KINGSLEY KICKBACK Send To: [email protected] Frankly -- It’S a Matter of Or Opinion Kingsley Klarion, Kingsley Park, Park Lane, Middleham, DL8 4QZ
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pedestrians, he was tailed-off after a furlong, poleaxed a spectator and fired The Klarion welcomes your letters his jockey into the ground. KINGSLEY KICKBACK Send to: [email protected] Frankly -- it’s a matter of or opinion Kingsley Klarion, Kingsley Park, Park Lane, Middleham, DL8 4QZ. Was Frankel really the traditions of the 'latest is the greatest'. his standard on a foreign field like Phar greatest? Not for the first time I find myself Lap - or even Black Caviar? No. Please include your name, postal address and a telephone contact reaching for the Hazlitt line 'the test of In the final analysis the laurel of I completely agreed with John Scanlon's number. greatness is the page of history ', rather GROAT (Greatest Racehorse Of All elegantly argued review of Simon Letters may be edited As the author of 17 racing titles since than made dizzy by the contemporary Time) surely encompasses more than Cooper's book 'Frankel: The Greatest 1982 involving 10 different publishing media frenzy. pounds, lengths and seconds. The Racehorse of All Time and the Sport that houses (number 18 delayed owing to Frankel inhabits the realm of indefinable and the non-quantifiable Made Him'. Covid), I must echo John Scanlon's greatness. But ruler of all he surveys? enter the equation. That the hearts of First, and perhaps most importantly, it idea that it was waiting 300 years for everything they can to give them that praise (in the August Kingsley Klarion) History reveals numerous instances of Phar Lap and Secretariat were found to was absolutely right to celebrate the fact this particular thoroughbred does a elusive winner. for Simon Cooper's achievement in the 'latest is the greatest' down the be larger than average suggest there's that Harper Collins - a Group One profound disservice to a nuanced past. I’m delighted to report that my betting persuading a major publisher to take on generations. It's an enjoyable game but more to celestial pre-eminence than publisher - has produced a high-end Frankel-worship is now an has continued to prosper with Kingsley his ode to Frankel. 'comparisons,' according to meets the eye. book about horse racing. And Frankel is unquestioned religion within the sport, Park giving me two more beauties with Having worked without an agent to Shakespeare's Dogberry, 'are odorous'. 'Never,' they say, 'judge a book by its probably the only Flat horse whose but nobody, in truth, can say that he was Hochfeld at the start of August and place all bar two of my books, I know However, let's play 'Devil's Advocate' cover.' They may be right in this case, name could have got such a book the greatest racehorse of all time. Overwrite on August 15. I know that how fiendishly hard it is to persuade the for a second. Did the breath-catching but I'm not so sure. commissioned. As well as being a Comparing him with Brigadier Gerard - Overwrite was demoted to second after a marketing mafia a racing subject is panache of Frankel's Guineas dwarf superb example of the thoroughbred, he say - is like comparing Federer with stewards’ enquiry -- but to my worth them getting out of bed. The Secretariat's Belmont? No. Among his was a media construct; this book's Laver, or Hamilton with Fangio. In other amazement I discovered my bookmaker halcyon days of Joe Allen publishing a victims was there a Mill Reef like the MICHAEL TANNER existence is proof that the relentless words it is well-nigh impossible but pays first past the post! title because of its intrinsic value to Turf Brigadier's? No. Did he ever trounce a Sleaford, Lincs hype around him worked. completely fascinating, because I'm not sure that Tempus, the horse literature are sadly long gone. field as strong in depth as Sea-Bird's Hooray, therefore? Well, as John comparisons and opinions are so much given the race, would have won anyway However, a cover trumpeting 'The Arc? No. Did he demolish the clock in PS: when it comes to the 'worst Derby suggests: up to a point. of what sport is about. He says Frankel; as Overwrite came off a true line which Greatest Racehorse of All Time' does three Classics in five weeks like runner ever' it's hard to look further than Although 'the sport that made' Frankel I say Sea The Stars; my father swore by cost him a length, and when Tempus raise alarm. Your reviewer endorses Secretariat? No. Did he test the bounds The Cockney Boy in 1870: owned by a is rich in complexity, his own story has Sea Bird. came alongside, Overwrite seemed to one's suspicion that readers should of his comfort zone by winning a Triple Hackney butcher and trained on the always been rendered strikingly simple. Isn't that part of the fun of the thing? relish the battle and kept on well. expect hagiography in the finest Crown like Nijinsky? No. Did he unfurl marshes with gallops against One-dimensional, even. I never saw the For once the 'greatest' is defined, No doubt the stable has an opinion on point in watching him because I pretty unarguably, something is lost: not least that. much knew what was going to happen; the dream of something still better in the the future was no longer a mystery, future, which is what racing is really all which to me removed from racing the about. TIM SUMNER exquisite tension of anticipation. But Macclesfield DEAUUVILLLE what I thought didn't matter. He was used to sell his sport to a wider public, LAURA THOMPSON and in an age of soundbites - visual as Richmond, London well as verbal - he could be consumed A great night at Chester SELECT SALLE with thrilling ease. He won every time and (if one Just a quick word of thanks to airbrushes out that pesky Zoffany) by a Thank you for the Klarion - Partnerships Secretary Claire Short and 9-11 SEPTEMMBERR crowd-pleasing margin. It might be and the winners! the Kingsley Park team for organising DDEAAUUVVILLE argued that, in order to achieve this our visit to Chester races on August 10 remarkable record, few risks were taken as Kingsley Park 15 partners to watch with him: in comparison with the career Thanks for sending me a copy of the our Elusive Artist. We had a fabulous of Sea The Stars, and still more so with August Kingsley Klarion which carried evening. other candidates for the title of GROAT, a picture of the cakes I bought for Chester Racecourse looked after us so such as Dancing Brave and Nijinsky. Kingsley Park staff as a thank-you after well. It was superbly organised, with a Strictly speaking, the title of this new I had backed some of your winners! gorgeous three-course dinner and a a g book should be something like: 'Frankel: I think that the magazine is dedicated table for the whole meeting in y d p The Greatest Racehorse of All Time (in o beautifully produced, well-written with their 1539 restaurant overlooking the oo my opinion, and even though he never sumptuous photos, has great insight into finishing straight. a - Sc p Some dates can’t be missed! raced abroad nor beyond 10 furlongs)'. the stable, carries incisive opinions on After all the bad press about owners Nevertheless he was created the Z.Lu the industry, and has humour visiting racecourses, we have to say we © template of the racehorse, against which If I were an owner and received the had five-star treatment and have nothing all others are now measured. The Klarion every month I would feel a part but praise for the whole experience and decision to take this view of him - and it of the stable, a truly valued customer. the way we were treated. was a decision, validated by this new You're in the business of selling dreams. book - is understandable. Yet it is also, I The monthly Klarion gives all owners NEW would suggest, reductive. Horse racing hope, showing as it does that the CHRIS AND COLLETTE ROBERTON EWW is frankly more interesting than that: the Johnston Racing team are doing Mold, Flintshire DADATEDAT CONTTACT info@@arqana.com - +33 (0)2 31 81 81 00 ww.arqana.comm 9.