Anyone who has been to Goodwood will know that as far as racecourses go it is one of the most picturesque courses in the country. It basically sits on top of a hill and there are fantastic views all around. The grandstands are immaculate, very modern and afford great views of the course. One of the main things that you don’t get a feel for when watching the racing on TV is the climb the horses have to make coming out of the stalls from the 7f mark leading to the bend into the home straight- it really is quite steep.

Anyway having travelled the 300 miles from Preston, Phil wood and I arrived at the course at about 11am and soon realised not only where we the first Guilders there but we almost beat all the racecourse staff to the entrance. With three hours to kill before the first race (which was Muffins) we set about picking the winners for the day – I would have been better off taking 5 minutes because did not pick a winner all day!!!!.

Just before 2.00pm we managed to meet up with the rest of the Guilders who where in a bar (what a surprise) preparing to watch Molly’s race at Warwick. What an excellent turn out, I believe there was 15 guilders in attendance to watch Muffin in his Class 2 debut. It was great to see some of the new members and a special mention must go to Eddie Colqhoun who had travelled all the way from Glasgow. As we settled to watch Molly on the TV there appeared to be general agreement that if she was to win she would have to beat Salute who was easily the highest rated horse in the race. Excitement increased as Molly was really in with a chance of at least placing as she came of the bend into the straight – alas this was not to be but the bar was probably the noisiest it was to be all day and we could hear Debs screaming at Warwick!!!

After Molly’s race we did not have much time to get down to the parade ring to see Muffin. When we got there Judy was already waiting and Muffin had just moved from the pre-parade to the main ring. He looked magnificent and the first thing I thought was that he appears to have grown even since I had seen him at Kempton in August. He was very well turned out and this was proven when he won the best turned out horse award for his race. He was much calmer in the parade ring than I have ever seen him because he is usually bouncing around on his toes but was very well behaved – Judy did point out though that we had just missed him have a bit of a tantrum. It was great to be in the parade ring and see some of the top jockeys coming out to take their mounts i.e. Spencer, Detorri and not to forget the best of the lot Fergus Sweeney. Fergus came across to speak with us and told us that he would be looking to tuck muffin in behind the leaders and just see how it went from there.

As Muffin made his way out to the course we all went to the grandstand – by this time I have to admit to feeling a great deal of nerves. Muffin went down to post well and was one of the first into the stalls. He came out of the stalls well and the race appeared to be going to plan with Muffin holding his own with the leaders as they came off the bend into the straight. With about 2 furlongs to go Fergus had to pull him out off the rail and at this point he did not appear to pick up and looked to have hit a flat spot. He was going backwards rapidly but with a couple of whips from Fergus he did pickup and started to go on – alas it was too late.

Back to the parade ring to see what Fergus had to say. Fergus felt that the firm ground did have some impact on Muffins performance but he also felt Muffin was not disgraced in his first run out at this level. Fergus explained that at one point he thought they were going to get hammered but Muffin responded and came back into it but it was too late. I do think what Fergus says about the ground makes sense. You only have to look at Comptons Eleven who in this race beat Muffin by a couple of lengths however Muffin had previously beaten this horse by several lengths on soft ground.

So back to the bars to drown our sorrows – well at least for those that did not have a 300 mile drive in front of them.

Dave