It’s been a bracing spell down around Lingfield racecourse of late, so much so that a jumps meeting was cancelled at the Surrey venue yesterday due to frozen ground on the track, but a scene from the all-weather fixture there this afternoon was enough to warm the coldest of hearts.
Trainer Clifford Lines, a long-term fixture of the Newmarket racing community at the grand old age of 83, sent out a winner with the final runner of his storied career in the game in the Sunracing.co.uk Maiden Handicap.
His four-year-old gelding Catapult shot out of the stalls to make all in a modest affair under a fine ride from Holly Doyle.
The heart of Lines, and those who were behind backing the horse from an opening price of 9-1 right the way into 4-1 before the off, must have been pounding when this bold front-runner was being scythed down by Gay Kelleway’s Global Goddess in the closing stages but the fairytale wasn’t to be erased and Catapult held on.
The defeated Kelleway was herself was one of the first to congratulate Lines.
“Well done, Cliff. I’m happy to be second to you,” she said in an exchange captured by the Sky Sports Racing cameras.
The man himself, who will always be remembered as Shergar’s work rider, was understandably emotional when those cameras caught up with him.
But was he confident of his charge's chances on the day? “After I saw the way he jumped,” Lines said.
“I can’t believe the way he came out of the stalls, he came out like a greyhound. A fairytale ending, it’s terrific. We can have some champagne tonight."
It was the first winner that Doyle has managed for a trainer who has backed her and, in her opinion as well as his, things panned out perfectly for Catapult on the day.
“He always runs so well, it’s just the last few dying strides that he curls up a bit but he ran to the line today,” she said.
“It’s a bit of a fairytale ending for Cliff.”
Lines, who revealed that he’ll turn 84 next month, reflected on a few of the legendary animals he’s sat on in his day.
“J.O Tobin, Sonic Lady, Shareef Dancer. I was involved with a lot of good horses. You just can’t believe the feeling they give you. Best feeling in the world. It’s been terrific, I wouldn’t have changed it for anything.”
