At 3.08, I turned to Stuart and said, “even if he trails in last, thanks for a great year from Muffin Stuart”. Words with which I’m sure we all agree, but I certainly hadn’t realised how prophetic they would be.

As someone who is not a fan of all weather racing to say the least, I was in two minds whether or not to travel the 100 odd miles from Reading to Great Leighs to see what I expected to be Muffin’s last run of the year.

As I also don’t particularly enjoy watching horses I’m emotionally attached to jump, I decided that it was probably my last chance for a TRG meeting in 2008 and by the time I found the M25 to be behaving itself, I was very much looking forward to seeing both Great Leighs and if Muffin could muster one last effort for the year after his previous exertions and triumphs.

I arrived at the racecourse just after 1pm, (external signage and access is excellent) and immediately saw Tim & Jackie waiting for the rest of clan-Kirby.

I had assumed after all the delays in opening, the facilities would now be well on their way to being finished (this was their 29th raceday!), but this is certainly not the case. Great Leighs is certainly very much a work in progress and although the staff are very friendly and keen to help, even opening doors for you everywhere you go, the lack of internal signing and unfinished areas, does mean you can feel a little lost.

Having collected tickets from an incredibly friendly and polite lady (considering she was working in a portakabin), I crossed the track – all facilities are in the middle of the course (more of that later) and made my way to the owners room, which seemed to necessitate choosing between going straight through (literally) the parade ring, or following the path round the side, although the path stops half way to the stairs that lead upto the owners room !

The owners room is quite nice, with a few tables, a couple of sofas and complimentary hot soup wish fresh bread rolls and plates of sandwiches that were replenished throughout the day. A pint of becks was £3.20, which is very good in comparison to some racecourses. There was a patio outside, although, despite being in the middle of the track, from this you can only see 2 small sections of the racecourse. Overall impression of the owners room - lots of positives, but the absence of the tote (there is a stan james betting point) and frustrating viewing opportunities left me slightly disappointed.

Having selected the horses for my placepot, I left the owners room in search of a tote window and to get my bearings for the rest of the day.

All the facilities are in the main building, a couple of bars, a small restaurant, 3 tote points and outside there are a row of 6 bookies, which was plenty for the crowd there yesterday.

It’s a strange decision to put the building in the middle of the course, it is just inside the finishing straight and quite long, so if if you wish to see the finishing line, you can see less than 2 furlongs of the entire course. Thankfully there is a large screen, but then I could have watched a large screen in my living room !

Feeling quite bemused by the Great Leighs experience, some things well done, some things most frustrating, I headed back to the owners room and met Stuart. He reported that Muffin was well after his 5 hr trip up from Devon and he was looking forward to seeing how he would run back over 6 furlongs – it was felt the way Muffin had finished his Chester race, suggested it may be beneficial to drop him back to 6f and see what happened.

Jackie and I watched the 2nd race from the balcony of the owners room in an effort to decide where to watch the 3rd, Muffin’s race from before going down to the parade ring.

It goes without saying that Muffin looked regal, strutting around the ring – we later discovered his lad had won £50 for his work in securing Muffin the accolade of best turned out, maybe that’s why he was looking so pleased with himself.

Chris Caitlin came across for Stuart to reconfirm his instructions, Stuart was hoping for some early pace to keep Muffin interested, instructed Chris to keep him near the front but was happy for the jockey to see how the race unfolded in the later stages in plotting his course home.

Having decided that both viewing options were about as frustrating as each other, a mixture of enthusiasm and optimism in the Essex sunshine, led to deciding we would watch from the finish line.

We took up our positions, where we could watch the first 4 furlongs or so on the screen and then the last couple play out in fron t of us. It was then, I thanked Stuart with the words above and we settled down to see how Muffin would take to the drop back to 6 furlongs.

Muffin as usual, having been one of the last to allow his jockey a seat in the ring, was, as we see so often, showing his knack of ensuring he wasn’t going to be kept waiting in the stalls – loitering and refusing to budge so as he could go in last.

They were finally all in, all our eyes were on stall 10, wide towards the outside and Muffin was to continue his penchant of the day of doing things last as he made a less than impressive exit.

He was immediately in trouble, with instructions to be near the front and no room on the inside, Chris felt he had to stay wide and try and come around the field. The extra pace of the 6 furlongs was too much for this to be realistic – as the commentator noted, he was trapped out wide - I joked to Stuart he was running 7 furlong after all.

One thing Great Leighs gets full marks for (and it’s probably the most important thing at a racecourse) is the track itself, the bends are huge sweeping curves – it seems it would be more difficult to get blocked or trapped, but with Muffin seemingly just not fancying the extra pace, this is exactly what happened.

With hindsight Chris probably consigned us to a poor finishing position, by staying out wide, but he was racing to win and he felt that was the only way we could, coming around the field – over the shorter distance, it would almost certainly have been too much for Muffin to come from behind had he tucked him in.

Despite being right at the back (and going so wide he disappeared out of camera shot at one point) Chris still hoped Muffin might pick up in the home straight but it was not to be – Muffin felt he’d done enough for the season and what was most probably going to be his last run of 2008, was now certainly so.

We met up with our jockey, who advised that Muffin just hadn’t had the pace to do what was needed today – he felt it was possible he would get 6f on turf but certainly not on the AW.

We decamped back to the bar, watched the race again on the screen and just accepted it was not meant to be and agreed that the disappointment took little from Muffin’s excellent 10 race season.

His figures for the year are:- 2253235810, a great effort and many thanks for Stuart and all concerned.

The placepot I had struggled to get on, turned out to be characteristic of both the course and the day, I won – a return of £6.56 - my stake had been £9.60! A frustrating but still most enjoyable day.

I look forward to hearing Muffin’s arrived home safe and well and, as Dave put’s it, been a good boy and eaten his tea.

Enjoy your winter break Muffin and more of the same next year please.

Cheers Paul.