TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/974613
a few runners over the meeting, and you'd do your best to try and organise something. We never did much good in the sprint races, but you couldn't really target those because of the draw. Really, it wouldn't be the sort of course you would normally look to line one up. Because you'd have to get lucky, have to have a bit of a tailwind. "You'd want something with a bit of class, something that can jump up there and keep out of trouble. The one thing about Chester, apart from the extremely good atmosphere, is that you've got to have a programme. You've got to think things through, work out how the race is going to be run. The best place to be is in front, if they go no pace, but it does depend on the nature of the race. Everyone talks about the short straight but you can make up a lot of ground if they've gone a real good gallop, you can come out of the clouds. "Steve Cauthen rode it well, and Willie Carson. But the trainer's got to have a bit of a plan. There's a lot of skill to it. Which is good—because it makes you think. Part of the interest, isn't it? Got to pick the right club out of the bag." In some respects, indeed, he suggests a kinship with dirt racing in America. People think of the track as terribly sharp, but Hills believes that it is all about carrying speed; that while you need the pace to grab and hold a position, essentially Chester demands stamina. "It's a galloping track," he insisted. "The bends are very sweeping and you must have a horse that stays the distance. It's no good going there with a short runner." But Hills also found, over the years, that much the same held true of those on two legs. In the golden years, there would be a house party hosted either by Sangster or his friend Bobby McAlpine, long-serving chairman of the racecourse. "We had some wonderful times," Hills recalled. "There would be eight or ten to stay, all the hangers-on, Charles Benson, whoever was around. Gosden. Cauthen. It would change, over the years. But they played all day. They'd