Goodwood the glorious scene for a game of diplomacy
Sussex course shows once more why it is a first-class venue – even after torrential rain
Last week Goodwood racecourse was the perfect arena for some softly, softly diplomacy. When Hamdam Al Maktoum, the brother of the ruler of Dubai, accepted the King George trophy from Mubarak Al Kuwari of the Qatari embassy on Friday, he will have been aware that pictures of such a joyous and triumphant moment would be beamed around the Middle East.
It probably was not a particularly momentous occasion for the revellers in the Richmond enclosure, but those padding up and down the corridors of power in Whitehall will have raised their eyebrows under their bowler hats. A few sheikhs in the palaces of Saudi Arabia will possibly have done something similar.
Hopefully it is a sign that the deadlock between the Arab states is not as insoluble as it appears to be. It is not an exaggeration to say that Goodwood is probably the most civilised racecourse in England that also punches well above its weight.
Even when they get two inches of rain in 24 hours, as they did last week, Goodwood managed to keep the show on the road with more than a hint of panache.
Take their owners and trainers’ bar, for instance. There was a young lady working there last week who meticulously polished every glass that she handed out. I have never seen quite such attention to detail at any other sporting venue in the world; and it all starts at the top. Charles March may not be the world’s biggest horse racing fanatic; one suspects he likes to put a key into his chosen form of transport, if the amount of burnt rubber on his drive outside Goodwood House is anything to go by.
But he has a meticulous nature, a love of speed and he happens to own a remarkable strip of turf on the South Downs which, due to its chalk-based soil and remarkable topography, can take five days of racing in the most testing of conditions. After the deluges last week, the ground may not have been what top-class racehorses are bred and trained to deal with, but racing would have been abandoned anywhere else.
Mind you, it is not a bad thing if from time to time the uber-elite horses have to give second best to the rougher tough members of the breed who make up for the lack of a gear with guts and stamina. Two qualities that racehorse owner Dr Jim Hay also has in abundance.
Dr Hay has made his money working out how to get concrete to set under water – quite a useful trick in Dubai – and he is not afraid to go up against the big guns on the racecourse with his hard-earned.
Last week, he made the decision to stump up £8,000 to run his [wife’s] horse Here Comes When in the Sussex Stakes on the basis that if he ran into fourth place, he would get a return on his money.
To show his best form, and have a chance of beating the best milers in Europe, Here Comes When needed it to rain a bit. What Dr Hay could not have been certain of were the weather gods being quite so dramatically on the side of his horse, which can clearly spout oars when need be. The famous Sussex Stakes Cup is now sitting on his dining room table and a cheque for £560,200 is in the post. It was a big call from a bold man.
Goodwood Racecourse also outperforms in the “big” racecourse league in many different ways. So it was a stroke of cultural and marketing genius to match Goodwood and the Emirate of Qatar together. A country whose 2.6 million population also has influence way beyond its size.
While it is clearly a significant sponsorship, it has in no way detracted from Glorious Goodwood or left one with the impression that commercialism has overtaken heritage. The distinctive yellow and orange Goodwood banners may have the word Qatar stitched into them, but that is hardly invasive.