Something Else with John Elsegood HORSES FOR COURSES

HORSES FOR COURSES

There certainly was some great races for stayers over the New Year period –at home and abroad; for horses and politicians.

Hard to fault Kyra Yuill's performance in the Perth Cup, on chestnut mare Western Jewel, bobbing along in third last position for most of the 2400m journey and easing out approaching the home turn to come charging home down the outside to win going away.

It was the first time a female jockey had won the Perth Cup since its inception in 1887 and it was the first time that Yuill had ridden in the Group 2 race.

Having won the ATA Handicap on Christmas Eve on the same horse and ridden a winning treble the week before that she clearly was imbibing the Yuilltide spirit in full.

On January 3, in Iowa, another great staying race was won (or at least the first leg of the long marathon) in the tightest result ever when Mitt Romney prevailed by 8 votes over the former senator, Rick Santorum, in a thriller.

Santorum, until the last week of the Iowa Caucus campaign was the human equivalent of Old Rowley –a 100/1 shot for the Melbourne Cup of 1940, seemingly with no chance except that he did win.

Okay, Okay, Santorum went down by a whisker but the Pennsylvania Kid really put himself on the political map for the rest of the GOP racing season. The Big Mo is with him.

But it was The Mittster (Mitt Romney to you) that really won big in Iowa. Why?

Because class tells even in adverse conditions and Iowa is a place where 45% identify as Evangelicals and Romney's Mormonism was hardly a plus for him with the old religious enemy - and religion does matter in the US.

The political climate has also changed in the Great Republic. Four years ago when Romney lost Iowa to Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas Governor and a Baptist pastor, he was regarded as the conservative. Today Romney is the moderate as the Republican Party has swung right and he has 'carried top weight' in the current race, particularly over introducing 'Romney Care' during his term as Massachusetts governor. The rest of the world sees no big deal in that but to American conservatives mandating that all people have health insurance in Massachusetts smacks of socialised medicine.

Romney also did not campaign heavily in Iowa until the last week and had only five paid operatives on the ground in that state this time around. Like Yuill he moved with alacrity late in his race, campaigning with vigour at the end and coming home hard after seemingly running within himself before the last week.

Yuill and Romney have two things in common despite gender, geographical, age and professional differences: they are distinctively decent, attractive, honourable types and both have a great work ethic and it shines through in their manner,speech and performances.

Both are in precarious, fickle occupations – a jockey and a politician can never expect universal love and there is a sleaze factor in both professions with grounds for public distrust. Form for both can also be ephemeral and jealousy amongst contempories is rife.

However, both radiate a quiet confidence and there has never been any hint of scandal about either. Romney has long been dubbed 'Matinee Mitt' because of his rugged good looks –but there has never been 'any tarts in the closet' of this one-gal-guy (his wife Ann) and father of 5 adult sons.

He practices his faith, without fanfare in the public square by simply being a role model for those who think fidelity and family life is the cornerstone of society.

However, unlike Yuill, who races over the flat, Romney has a few obstacles to jump in his race before gaining the prize.

He has to win in New Hampshire and should – one poll put him 30 points in front and while that may narrow before January 10, he can't really afford to run second there this time as he did four years ago to Senator John McCain-a man who endorsed him yesterday (5/1/12) as the best Republican candidate to take on President Obama in November.

Romney's real tests will be in South Carolina and then, in particular, Florida at the end of January. If Romney 'can do a Yuill' and win in those two states (particularly the latter) it will not be a case of 'game on,' as Rick Santorum said after Iowa, but more a case of 'race over' as the GOP Stakes would then be well on the way to being won by Romney.

Just as a woman had never won the Perth Cup until the last day of 2011, so too has there never been a Mormon in the White House. However, Romney has already gone further than the 10 other presidential contenders of the same faith, including his father George Romney (1968) and the Latter-day Saints founder, Joseph Smith, whose 1844 run ended in his assassination.

Romney even has another Mormon opponent-Jon Huntsman- to contend with but he really is a longer shot than Old Rowley – and he won't get close.

There is nothing like a good race to excite the passions!