Many thanks to Chris Cook and the Racing Post for the lovely article- Friday Let us now praise Tommie Beau, known in the Front Runner as The Most Likeable Horse In Training for his lovely, willing style of racing, his resilience and his toughness. Having had a summer break of almost three months, he ran twice in three days at Cartmel last weekend and won the Cavendish Cup despite shouldering 12 stone on heavy going. Having two quick runs is so rare these days that one sometimes wonders whether it can be a good idea but it seemed pretty common back in the 80s and 90s. Mysilv is an example that sticks in the mind: having been sixth in the Champion Hurdle, she was stepped up to three miles for the first time in the Stayers’ Hurdle two days later and ran a huge race to be second at 16-1. Tommie Beau seems cut from similar cloth. His Monday success over fences was an 11lb better effort than his hurdles second last Saturday. I mention him not just because he deserves every scrap of praise we can muster but also because he’s declared to go again at Newton Abbot tomorrow. It’s a seven-runner handicap hurdle worth £13,203 to the winner, a very tempting opportunity for connections.  “It’s very much ground permitting,” says Simon Prout, the lucky man who shares ownership of Tommie Beau with his wife, Christine. They want reassurance that the going is actually good. “We’ll take him down there, walk the course, make absolutely sure it’s safe for him. That’s the plan. We don’t want fast. We do want consistent ground, not patchy ground.” Prout, who says he bought Tommie Beau as a late Christmas present for Christine in early 2021, is enjoying every bit of the ride. Monday’s victory, the nine-year-old’s third at Cartmel this summer, is described as “absolutely fantastic, a brilliant experience”. “I’ve been going to Cartmel for 25 years, I’m an annual member. I was going there before I ever owned horses and the dream was always to have a winner there. We’ve had runners there for years.” Having experienced a deal of frustration, the game suddenly seems easy. Miss Fedora also won at Cartmel in their colours on Saturday, running on gamely after being fourth over the final flight.  Tommie Beau’s win was a fine example of his attitude to the game. Having made the running, he was passed by the younger Jerrash (carrying 18lb less) after the final fence, went a length down and was clearly beaten. Horses so rarely recover the lead after losing it at a late stage. But he responded immediately, diving aggressively towards the inside rail and getting back on terms almost immediately. It was a long battle from there but he had half a length in hand at the line. “He just keeps giving,” Prout says, admiringly. “He only ever does enough.  “He flicks his ears backwards and forwards and he doesn’t waste any energy. There’s nothing flash about him. He jumps efficiently, mainly. He might throw in the odd exuberant one. He’s been an absolute dream for me and the stable.” Tommie Beau has now racked up 14 career victories and his proud owner points out that his record isn’t padded out with any flimsy novice contests in which he was the best by far and only had to stand up to win. All 14 of those wins were handicaps and the shortest of them was over 2m7½f. If any horse can be called a warrior, it’s him. He has made the Prouts top owners at Cartmel this year by prize-money. Indeed, at this early stage of the jumps season, they’re fifth overall among owners. Such achievements are bound to come at a cost. “I have a very sore shoulder,” Prout reports. “I like being hands-on and Seamus [Mullins] had three horses up at Cartmel and only one stable girl. So I walked Tommie Beau out each day. “On Monday morning, I was there with him, he was having a pick of grass. And all of a sudden he startled himself and went to take off with me hanging onto the lead rope.  “Eventually, he’s got me face down in the mud. I’m saving my green-streaked shirt as a symbol of my involvement. “I was hoping and praying he wouldn’t take off and do two circuits but thankfully he found some nice grass after about 20 yards.” It’s a story that underlines Prout’s goodwill towards Mullins’s operation near Stonehenge. He sponsors the yard through his business, WeDoVans.com. Tommie Beau missed the cut for the Grand National in April but, having won twice over fences since then, he might sneak into the field next spring. It’s a plan but only a possible one. “A 0-150 somewhere else is more attractive to me, to be honest. The new Grand National is not the dour, rugged old event for stayers that it used to be, which would have suited Tommie. “You’d have to go for it if you could get in. But we went for the Scottish Grand National, which was as tough as it’s ever been because it was in the middle of the trainer’s title race, and we were outclassed there. Micheal [Nolan] wisely pulled him up.” More immediately, Prout is planning to do a charity ride at Mullins’s base this Christmas, probably on some burlier, slower animal than Tommie Beau. It’s the result of his having been diagnosed with prostate cancer last summer – he reports the treatment has been a great success. During his treatment, he repeatedly met children experiencing their own battles with cancer and is now determined to do what he can to raise funds to help. He promises to let us know more about it once plans are fully laid. “I’ve been virtually bald for the last 30 years but, bizarrely enough, the treatment they’ve put me on has made my hair grow. It’s hormone treatment, it does very strange things. “My plan is to grow my hair long and ride some horse up the gallops.” In all of horse racing, no one is having more fun right now.