Neddy strolls the leafy south bank avenue in a dapple of flicker filter light. His glossy black coat and occasional tan glide the woody browns and greens as a shoal of fish glides the corals. He fits as they fit but coral colors fit satins and silks of the Gloucester Park scene in a way that Neddy never can. He glances idly to his right when a siren calls starters to the barrier, but in a second idle instant he is back on nature's track.

The day is hot and his coat is black but Neddy was bred to chase in the sun, to run like the wind and chase and chase again. Wagtails swoop and skim the green but Neddy gazes past to spy the Trinity Boathouse. There, where they launch their sculls, is a sandy stretch that Neddy makes his own. He pauses at the terminal taking time to gambol with phoenix Pharaoh’s tomb rising high above the water.