Royal Ascot: Saturday 19th June 2020 – Day Five
Our Literary correspondent, High Rise, sent me a brusque note today about my curmudgeonly criticism of ITV and specifically Francesca Cumani’s hats. He pointed out that the poor girl needs to keep her face free because she is on TV and thus, the wide-brimmed hat a la Ms Eliza Doolittle would not cut it for […]
Royal Ascot: Friday 18th June 2020 – Day Four
Really tricky on Thursday, despite the 14 hours notice of impending rain and likely going changes. I was already struggling when I got tucked up by Roger Varian and his observations on Molatham’s last outing on Soft ground. “He’ll hate it” he said or words to that effect. Lumme, it turns out Roger, old darling, […]
Royal Ascot: Thursday 18th June 2020 – Day Three
Well, what a cracker for all the Sir Busker owners! Madame had a small wedge on it and we spoke to the rightfully incoherent shareholder afterwards. We might try to speak again tomorrow. We continued our policy of bringing comfort to those more fortunate than us today, by delivering vital supplies to a family in […]
Royal Ascot: Wednesday 17th June 2020 – Day Two
With hindsight, the last Magnum of AIX yesterday was possibly a step too far. Suffice it to say, that I was so drunk, I only backed Pyledriver on the grounds that he was being ridden by Sylvestre de Souza. I remember nothing after 9:00 pm, and this morning the idea of solids is too much […]
Royal Ascot: Tuesday 16th June 2020 – Day One
No preliminaries, we all know why we’re here…… Kick On! 1:15 pm – Buckingham Palace Handicap (Handicap) “Cripes” as Bunter might say. Tricky or what? I have cogitated about this field for almost 40 minutes and only managed to narrow it down to a dozen. I don’t think the draw is going to matter much, […]
Strange times indeed
If you thought this week that Time had taken leave of his/her/its senses, then you are not alone. Most of this week seems to have had every minute of each hour filled with angst at This tribal issue, and ennui at That. Do I really care if Sid and Bob sling a statue into the […]
Love is a many-splendored thing
What might we have learned at Newmarket last week? FAR ABOVE could be very good if he goes to The Prix L’Abbaye, where he will almost certainly get the damp ground he prefers, despite spanking 11 others in The Place House Stakes. Does KAMEKO get 10f or 12f? My guess is he’s quite likely to […]
We need some Guineas
It was a real delight to see the resurrection of The Pharoah of Galway, Peter O’Tool and his wise insights into the 2000 Guineas. On my side I had two hours sorting out the Gremlins; (for those of you with a technical bent, it was the SMTP routing handler which was set to Local rather […]
Qipco 2,000 Guineas Analysis
If Pinatubo has ‘trained on’ he may be a once in a generation horse with the ability to turn this into a procession. There is, of course, no reason to believe that he hasn’t – he is firm in the market and Charlie Appleby clearly has a spring in his step. Certainly it would be […]
A second run at the tips
Every now and then, we might be able to find the time in our grinding schedules, to step out for a light snack at lunchtime. Perhaps some potted shrimps and a chilled glass of the 1999 Jean-Noël Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet. Perhaps a ripe fig and a small piece of the Brillat-Savarin. The sun shines gently on […]
Apologies
Hours of work have simply disappeared when I hit the Publish button. It was the second time today it has happened and I have obviously got a gremlin. This, therefore is by way of a Test and I will try and let you know the shortened version of my efforts later.
One step forward, two steps back and one to the side.
I signed off the last note, “Onwards, ever onwards”. My concept of the S de Souza’s front-running ability wasn’t far off the mark, but it did feel lateral rather than progressive. We had you might remember a ½pt e/w Yankee for 11pts total and a 2pt win on his CITY WANDERER. We had a winner […]
An unbalanced world around the racing
A terribly sad and worrying note from my chum Thomm in St Pauls, Minneapolis who lives in what might be considered akin to the Sloane Square end of Chelsea. In fact, it is less than 2 miles from where the police started this whole ghastly business and Thomm’s description of the last 72 hours makes […]
Day 2 of the return.
