the beast, the second is that of dear Audrey Hepburn's character Eliza Dolittle in 'My Fair Lady'.

We're taking the second approach. Royal Torbo will where blinkers to concentrate his mind on the job when next he runs, and if these have no effect we may give him a go over hurdles to see if that challenge is more to his liking. After that, if there is no improvement, he'll probably be sold on to further his career elsewhere, and at someone else's expense.

Torbo, if you are listening, we know you can win races, (and win them for Israel). You've got the ability and you have an excellent trainer. So, my four-legged friend, do us all a favour and, as Audrey so eruditely put it, "move your bloomin' arse!"  

  

  

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