Epsom Derby
The Derby 2023
What a brilliant day for Frankie. I did not believe Emily Upjohn could do that although less surprised at Soul Sister’s Oaks’ victory. I was,
Capt. Kneesup
2nd June 2023
RACING FESTIVALS
Epsom Derby
Tipping the balance with a big P
I am – like Victor Meldrew – in a state of utter bewilderment. Quite apart from this website showing a profit for the last three
Capt. Kneesup
1st June 2023
Epsom Derby
If it’s June 1st it must be time for a Derby Dinner.
Let me rush to say that I would have been unable to attend any dinners this week – even if I had been invited. Which
Capt. Kneesup
31st May 2023
Dante Meeting
When the chips are down, just think of Bert and Mary Poppins
There have been moments in one’s life, as one limps away from the smouldering wreck, that you think, “Well, that could have been worse.” Perhaps
Capt. Kneesup
18th May 2023
Dante Meeting
We might have seen The Oaks winner today.
As I suggested yesterday, SOUL SISTER was the wrong price, and Frankie duly bought the little 18/1 beauty home in The Musidora, to make a
Capt. Kneesup
17th May 2023
Dante Meeting
Can’t even pick a paint colour right these days!
I’m going to keep this brief this week largely because we are awash with sport. We have the US PGA Championship, The Italian GP, the
Capt. Kneesup
16th May 2023
Newmarket Guineas Meeting
It’s hard to find a spare channel for His Majesty with so much racing!
These last few days have been busy, so I had failed to notice that racing was actually “on” during the Coronation. For some reason, I
Capt. Kneesup
5th May 2023
Aintree GN
Aintree Grand National Festival Day 1
By the time you read this, the Factor 200 will be out, my solar topee will have been unpacked and I shall be singing lustily
Capt. Kneesup
12th April 2023
Cheltenham March
CHELTENHAM DAY 4
We popped into The Tent to see chums and to apologise for The Hon’s picture appearing in the Daily Mail. The place was awash with
Capt. Kneesup
17th March 2023
Cheltenham March
CHELTENHAM DAY 3
Truth be told, there is not much to report. A supper party of Prawns in a tomato, garlic and chilli sauce, Cottage Pie and peas,
Capt. Kneesup
16th March 2023
Cheltenham March
CHELTENHAM DAY 2
We returned from the jolly lunch to find a note from an old friend to say that she had found herself at a loose end
Capt. Kneesup
14th March 2023
Cheltenham March
CHELTENHAM DAY 1: No more chanting yogic Uummms, it’s make-your-mind-up time!
This past weekend I spotted and wrote about a 17/2 winner (Dubai Station) that had the form of a donkey seen in a charity advert
Capt. Kneesup
13th March 2023
St Leger Festival
A theatrical evening before Day 2 of Donny
I went to The Barn Theatre in Cirencester last night to see Driving Miss Daisy. The Barn is a relatively new theatre whose newness was
Capt. Kneesup
8th September 2022
St Leger Festival
Maybe the new PM heralds a time of Boom and Bust
I know, I know – I’m supposed to be a mature adult. Long gone is the former International Boulevardier. Instead, there is a shadow. A
Capt. Kneesup
7th September 2022
Uncategorized
The York Ebor Day 4
An agonisingly slow day in the office – but not at York where the ground simply got faster. No Stradivarius (not as predicted) and no
Capt. Kneesup
20th August 2022
York Ebor Meeting
York Day Three
A day full of mixed emotions. The exam results bode well for young Theocrates with two A* and an A. Does this get him into
Capt. Kneesup
18th August 2022
York Ebor Meeting
York Day 2
Well, there can’t be many times when you get beaten out of sight and you’re cheering the photograph that shows you coming third. The result
Capt. Kneesup
17th August 2022
York Ebor Meeting
York Day 1
Thank God the rain has come. Except, of course, that the concrete-baked ground cannot soak it up, so it runs off. That in turn will
Capt. Kneesup
16th August 2022
July Festival
Newmarket July Festival Day 3
A dreadful day at Newmarket for readers of this column where we lost two selections in a horrific on-track accident. Both TRIBAL ART and SUMMER’S
Capt. Kneesup
8th July 2022
July Festival
Stand by to fend off all boarders: July Festival Day 2
The Hon. is diseased and I have run out the Yellow Jack to warn the bumboats, tinkers and itinerant matchstick sellers to stay away. I
Capt. Kneesup
7th July 2022
July Festival
The Newmarket July meeting – how cute.
As I sit at my desk, the summer idyll is only broken by the rolling TV news being broadcast into my office. The 1922 Committee
Capt. Kneesup
6th July 2022
Royal Ascot
As promised John Reid MBE’s tips for Royal Ascot Saturday
These were John Reid’s tips for Ascot today, as given to the customers at The Royal Foresters. It looks like a very sensible placepot list!
Capt. Kneesup
18th June 2022
Royal Ascot
Too Hot for fun
Apart from drinking tea, when the temperature heads this far north, we deploy the electric fan, my last punkah wallah having disappeared back to Wolverhampton
Capt. Kneesup
18th June 2022
Royal Ascot
The Aga Can’t.
For a brief and glorious moment, I truly thought I was home free. Arriving back last night to Camp Tamarkan, the temperature was slightly north
Capt. Kneesup
16th June 2022
Royal Ascot
I might have taken too many steps – Ascot Day 3
A CORRECTION: The Cousin of Capt Smyly isn’t. She’s his Niece! Nice. He’ll be able to invite her to The Derby Dinner. I must admit
Capt. Kneesup
16th June 2022
Royal Ascot
Smiles for Day 1 and onto Royal Ascot Day 2
What a marvellous day. I spent the morning in the company of one of the best jockeys of the last quarter of the 20th century
Capt. Kneesup
14th June 2022
Golf Tips
Bad Manners, The US Open and Royal Ascot Day 1.