While I would love to pass off my crude notes as some sort of well-honed guidance, the reality is of course that I am, like most of you, still getting my eye in. The things you forget to check beforehand – like Newcastle’s Clerk going in deep with the harrow. I hadn’t clocked a couple […]
Astonishing how a few winners bucks up the soul
Well, that actually went pretty well. We saw a couple of decent maidens and marked some notebook performances; we had a couple of decent results and – thanks entirely to Alex “But-er” Hammond, we discovered after the first that they had harrowed the Tapeta very deep and the ground was running soft. Sadly I didn’t […]
What’s got 720 legs and has just come back?
Yup – it’s racing. After months, and with sobbing flat trainers down to the last dozen of that jolly Burgundy they picked up at Cagnes-sur-Mer; with owners getting sticky with the sobbing trainer, and with Lambourn 90% convinced that social distancing was a binary option, we have 10 races for our edification tomorrow. Unsurprisingly and […]
If it’s Saturday, it must be the Nippy Girl at Dannero
Yes, folks, this is what it all boils down to – the inestimable sport of Trotting or Harness Racing. The latter, according to Wiki, is the more correct title and is described thus: Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart […]
Crikey – Raceweb fails to show a profit at Cheltenham! Who knew
I’m wondering whether to get a decent webcam so that I can contribute to important face-time remote meetings, looking serious, full of wisdom and yet somehow avuncular. My concern is that no webcam is going to give me the look of a George Clooney offering Madame a cafe au lit. (yes I can spell). Aside […]
Cheltenham Day 4 – Staying alive, staying alive
It’s getting increasingly difficult to tell between exhaustion, alcohol poisoning, and some ghastly virus passed on by an itinerant back-slapping, celebrating Irishman. I was, on Thursday, surrounded, (trapped would be a better word), in just a situation. Sat in the confines of The Cheltenham Automobile Society’s on-course HQ, one chap had bought a “lucky dip” […]
CHELTENHAM 2020 DAY FOUR – Quick and Dirty from The Pharoah of Galway
1.30 TRIUMPH HURDLE ALLMANKIND 2PTS WIN A WAVE OF THE SEA 1PT E/W 2.10 COUNTY HURDLE ADJALI 1PT E/W STOLEN SILVER 1PT E/W OAKLEY 1PT E/W 2.50 ALBERT BARTLETT HURDLE HARRY SENIOR 1PT E/W THYME HILL 1PT E/W LATEST EXHIBITION 1 PT E/W 3.30 CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP CLAN DES OBEAUX 3PTS E/W BRISTOL DE MAI […]
CHELTENHAM 2020 DAY THREE
I am hoping that lots of you followed my advice on day one and none of you on day two – the outcomes were very different…. Here goes for today: 1.30 MARSH NOVICES CHASE SAMCRO 2PTS WIN MASTER FISHER 1PT E/W 2.10 PERTEMPS NETWORK FINAL HANDICAP HURDLE THIRD WIND 1PT E/W SKANDIBURG 1PT E/W THE […]
DAY 3 CHELTENHAM. Nearly out of hand-wash……
Exhausted. Surely this punishment can’t go on. Together with some 50,000 of my closest friends, I have chosen to self-isolate this week in a marquee or two at Cheltenham, where I am drip-fed Guinness, white and red wines of varying qualities and have to eat food to which only a very grumpy gourmet might turn […]
CHELTENHAM 2020 DAY TWO
1.30 BALLYMORE NOVICES HURDLE Envoi Allen is the favourite and probably will win. But I don’t like that price in a race like this at Cheltenham. I think SPORTING JOHN is worth a punt. He has done everything he has been asked to do and looks progressive. There are a number of interesting e/w angles […]
DAY 2 WEDNESDAY – CHELTENHAM: CHAMPION CHASE DAY
Well, a tough first day, where we really can’t make any excuses. The Pharoah of Galway suggested decent performances from KILDISART – HONEYSUCKLE – IMPERIAL AURA – RAVENHILL and Capt. Kneesup had a few places. I hope you made some sense of it all. As for today’s selections, like a bunch of Cistercian monks, whose […]
Cheltenham 2020 Day One – The Pharoah of Galway returns
1:30 SUPREME NOVICES HURDLE A great race to start the festival with some very exciting novice hurdlers to choose from. Many future stars such as Altior are listed among recent winners but only Douvan and Vautor have gone off as favourites. Clearly this is driven by the fact that many are unexposed and are still […]
Cheltenham 2020. Surely we’re sunk if the future is cinq.
