In all, Steve spent the guts of a dozen years on this side of the Atlantic, and chalked up three jockey championships while he was at it. Was he one of the greats? You better believe it, and indeed, two of his greatest rivals of the period, Willie Carson and Pat Eddery, both champions also, were quoted as saying that they rated Cauthen to be one of the very best, especially when riding from the front, for he always seemed to keep something up his tricky sleeve to fend off the many late challengers at the end of a race. Valued praise indeed, from two of the most outstanding jockeys of all time. After many many successful seasons, mainly riding for Henry Cecil, although he did ride for many of the other top stables also, Cauthen felt the urge to return to his home country, where he now is a very prestigious agent in the bloodstock business. He has kept in touch over the years with the many friends he made over here, and has been an enormous help to the many European jockeys who have occasion to go to the United States for meetings like the Breeders Cup etc etc. He will long be remembered for his very classy riding style!!

Well punters, at this stage of the week you should be at the halfway point of the aforementioned Royal Ascot meeting. This is the location where you tend to meet people who would certainly cover a very wide spectrum of humanity by any standards, most of whom would have the words "hip-hip", "toodle-oo", and "tally-ho" not very far from their lips. Of course, you will have the regular patrons of the racing world who genuinely go there for the racing, but you will also find there the people, both men and women, who turn the whole shebang into a glorified fashion parade, with the men prancing about in their "top hat and tails", and morning suits of all shades and colours. The ladies as always certainly take the biscuit, for, apart from the inveterate lassies who worry themselves to death as to what colour the Queen will be wearing, you will also have a certain percentage of young ladies who go there to try to fall in love with a wallet!! To me, the whole thing smacks of the famous fairy story about the King's New Clothes. Remember?

Going back to the sublime from the utterly ridiculous, Friday's Royal Ascot card looks very interesting, for it contains the best of high-class racing. We may be able to pinch a few winners here before the weekend, so lets have a browse through to find our luck. In the Albany Stakes, Art Princess, ridden by Michael Hills, looks the business, while in the King Edward, Campanologist can be a winner for Frankie. The Coronation Stakes is the target of the Fanshawe trained Spacious, and this one will give a good account. In the Queen's Vase, the Irish challenge will be strong, but I will go for Amerigo to put this one to bed for the brilliant Jarvis/Robinson combination. Your Saturday Trio for this weekend all run at Ascot-- Spanish Moon, Assertive, and Intrepid Jack…GOOD HUNTING!

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