In the midst of all the Ascot preparations, the thinking, the calculations, the decisiveness and confidence, sadly coupled with the loss of all value perceptions
Capt. Kneesup
13th June 2022
Epsom Derby
The 243rd Derby Day
I have captured a photograph of the great tipster Prince Monolulu who would stand on the Downs by the rails and shout to the crowd
Capt. Kneesup
4th June 2022
Epsom Derby
The Derby Meeting – Oaks Friday
Overarching all that we do in these brief few days, the aura of Her Majesty’s presence shines out. From the top of White Horse Hill,
Capt. Kneesup
3rd June 2022
Epsom Derby
It wasn’t just Derbys…
Quite rightly, there have been thousands of words written this last 48 hours about Lester. Everyone has their favourite stories and every hack has crafted
Capt. Kneesup
31st May 2022
Dante Meeting
York’s Dante Meeting Day 3
Normal service resumed today and I am beginning to scratch the scalp. Certainly, some of the results have been very unexpected, but nonetheless, I am
Capt. Kneesup
13th May 2022
Dante Meeting
The Dante Meeting Day 2
Another (as in rare and yes we have had them before), profitable day at Raceweb Towers! The crowd at York was down – but according
Capt. Kneesup
12th May 2022
Dante Meeting
The Dante Meeting Day 1
It wasn’t a bad weekend for results, which started to bring us back towards the sunny uplands, and away from the Slough of Despond. We
Capt. Kneesup
11th May 2022
Chester May Meeting
The looming of a long weekend.
I’m still slightly reeling – as indeed is The Hon. – at the result of Man City, Real Madrid. We had both been given free
Capt. Kneesup
5th May 2022
Chester May Meeting
I’m frightened for the people of Marlborough
By the time I left Marlborough today, I was convinced that scientists from the Pavlov Institute had, under the orders of Perfidious Putin, invented a
Capt. Kneesup
5th May 2022
Chester May Meeting
Chester May Meeting Day 1
Many years ago, Brough Scott, the late great Tony Fairbairn and I went to see Woodrow Wyatt the late and not very great chairman of
Capt. Kneesup
4th May 2022
Newmarket Guineas Meeting
1000 Guineas
The Almost God of Thirsk smiled briefly in our collective direction when I wrote, DUBAI LOVE is getting first-time cheekpieces from S Bin S and
Capt. Kneesup
1st May 2022
Newmarket Guineas Meeting
I almost made 2000 Guineas today
A day of almosts… we almost had a wonderful set of fourfold accumulators come off; we almost got it right on Ricci Rich having the
Capt. Kneesup
30th April 2022
Newmarket Guineas Meeting
The Guineas Meeting Day 1
It isn’t every day that we pull a 25/1 winner out of the hat, but that is what we did in the Bumper yesterday at
Capt. Kneesup
29th April 2022
Aintree GN
It’s Grand – but is it Cornish?
My day can be summarised by the outcome of the Aintree race at 4:40 pm, and my huge wager on STAG HORN. So appalled was
Capt. Kneesup
9th April 2022
Aintree GN
Lumme – What went right there?
By crikey – even I startled myself. It’s been a while since I did a bit of banking, but e/w doubles and trebles, the favoured
Capt. Kneesup
7th April 2022
Aintree GN
You’re not allowed to say boo to the Goose
Editorial Note: No people died from Covid in the writing of this article and the author has recently tested negative – again. Even as Thor’s
Capt. Kneesup
6th April 2022
Cheltenham March
The Last Post of Cheltenham
There was a moment on Thursday when the Kneesup world took a definitive turn for the worse. Not the excessive prices that Cheltenham has been
Capt. Kneesup
18th March 2022
Cheltenham March
Cheltenham Thursday St Patrick’s Day
I have just read some unutterable drivel that suggests that the Turners Novice Chase, while not totally brilliant with only the four horses competing in
Capt. Kneesup
17th March 2022
Cheltenham March
Cheltenham Ladies Day – Wednesday
A very jolly lunch with racing and pointing folk. Our host has of late become increasingly deaf, and lives in a world where TVs are
Capt. Kneesup
16th March 2022
Cheltenham March
Cheltenham Day 1
No time for chit chat. I’m building a website for a charity; I’ve got an environmental campaign to put together; I’ve just come back from
Capt. Kneesup
14th March 2022
Cheltenham March
The Cheltenham Question
I had a jolly Fish and Chip supper at a local pub last night with my old friend The FinTech Brain, and while inventing a
Capt. Kneesup
11th March 2022
Cheltenham March
Feast or Famine? It’s not just at Cheltenham.
I wondered this week, at what point the Labour front-bench might overcome their oft-absent scruples and walk out of the chamber en masse in order
Capt. Kneesup
10th March 2022
Cheltenham March
Common sense is in spite of, not as the result of, education – Greek or otherwise
Firstly an apology for my absence yesterday. I have been to London on the sort of “official business” that No 10 habitues are familiar with
Capt. Kneesup
6th March 2022
St Leger Festival
Massively under-exercised
Dear old Mark Twain, who could be something of a dark cove when it came to amusing, intelligent writing, once said: “I have never taken
Capt. Kneesup
11th September 2021