Over the last 96 hours, I have sacrificed the remaining parts of my working anatomy to your collective cause. I have dined with Nicky Henderson and Nick Luck; I have sat with Haggas, Jarvis, Beckett and Balding and then remembered they weren’t a firm of National Hunt solicitors. I have drunk a huge amount of […]
Coronavirus, Corvid19, and Saturday’s TV Racing – All you need to know.
The most novel thing about COVID-19, is the extraordinary speed with which the brutish symptoms of the associated #MEFIRST culture have spread. Aided by 4G, 5G and WiFi, people everywhere have been able to tell us every moment of their illness. Unless you’re in China. Apps tell you when you’re nearing an infected address in […]
Today’s Saturday racing tips.
Working on the Cheltenham stats, so just tips today. A profitable day last week, but I have done some work on today’s card and think I have a couple of decent winners. 1:15 KEMPTON Betway Pendil Novices’ Chase (G2) Cl1 (5yo+) 2m4½f 7 runners SOUTHFIELD STONE – ERIK LE ROUGE 1:50 KEMPTON Adonis Juvenile Hurdle […]
Something to make a Sunday night pass by.
Occasionally I kid myself that the time is right for me to take up Goff, the received pronunciation of the game involving sticks and lost balls. I like the game, I have even sponsored a team of racing journalists, providing electric carts and ice buckets and a decent Macon for the relief of my players. […]
A profitable weekend, but more importantly Nicholls kept a good ‘un.
A cracking day’s racing, where we did well at Ascot and dismally at Haydock. It was astonishing that the racing went ahead at all, and well done the ground staff and on-the-day course men who kept things in place and battened down. In line with our policy of accurately reporting our results, we carry forward […]
Another Parisian attack on our, green, semi-submerged and pleasant land
Storm Denis is on its way, and my view of the weather rolling towards Raceweb Towers, suggests it is going to be an unutterable bastard. This is hardly unsurprising given that St Denis is the patron saint of France and Paris. I was always rather fascinated by St D as a child, because the rumour […]
Sometimes despair is an underrated word.
The brief version of Saturday’s diary was: Woke – Breakfast – Form – More Form – Watch Racing – Bath (as in water, not the little spa racecourse) – Theatre – Dinner – Sleep. The eight words intervening between Woke – Dinner – Sleep, really cannot do justice to the desultory nature of the day. […]
Laying Trump perhaps, plus a wonderful and informative TV card
My inbox delivered an interesting piece from Politico.com which political punters might find interesting. The article refers to the work of Ms Bitecofer, a political scientist of some repute, Putting aside the fact that at this stage in the USA’s presidential race any fresh political voice is a siren, Ms Bitecofer does appear to make […]
Good Moaning, here is the good news and the end of civilisation
As you might guess, the ceaseless whining of Woke spokespeople, has driven me insane. I seem to be constantly reminded that I am not wearing my hair shirt (only available from Sackcloth and Ashes, tailors to the Liberal Elite and Champagne Socialist Party), while adenoidal pimples, rub their televisual hands together and invite us to […]
The weekend’s racing and a tip for The National
I had to go to town last week for a memorial to celebrate a good, racing, gentle man – the space is deliberate. Nicky was there, having trained for him, and post-service we chewed the fat for almost three hours with a bunch of mutual racing chums and his . I personally gave thanks that David […]
The Results for 2020 to date
We all know someone who never had a loser, some genius whose every betting account had been closed and now was only allowed to bet in 50p maximums. We, on the other hand, are determined, to be honest about our endeavours. Thus we produce these occasional reports. We started with a Carry Forward Balance of […]
Festival Trials day and all Saturday’s TV races
I suppose as race titles go, the 1:50 isn’t at all bad, given that it tells us exactly how much time we have to wait for The Festival. However. it doesn’t tell us how much time until the announcement by Martin St Quinton, Cheltenham Chair, regarding the introduction of a five day Festival. So, as all […]
The ITV Races on Saturday 18th Jan
At the overnight stage, we’re looking at an average of under seven runners per race, which means by almost any measurement; entertainment, income, televisual experience, interest, competition and form, it is an unsatisfactory state. If that sounds as though I am disgruntled, yes I am. Part of that is down to Charlie Brooks who writes […]
The results from last Saturday
As we rush headlong to being unable to have a bet because it is not a carbon-neutral activity and where horses will only be able to race if they are powering a wind-generator, it was refreshing to find that our efforts to date have not been entirely fruitless. Not profitable, but at a loss of […]
Ante-Post? No but the ITV races are here now.
