You have almost certainly seen this video following Frompillartopost’s victory in last weekend’s Coral Olympic Final at Hove.
What wasn’t recorded was the incredible nursing that not only got the dog across the winning line, but even into the competition at all.
If you check the lines of form, there was a five week gap between Liz McNair’s fabulous run in the GAIN Puppy Collar Final at Oxford and the opening round at Hove. During that period, the big white and black trialled just twice, two sprints. But it wasn’t supposed to have gone that way.
Rab McNair said: ‘I had arranged a four bend trial for the Saturday after his last sprint. But a few days before the trial, we were hit with really bad kennel sickness. The shits basically. Although he was slightly better on the day of the trial, we had to put Postie’s welfare first so we cancelled the trial.
“That meant that we had to consider whether we could go into the first round without a four bend trial. We thought long and hard about it and Brendan (Keogh KSS Syndicate) left the decision to Liz and I. By this stage Postie had fully recovered but we realised he would need the run.”
The race record shows the judgement was spot on. After missing his break, Frompostotpillar took the lead going into the first bend and then just held off Derrinasafa Boss by a length and a quarter.
Rab said: “I had a couple of people say, ‘he barely gets home’ but they didn’t know half the story. We were confident that he would find time in the semi final, but it was as good as a final in itself with early pace all over the place.”
In fact, the ‘non-stayer’ found himself in last place early in the race and had to show tremendous backstraight pace to land a qualifying place. He duly finished a strong finishing second to Deelish Frankie. Understandably, the kennel were in buoyant mood about the final . . . . until Monday morning when opening the racing kennel door and being confronted by the strong stench of sh…..
Rab said: “Our dogs never make a mess in their kennels. But every kennel was running with it. There were duvets on the floor, it was horrible. We had three in the final and at that stage we were thinking ‘three non runners’.
“We looked after them all and they started to make progress. I had been chatting to my friend Davy from Blackpool and he said that in the past he had discovered that the dogs sometimes like to purge themselves of bug by running around. On Friday the ground was still hard, but I let Postie off the lead and he decided he wanted to run up the patch of grass still visible on the side of the field.
“He seemed so much better in himself when he got back that I did it again on Saturday. He was even more full of it than the previous day. My biggest worry was that he would hurt himself on the day of the final.
“I was very confident until we got to the track and kennelled him. Normally he is super excitable but when I went to get him out, he was still laying on his bed. Instead of jumping around on parade, he was very calm. I said to Liz, ‘we might have got this wrong’. We hadn’t told anybody about the sickness because it sounds as though you are getting your excuses ready in case you get beat. I wouldn’t even be mentioning it now if we had been beat.”
The rest is history.
“Although I expected him to run well, I can’t pretend that he didn’t surprise me. Racegoers are learning more about him every day, but so are we. He is becoming calmer and more mature by the day.”
Interestingly, there appears to be an anomoly in the times. Check out the sectional and in the opening round. After trapping last, Fromposttopillar clocked a 4.22 sectional. In the semi finals, he was even slower away and clocked a pedestrian, but totally understandable, 4.39. But in the final, when he did – you know what – the sectional was a mere 4.33.
Rab said: “I had noticed that and it made no sense to me at all. It was rumoured that there were some issues with the timer for the 515 races (the other 515s were hand timed) but I really don’t know.”
Like the rest of the kennel, ‘Postie’ the 16-1 Derby ante post favourite will be spending January in a nice heated kennel.
Rab said: “They need a break and it allows us to get them all wormed and in good order for the new year. The only one who may possibly race in January would be Havana Bale Out (Essex Vase) though she is due in season. Havana Lover is already in season. Warzone Tom has a wrist injury so we will leave him off until he comes sound so the Golden Jacket is unlikely.
“As for Postie, we quite fancy that new event over 500 metres at Central Park in March, the Kent Plate. I really like that distance. After than we will play it by ear.”
Olympic winner FROMPOSTTOPILLAR on the track with Rab and Liz McNair joined by KSS Syndicate members Ian Openshaw (right) and his wife Wendy (left).
Hove 17th December 2022 Photo: © Steve Nash
FROMPOSTTOPILLAR Olympic winner Hove 17th December 2022 Photo: © Steve Nash
