Blanc Seing details

I’d always been keen to get hold of a few French horses and see what they could do. One such horse was Blanc Seing. Nobody at the stable, including myself, could pronounce his name. He was beautifully bred, by Shirley Heights out of a Nureyev mare and he came from Criquette Head.

Blanc Seing had his first race in this country at Beverley for his new owner Mr Chester and he was completely useless, finishing last of 16 in a claiming race. Two more runs saw him finish second last and then third last, and there was little disputing the fact that he was extremely slow. I knew he needed further, perhaps another half mile, but Terry Lucas also pointed out another problem.

“He doesn’t concentrate, his head’s other places”, Terry advised after trailing in at Hamilton. “He needs blinkers. And he is very slow.”

The plan was to find a really bad race, step him up in distance, stick on the blinkers and I thought he’d win. I found a diabolical handicap over a mile and a half, again at Hamilton, three weeks later, taking on what were certainly 17 of the poorest horses in training.

Blanc Seing turned up boasting form figures of 000 and you could have named your price in the betting ring, but everyone was on and he was backed in to 9/2. The horse didn’t let down his supporters and hitting the front two furlongs out he stormed home by two and a half lengths. They say every dog has his day and after that he never won another race and was sold on.