I watched the CNN presidential debate this morning, with some scenes that may haunt us over the next few months. It was not Presidential on anybody’s behalf. It was rambling, at times incoherent, and above all sad. There was a moment when I thought maybe this was the plan all the time. Run this debate…
Seriously
Who’s a clever boy then? Not Farage apparently
I got through lunch with the former press baron, with only a tiny side-step into Brexit, which has marked me forever to 47½% of his lunch guests as an idiot, ogre, illiterate and fascist. Inevitably, it started when I tried to express some sympathy in purely factual terms with Farage’s current entanglement. As an aside,…
Racing’s Garden needs some professional work doing.
The Lambourn garden has just become an issue. Last week, we removed dead wood, cleared undergrowth, and installed a new boundary dog-proof fence, which has resulted in our having unfettered views of things we don’t want to see. The laws of unintentional consequences have just bitten us. We can see from the original planting that…
Farewell Gentle Coz.
It’s been a lousy week, made far worse today by the unexpected news that the 80-year-old widow of my late Coz was tragically killed yesterday in a freak accident in a pub car park. Do not smile… such things can happen to the Kneesup clan when they least expect it. I had known her since…
I don’t know about Good – its certainly a very Busy Friday
I was blissfully unaware of the televised racing from my usual lenten posture, which I traditionally adopt at this time of year. Probably weak from 40 days of fasting, I could only see torrential rain and various other Godly visitations through the sackcloth, ashes and palm fronds. Among the plagues visited on us has been…
Cheltenham – for what it’s worth
SUMMARY Having unjustly gained a negative reputation for being part of the Pandemic problem, perhaps impacting local and regional community support, Cheltenham has managed to lose racing fans through a combination of poor event planning, weak and/or arrogant customer relations, aggressive price marketing, and a race schedule, which has managed to engineer an uncompetitive and,…
Green Space, White Space, Grey Lies, a black day.
I went with The Hon the other day to the funeral of Norman Thomas, a proper traditional country farmer. He was three times larger than life; he shot well, hunted hard, farmed profitably (largely thanks to land development), drank prodigiously, partied noisily, and loved horses and racing. (His daughter worked for us and was a…
RWANDA IS BEGINNING TO LOOK LIKE AN ATTRACTIVE OPTION
I am ashamed by the POL-Fujitsu scandal. My shame stems mainly from thinking this is not how we do things in Blighty. I naively believed we – by which I mean our leaders – would not allow that to happen to people for eighteen months, let alone thirteen years. But my other emotion is of…
GOD SAVE THE KING
Raceweb will not be published until after Her Majesty’s Funeral, as a mark of our respect. We give you thanks, O Lord, for the reign of your servant Elizabeth our Queen, and for the example of loving and faithful service which she has given to this nation throughout her life. Eternal rest grant unto her,…
Good Moaning all – A sad catch-up
My new laptop arrives, just in time to miss the tips for the last day of Glorious. Given that I managed to clear my Fitzdares account debt on Saturday, I fear you might think I have let you down. I should tell you that the other six betting accounts remain firmly in the red, and…
So farewell Cheltenham…
Just one more day of potentially impactful racing at the home of NH racing, for which I have just two tips. The purists amongst you will point out the May Hunters meeting, but in reality, that is a posh Point to Point, but with more expensive drink. I used to go to that meeting primarily…
Polly Dog: Feb 21st 2007 – 15th April 2021
Today we sadly lost Polly, a rescue Cocker, who was with us for 14 of her 16 years. She has gone to join Biggles and Windsor and Newbury and Patsy and it’s the end of what has been a very happy, loving relationship. For the first time in almost three decades, there is a total…
Kneesup goes a la mode.
This week I have started the heavy-lifting for the Cheltenham Festival. Just as I got my metaphorical crayons out I became involved in a question of fashion. Those of you with a strong disposition will know that I have trenchant views on the subject. These views primarily encompass the time-warp engulfing my wardrobe and the…
Statistically unlikely – yet Madame seems to be correct! Again!
Now and then one opens a door of enquiry, which one quickly regrets. In this case, I had chanced upon W.B Arthur’s 1994 essay in the American Economic Review and, within it, this insight: In interactive situations of complication, agents cannot rely upon the other agents they are dealing with to behave under perfect rationality,…
FICK FACK FOCK the declension of the Latin for stuffed
Some gremlin attacked the writing today and thus refused – unnoticed by me – to update the end product. This meant that the pair of you who read this stuff sadly missed out – probably – on backing one of our best days ever. Sounds like total tosh? Of course, it does – but please…
Three in and one out – the simple realities of rural life
A perfectly ordinary day to start. Brekker, a trip to the opticians to get new specs, as my eyes have been giving me grief since March, some work on the new project. For the Memsahib, a trip to her Pa with supplies, some 2MSD offspring cheer and a chance to walk our dog, Polly the…
Even God can get the distance wrong sometimes
I have recently felt that God was perhaps attempting to make an early declaration on my behalf, over a distance, I consider way too short. While he carries the ubiquitous “Authority To Act”, I did feel the use of the word premature was apropos. Because we all have some spare time, and because some of…
Capt. Kneesup falls under the spell of CV19
As we are surrounded by war-time analogies delivered by people who have never served in HM vineyards, nor fired a shot in righteous anger, I shall swerve saying that tapping this out on the tablet was becoming increasingly reminiscent of an old exercise I took part in using badly-formed morse code. (As an aside, The…
How The Pharoah of Galway got his name.
Before he went on his annual holiday, The Tissue had promised to tell you how the Pharoah of Galway came to be known as such. Perhaps he delayed relaying the tale because it isn’t so much an amusing tale of Irish shenanigans, but rather the story of how a good idea often needs more than…
Caesar Salad – how difficult can it be?
At my working lunch in Farnham today, (mentioned elsewhere), I chose from The Castle Inn’s menu, a Chicken Caesar Salad. It was described as being a Classic Chicken Caesar salad: crispy cos lettuce, rustic garlic croutons, Parmesan, soft boiled egg, anchovies, Caesar dressing. I asked our waitress to remove the anchovies, which are a step…
As promised – a Courgette Salad to take up the bounty
I don’t seem to know anyone who doesn’t produce courgettes. You can quickly end up with a veg-basket of rotting marrow as you desperately try to find things to do with them. Even people in London seem to turn up with them, pickled, jammed, or just whole. So, what to do? I recently discovered Pul…
Favourites? No, not really
From my small selection yesterday, each carefully researched and selected, we achieved the following results. Apologies. Too many of them were perhaps affected by the heat. 14:50 Sandown Space Walk 3rd 11/8 – 16:15 Yarmouth Tone The Barone 2nd 11/8 – 19:05 Newbury Incredulous 2nd 5/2 – 19:55 Doncaster Lucky Number 3rd 15/8 – 20:10…
Scarred and demoralised
Sorry about Saturday. I wish I could say we came close, but we were undone by the heat, horses, tipster, jockeys, distance, weather, lack of lump wood charcoal and a very rickety email system that only appears to work intermittently. In brief, we suggested: FOX CHAIRMAN who won at Newbury at 8/13. I did say…
At last – Boeuf Bourguignon the way it should be
Raymond Blanc is a little French genius. He deserves to be made Duke of Burgundy although I suspect it would require the restoration of the House of Bourbon. He marked my card in a little video which can be found here…. ….and which has the worst transcription of any recipe ever made. However, carefully listening…