So let me tell you about the weekend I had at the European Eventing Championship in Fontainebleau recently. I went there as guest of FEI, the organisation that runs the horsey sports worldwide. In other words I had everything organised for me: and it was bliss.
A taxi was there to meet me off the Eurostar, and soon we were driving out of Paris to the event, which was set in a stunning area of forest. I watched the dressage and took a stroll, and was then force-fed champagne as I met some of the FEI high-ups.
The next day I had a piece to write, and there was Piggy French to supply the story. Piggy was christened Georgina, but she is always called Piggy -- so much so that that she was announced over the loudspeaker as” Pour Grande Bretagne --- Peegi Fronsh!” She came in as a late reserve, didn't know she was going at all two week earlier, and she went out and rode the test of her life.
I spoke to her afterwards, and she showed everything a good horsey person should -- apart from a certain lack of surprise. She knew Some Day Soon had it in him. Perhaps she did: but for them both to produce it on the day that it mattered – well, that’s what the greatest performers in sport tend to do.
I was driven to my hotel and back and then taken out to dinner with some FEI high-ups. I was prepared for a dullish evening, but I found myself sitting between two lovely horsey ladies, and that is not a thing I’ve ever found too irksome.
Then to the cross-country day: a technically challenging course set on a twisting woodland track. It was there that the favourites, Germany, came unstuck. Falls, stops, run-outs: only one rider was still in the competition by the time the cross-country had finished. It is a hard to thing to say, but it is never too troubling for an Englishman to see the Germans go out on penalties. The French also failed on their home ground, losing half their team on the cross-country, a great blow to them all.
But the Brits were glorious. Piggy, riding as an individual rather than for the team, rode a beautiful round. It was a day of triumph, and the only possible anxiety was that of blowing a massive lead when it came to the show-jumping on Sunday.
Well, they didn't. The Brits won the team event by a distance, and Tina Gifford won the individual gold: after 17 years as an eventer, she was suddenly Britain’s number one.
But what of Piggy? On a desperately difficult showjumping track she rode one of the day’s only two clear rounds, and promoted herself to second place overall. It was yet another triumph. And for Piggy, it came down to the difficult question of Stepping Up.
There are many very good eventers just below the highest level. That is true of every sport: there are always plenty of people just below the very best: the terrific club player who doesn’t make the England football team or splendid county cricketer who can’t get into the Test squad. Or sometimes, these people do get the nod, and then they find – for no reasons anybody could have foreseen – that they just can’t do it at the higher level. What came easily deserts them when it matters most.
But for some people, for some rare people the exact opposite takes place. They take the vital step up: and it is only there that they find the very best of themselves. That’s what happened to Piggy French at the weekend, and it was a joy to witness. There'll be more to see of her, that's for sure.
And so I found myself being whirled back to Paris – well, whirled is a bit of an exaggeration, given the Sunday traffic creeping back into Paris – but I made my train. I played some rousing music on the iPod and sipped my wine as we roared back beneath the channel. A great weekend, great sport, great company. And great, great horses. Professional life really should be like that.
