Racing: Forster's tiger earns his stripes

RACING: Sweet-natured Martha's Son shows his wild side with a successfu l assault on Ascot's imposing fences

Tim Forster may have woken yesterday morning and admonished himself for dreaming he had won Britain's leading race of the weekend. After the pinch weals have repaired, however, the name of Britain's most pessimistic trainer will still be on the sa lver of the Victor Chandler Chase.

Martha's Son, Saturday's winner at Ascot, is as idiosyncratic as his Ludlow trainer, a horse, Forster will tell you, who suffers from schizophrenia. Some thoroughbreds are quite nasty beasts. See You Then, the three-time Champion Hurdler winner, and the Ascot Gold Cup winner Arcadian Heights, for example, possess a carnivorous streak. Martha's Son, on the other hand, is the "sweetest" horse Forster has had in 32 years with a licence.

The trainer insists that he could ride the horse into the middle of Windsor to do the shopping, which should provide an interesting photo opportunity for the Japanese tourists when the castle begins to lose its appeal. On the racecourse, though, Martha'sSon runs on a different octane.

"He really is the nicest horse," Forster said yesterday. "He has a split personality. When he's at home you could put a three-year-old child on him and he'd go for a walk down the road, but once he sees a fence he becomes a right little tiger."

Zoologists will tell you that horses are not naturally jumping animals, but it appears they have not yet told Martha's Son.

On Saturday, his fencing was invigorating enough just for spectators, but for Rodney Farrant, his jockey, it was an introduction to virtual Alton Towers, an exercise in outlandishly daring manoeuvres.

"It was some buzz," he said yesterday. "He jumped really quickly. I remember travelling into Swinley Bottom into sixth place and coming out of a fence in second. I took four lengths out of everything.

"He quickens six strides out because he's looking to get to the other side as quickly as he can. He's so scopey that he comes up outside the wings of some fences and then lands just as far on the other side."

Farrant knew before the start of play on Saturday that Forster was probably not confident enough to have booked a restaurant table for an evening celebration (the trainer later could not bring himself to watch the race). "I could tell he was nervous," the jockey said. "He was chain-smoking for a few hours."

Forster himself did not deny he had his doubts. "We were in fear and trembling about running him at Ascot because we were worried about how he would jump when they were really racing," he said. "But luckily he met each fence perfectly."

Martha's Son's victory seemed to have Queen Mother Champion Chase written all over it. But the eight-year-old will not be at the Festival because his name was not written all over the entries. "The entries closed about six weeks ago and the owner didn't think he would be suited by Cheltenham," Forster said. "He didn't think he was big enough, tough enough or rough enough. If I could enter him now I would pay the money myself.

"Still, he's relatively young and inexperienced and there is always next year. He's got a long way to go but he's still improving."

There is no improvement in Forster's gloominess, however. Saturday's victory, unexpected as it was for him, seemed to have signalled the slapping shut of a novel with few lofty heights planned for the future. In fact, the only venue that has been confirmed for Martha's Son is his own box.

"I've no idea where he goes now," Forster said. "He'll have a rest now for two or three weeks and during that time I'll talk to the owner and decide where to go." And after that he will probably go to the video library to check if Saturday was just a dream.