Racing Manhattan by Terence Blacker

Author:Terence Blacker
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448188437
Publisher: Andersen Press Ltd

INSTRUCTIONS

THE NIGHT BEFORE my first ride in public, I am summoned to Edgecote House after evening stables. Over the past month, I have managed to persuade myself that maybe I misunderstood what I was told the day that Poptastic’s owner visited last year. Or that there has been a change of plan.

It would be a race like any other. We shall be there to win.

‘Jay. Come. Race tomorrow. Talk.’ It is Mr Wilkinson who opens the front door. He trudges down the corridor, and I follow. In the sitting room, he slumps into his usual chair beside a blazing fire. A glass of whisky is on the table beside him.

He waves vaguely towards the sofa. I sit down.

Mr Wilkinson reaches for a copy of today’s Racing Post on the table beside him, and tosses it onto the sofa. It is open on tomorrow’s racecard at Lingfield. The name of one race has been highlighted in red.

The Albright Apprentice Handicap.

And a line of blue is through one runner.

POPTASTIC (C. Wilkinson) 3 8-12 J. Barton (7)

‘Look good?’ The trainer actually smiles at me.

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Now. Need to talk about the race. Tomorrow.’ Mr Wilkinson takes a sip of whisky and looks at the glass in his hand. ‘Give the horse a couple of runs. Unplaced. Know what I mean? Time comes, horse trots up. Good odds at the bookies. You get a winner. Owner makes money. See you all right afterwards. Way it goes in racing. Always has.’

I know where this conversation is going, but pretend to look confused.

Mr Wilkinson gives a little twitch of irritation, as if I have said something which has annoyed him. ‘Owner likes a bet. Nothing wrong with that. Your orders. Do badly first two races. Win the third when no one’s expecting it.’

‘You want me to lose the race?’

‘No. Not lose. Just not win. Difference. Make it look good. Part of the skill of being a jockey. Thought you’d know that by now.’

‘I could get into trouble.’

‘Leave that to me. Takes as much skill not to win a race as it does to win it. Owner important to this yard. Mr Lukic. Wants winners.’

‘I think he could have one tomorrow, sir.’

‘Wants them when he says! Not when some raggedy-pants yard girl goes glory-hunting!’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Seen it before. Lads. Got promise. Go mad. Ignore instructions. Over-excited. Win races when it’s not their day. Never heard of again. Unprofessional, d’you see?’ He holds my eye, and I look away too slowly for his liking. ‘Want the ride or not, Barton?’

I nod. ‘I want the ride.’

‘Do what you’re told then. Not Poptastic’s day. Have you got that?’

I look him in the eye, and I say the words which at that moment I really do believe.

Yes.

Sir.

Got.

That.

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