Gant Biggles – a name to conjure with?

The mail box started to receive the first of the yankee tip sheets today. These advised me that the conundrums presented by the approaching Breeders Cup Festival, could all be solved by taking out a $40 subscription here and a $20 subscription there. Like my regular Nigerian correspondent Mrs “Darling” Nkeje – she calls everyone Darling – I need only drop Blackjack Billy the metaphorical pin code to my cashcards, and untold riches will be mine. Before I sent the money, I wondered why these dodgepots always have such exciting names? I remember being told once that to discover your porn star name, you simply took your Middle name and the name of your first pet; frankly Gant Biggles didn’t really cut much ice in any scenario I could imagine. Trapped in this awful moment of mind-mazing, where one is hoping thre brain will discover the way out, but keeps going down research dead-ends, I saved you all the embrarrsement of Googling “New Porn Star Names” and discovered that there were in fact some sites that would auto-generate your new name  – my favourite was Brick Slade, although Tony Ram was a close second.

In the world of tipsters however, few can hold a light to Indian Charlie, who has for many years been the go-to guy at Keeneland. You have to be a local or have some small understanding of the US bloodstock industry, but Indian Charlie’s sheet has proudly boasted for decades of “Never letting the truth get in the way of a good story”. That said, Charlie is often bullseye accurate when he comes to placing innuendo into the “I told you so” centre. His historical archive on some of Bob Baffert’s key dates makes for an interesting read. (INDIAN CHARLIE can be found here).

En Passant here is the first leg of the very tricky three-part Ayr Cup Handicaps which starts today.