For some reason, when many are asked when they first became fans of their favourite sport, they will often single out their earliest memory of it as opposed to when they became truly hooked.
With racing, the mature fans will commonly single out their oldest Grand National memory as it will be from a time when the event was a truly great race, unlike what it has morphed into now - albeit the most fiercely competitive staying handicap chase in the calendar but far from the test it once presented.
The first horse's name I took aboard was Red Alligator, the second one Highland Wedding. I was also aware that Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard were famous racehorses at the time they were racing if only because in the days of three TV channels their names popped up regularly on Saturdays. Then, like many, I remember being engrossed watching the 1973 National unfold as Crisp put the field to the sword until heartbreakingly emptying in the closing stages.
However, I would never dare cite any of these years as the moment I became properly captivated by the sport - that was in 1975, with a genuine interest gradually building throughout that year and Star Appeal's Prix de'l Arc de Triomphe victory the moment that cemented things, in the sense that I began building scrapbooks containing everything racing from that moment.
The reason these thoughts came to mind stem from the humbling fact that I only witnessed the last decade of Joe Mercer's career. If you go back a decade from the present, racing had seen better days if not quite in the appalling mess it is now on several fronts. Going back a further decade still, to just after the Millennium, it was going downhill, and back another decade to the early nineties, the sport was not keeping up with the popularity of the other major sports and the warning signs were apparent.
That is three decades of the sport gradually declining on many fronts - in stark contrast to the 1975- 1985 period, the last stage of Joe Mercer's career which saw him lose the Hern job to Willie Carson, enjoy a glorious few seasons at Warren Place when he secured his sole jockey's championship, then bow out at Seven Barrows at a time when the strength of Peter Walwyn's team was losing its mojo and was already beginning to struggle before Mercer was appointed.
Out of curiosity, I delved back through the form books to see if I could find the first time I saw Mercer in the flesh. It was Saturday May 29th 1976 at Haydock Park. Mercer guided the Geoff Toft trained Gunner B to an eight length success in the Cecil Frail Handicap. The animal would switch to the Cecil yard later in his career from where he won the Eclipse, amongst other races. At that time in 1976, we were days away from the announcement that Mercer would be replaced by Willie Carson in 1977 as the number one rider for the Hern yard.
I saw Mercer again at an evening fixture at Haydock Park just six days later, which was the day after it was made public that he was losing the Hern job. At this meeting he rode the winner of the juvenile event, Card Player, trained by Ian Balding and carrying the Royal colours. More memorable though was his ride on Hern's Lighter in the three year old, twelve furlong handicap. The pair passed the post in front but lost the race in the stewards room after his hanging in mount was deemed to have given the runner up, the future Ascot Gold Cup winner Shangamuzo, several race changing bumps.
My father had backed Lighter and I can remember him being very annoyed, telling me that Mercer was a now a binman and that it was no surprise Hern had sacked him - little did those outside the loop know at the time that the decision had been made the previous October.
To demonstrate how widely the jam was spread in that 1975 - 1985 period, eleven running of the 2,000 Guineas were won by nine different trainers and nine different owners, eleven runnings of the 1,000 Guineas were won by nine different trainers and eleven different owners, eleven runnings of the Oaks won by eight different trainers and ten different owners, the Derby by nine different trainers and ten different owners, and finally the St Leger by eight different trainers and ten different owners.
There is no need to list comparisons with recent decades, needless to say the quality is in fewer hands than ever before - you could twist things around and point to the unfashionable succeeding such as Harbour Law winning the St Leger, an animal unfashionable on the pedigree, trainer, owner and jockey front, but truth be told, such illusions of the talented bloodstock being widespread has no grounding.
Moreover, you get some characters using the platform they have to highlight what they view as positives about the present, dreary state of the game. ITV frontman Ed Chamberlin is of the opinion that the classic trials at Chester remain significant only because of the support they receive from the Ballydoyle runners - a ridiculous assumption that suggests that if the jam was spread wider, the Chester May meeting would not be on the road map of those in charge of the Epsom aspirants.
The venue has long held significant classic trials, the track configuration seen ideal by many trainers down the years as a schooling ground for Epsom, thus if the quality bloodstock was stretched across a wider terrain, the Vase, Dee Stakes and Cheshire Oaks, would still frequently be on the schedule of many genuine classic hopefuls.
So, for many, at the end of the day we will just have to be content with immersing ourselves in times when the sport was far more enjoyable to follow. It was only a few weeks back that I was searching the memorabilia sites for any Brigadier prints carrying Mercer's signature. They've now become a more sought after item and would be purchasers need to be extra cautious on the authenticity front. Mind you, come to think of it, I do have his autograph so I can buy a nice print of the Brigadier, and place the signature on view inside when I frame it. That sounds good enough.
A track from a period when the Stones were going through one of their phases. Released in April 1976, it would have been in many households when the announcement was made the day after the Epsom Derby that Joe Mercer would be losing the Hern job.
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