End of an era as Sandown drops Mildmay Cazalet title; Race brought forward to beat weather and act as stepping-stone to Welsh National.
Byline: GRAHAM GREENONE OF the best-known races in the jumps calendar has been consigned to history following the Sandown Park management's decision to run the Anthony Mildmay, Peter Cazalet Memorial Handicap Chase under a new name.
In a further break with tradition, the Williamhill.co.uk Marathon Chase, as it will become, while retaining the same conditions, will be contested next month, instead of in January.
Lord Oaksey, who rode a winner for Cazalet, is among those mourning the loss of a race title that dates back half a century.
However, Andrew Cooper, San-down's director of racing, is confident the event will now become an ideal stepping-stone for the Coral Welsh National.
Cooper said the long-distance chase would fit better into the domestic staying-race programme by being run in early December, and that both the Mildmay and Cazalet
families had reached the conclusion that the time had come to draw a line under their long association with the Esher track.
The decision was met with a mixture of sadness and resignation by Oaksey, who said: "I deeply regret the news, but time moves on and there are no doubt those who don't remember the image of Anthony Mildmay and Peter Cazalet. I am an old man and feel regret at that kind of passing, but I think it was inevitable."
The race was inaugurated in memory of Anthony Mildmay in 1953 and, following the death of his great friend and former royal trainer Peter Cazalet in 1973, has been a joint memorial race for the last 30 years.
However it has not been staged since 2000 - bad weather forcing the last three meetings to be abandoned - and Cooper believes its successor, which will be worth pounds 45,000, has
better prospects of beating the
elements as part of William Hill's
Tingle Creek fixture.
He said: "The Mildmay and Cazalet families are quite happy about the change - there is no negative about it - but what we felt, looking at the declarations for the race, was that
being in January, it came at the end of quite a busy period over Christmas and New Year for long-distance chasers. These days with something like the Welsh National, even if it is abandoned, it gets re-run somewhere, and there was a diminishing pool of horses to run at Sandown.
"By moving it forward to
December, it could become a stepping-stone to the Welsh National, as opposed to an
afterthought and also the chances of the race surviving the weather is better in
December than in January."
Anthony Mildmay-White, nephew of Anthony Mildmay and a former chairman of the Jockey Club's Disciplinary Committee, said: "Edward [Cazalet, Peter Cazalet's son] and I gave it a lot of thought and felt we have had a
wonderful innings.
"But the world has moved on, there are other heroes, and we decided this was a good time to finish on a clear note without Sandown wondering if it had to go on with the race."
CAPTION(S):
Andrew Cooper "Families quite happy" Lord Oaksey "I deeply regret the news"
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| Title Annotation: | Sports |
|---|---|
| Publication: | The Racing Post (London, England) |
| Date: | Nov 12, 2003 |
| Words: | 511 |
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