I thought it might be a good idea – with just nine weeks to go – to start having a look at a couple of the big races, and almost immediately regretted my thinking. It’s a bit like ordering a 1000 piece jigsaw of a green square, and discovering too late that the manufacturer will […]
The 10th Night – or is it 11th?
Firstly a very Happy New Year to you all. A couple of weeks away from the Raceweb coalface, and while you may struggle to come to grips with the concept, I have actually had a couple of half-decent days of profitable racing!. A spectacular New Year’s Day at Cheltenham, where The Pharoah of Galway had […]
Saturday’s TV racing tips
The height of the waters is of serious flood concern in our part of Oxfordshire, and I have tried to stiffen my resolve, lest we repeat the ghastliness of 2007. This was easy to do having looked at the pictures of the great and the good inspecting the course at Ascot today. I didn’t […]
Cheltenham Saturday’s Tips
Once again The Pharoah of Galway provides another selection of winning tips. Be aware that The Dublin Pharaoh runs in the 2.35 Newcastle today. The Gosden duo might provide a challenge.
Cheltenham Friday 13th December
12:10 STOLEN SILVER 1PT E/W 12:45 PYM 2 PTS WIN 13:20 PETER THE MAYO MAN 1PT E/W 13:55 ZARA HOPE 2PTS WIN 14;30 SINGLEFARMPAYMENT 1PT E/W DANDY DAN 1PT E/W 15:05 EASYSLAND 1PT E/W JOSIES ORDERS 1PT E/W 15:40 KILBRICKEN STORM 1PT E/W ASK BEN 1PT E/W
Just time for a quickie
As I head off to the annual Guinness Carol Concert, I spied one for today which, had the Captain not already made his selections I would have popped into the Advent Calendar.
Saturday’s Racing 7th December
Those of you swerving the actual selections for The Raceweb Advent Calendar are doing well – although today, I felt as though a corner had been turned. Doubtless, it will be followed by walking into a pane of glass being carried by two slapstick comedians. Hey Ho… it’s only a bit of fun. Meanwhile, we […]
Saturday 30th November
NEWBURY 12:05 SILVER FOREVER 2pts win 12:40 RESERVE TANK 2pts win 13:15 LARRY 1pt e/w 13:50 PETER THE MAYO MAN 1pt e/w DOWNTOWN GETAWAY 1pt e/w 14:25 ELVIS MAIL 1pt e/w TORCELLO 1pt e/w 15:00 WEST APPROACH 1pt e/w MISTER MALARKEY 1pt e/w ROBINSFIRTH 1pt e/w ELEGANT ESCAPE 1pt e/w All four in a 12 […]
Good exciting racing on Friday and even better to come on Saturday
The mighty O’Tool posted minutes after myself – I was unaware o didn’t notify you dear readers – and while not on fire, I think it safe to say that we are both pretty well in tune – maybe even on song. The records speak for themselves: POT 12.15 TRINCOMALEE 16/1 3rd 12:45 KHAGE Lost […]
Newbury Friday 29 Nov
12.15 TRINCOMALEE 1pt e/w i think the market leaders are difficult to separate and are poorly priced. I’m taking a chance that Lucy Wadhams gelding will improve further following an encouraging debut over hurdles. 12:45 KHAGE 1pt e/w THE FLYING SOFA 1pt e/w 13:20 FAUSTINOVICK 2PTS WIN BREWERS PROJECT 1PT E/W 13:50 SAN […]
If Ladbrokes did Cognac, it would probably be called Hennessy
The Hennessy, The Schweppes, The Whitbread and The Massey-Ferguson. Capital The. It’s a Proper Noun, It’s also a Proper Racing Name and as such should have a BHA rule. This should state that, if you sponsor a race for over thirty years and you haven’t gone bust, the race will always carry your brand. Not […]