A rotten way to end the season, but for the people of Donny, no racing is an irrelevance. Having been flooded once before, I can only tell you, that the hackneyed phrase, emotionally scarred, does not do post-flood sentiments justice. I wish them all the very best of luck and please God, the fact that…
Saturday 9th November
AINTREE 12:20 Present Value e/w 12:55 Cubao e/w 13:30 Shady Oaks e/w 14:05 Old Grangewood e/w 14:40 Rosy World W WINCANTON 13:15 Enola Gay e/w 13:50 Danse Idol e/w Organdi e/w 14:25 Reserve Tank W 15:00 Grand Sancy Cover Bet 15:35 Present Man e/w
Saturday’s racing tips
Hmmm…. Rugby….. enough said. Today’s UK TV Racing 1:20 WETHERBY bet365 Handicap Chase Cl3 (4yo+ 0-125) 2m3½f I’m told that KAPGARRY is better than his previous win her last year suggests – and the price rather reflects that. I have VALHALLA down as one that goes well fresh. It’s not a great race.
Play up England…
Just a few moments left now before the beginning of 80 minutes that could see knighthoods, MBEs, London parades and Downing Street receptions, rain down like a very rainy thing. Without wishing to sound cynical, and not for a moment suggesting that a victorious England team shouldn’t be feted, nothing succeeds like a National sports team…
Saturday Revisions over Eggs, Bacon…
What a truly cracking start to a miserable day! However, with the TV schedule amended and the going deepening, I have reviewed the situation, as Fagin sang and I have now reviewed and added Kelso. Plenty of non-runners and going changes which are at 12:00 Cheltenham: Going Soft probably changing to Heavy in the late…
Saturday’s TV Selections…
Not a desperate set of results on Friday and only really let down by the ground, fitness, speed, ability, horsemanship and skills of the participants and the stupidity of your correspondent. But for those small, inconsequential elements, we might very well have swept the board. We named the second and third in the first; and…
The first day of the new season
Twice in ten days, I have found myself in London town, and again a young person has drunk a Fernet Branca in my presence. It only happened because I thought a chum’s son needed some stiffening, in order to reject a ghastly offer to appear in STD Island or somesuch. Having heard of the drink’s…
Ascot Saturday 19th October
Those of you looking for winners today will do well to read today’s beautifully reasoned advice from The Tissue. Personally I have a shocking record when it comes to figuring out winners when the ground is soft at Ascot. I think I get obsessed by the form lines that, with quality horses, tend to be…
Champions Swimming Day
It’s none of my business, but am I wrong in thinking that if five of the eight Champions Day meeting have been run on ground described as Soft (or worse), that it might be the wrong time to have it? Answers on a postcard please, secure in the knowledge that criticism of this initiative from…
You asked – we answered
Crikey, I hear you say, I thought The Tissue had gone on holiday to Georgia for his annual Penguin Counting Festival, did his flight get cancelled? No, gentle reader, I have merely pulled the transport to the side of the island’s airport to provide The Judge’s precise and very correct answers. The first question came…
Syria 0 Turkey 0 – USA 0 Russia 0
It was once suggested that the US has never actually had a foreign policy per se, but rather it has simply destabilised any region thus occupying the perceived antagonists of the US, at any given moment in time. If that is true, it is perhaps the explanation of what is happening in Turkey and Syria…
Passing the Buck…
Well the suit may be a little threadbare, and the shoes may need some heeling, but the spirit remains undaunted and with the return of the National Hunt season, it’s time to get busy on recouping some of The Tissue’s recent losses. For some, the first day at Cheltenham heralds the beginning of the season….
Capt. Knees back in the fold
I am delighted to announce that I shall be taking my annual holiday on Georgia, counting the Penguins and ensuring that the ice in my Gin is as fresh as possible. Meanwhile, Capt. Kneesup has managed to pay off the debts he incurred after mortgaging the house, selling Lady Kneesup, and visiting Burly Betty, the…
All the news that’s fit to print
Having been off-air, (and some might rudely suggest, off-form), last week I thought it time that I bring you up to speed with various happenings. Luckily while visiting my chums, I left you in the hands of the Pharaoh of Galway, who produced a couple of double-digit winners, to the extent that backing him blind…
Saturday Racing 12th Oct
G’Morning All As I hunker down in the Cyclone-proof sub-terranean HQ of Raceweb, you will be delighted to hear that The Pharoah of Galway is also safe in his Japanese hotel room and is currently predicting a score of 0-0 for the Scotland Japan game and that both Mercedes and Red Bull will start on…
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…
Bonjour mes petites
I have returned from abroad; browner, poorer and wiser. I swerved left instead of right at Nice airport, thus avoiding the trap of a Longchamps visit with distinguished friends. This would have dramatically increased two of the above trio of “things you get in France” and given the going in Paris, I think we all…
Ascot and Newmarket Saturday 5th October
ASCOT 14:00 ARECIBO 1pt e/w INTENSE ROMANCE 1pt e/w Dakota Gold has had a fantastic season and I am reluctant to oppose him but I just think he is better at 6f and that his price is too short for a 5f race. The key to my thinking is the Be Friendly Handicap at Haydock…
Southwell Friday 4th
Catapult in the last (given at 10-1) pulled things out of the bag at Chelmsford. Tonight I am again looking for some decently priced bets on the AW but this time at Southwell. I have high hopes that Karl Burke might do very well with his runners tonight. 17:25 NEWSTEAD ABBEY 1pt e/w CHAMPAGNE MONDAYS…
Ascot in soft going
I had a terrible first few days at Royal Ascot. Having researched all the races well in advance I developed a huge reserve of confidence about the wisdom of my selections. Then the rain came and I found myself reluctant to review matters based on the change in conditions – very much the wrong decision….
The Only Way Is Essex
CHELMSFORD 18:30 CALEDONIAN CRUSADE 1pt e/w Not much form to go on in this race but I am following Gleneagles progeny and the Simcock / Spencer combination does extremely well at this track. I got 12-1 last night but he will be shorter come race time. CHELMSFORD 19:30 FELIX THE POET 1pt e/w A front…
Longshots at The Curragh
So we now know that Mum’s Tipple finished the Middle Park Stakes lame in his off fore so his run can safely be struck out. With Siskin being withdrawn after an unfortunate incident in the stalls we didn’t get the big battle between the three market principals and it could be argued that Earthlight had…
Saturday 28th
So King Of Comedy proved himself to be a complete clown. After having to be walked to the start, he dwelt at the off and then ran with his head high. Frankly, it was testament to his athletic ability that he came second. I would have thought that the best way to sort out his…
Friday September 27th
Yesterday the five selections produced a winner, three seconds and a fourth. So very nearly a good day and I was particularly peeved that Paul Mulrennan, on Gale Force Maya, appeared to be caught unaware by Oisin Murphy sneaking up the rails riding Chil Chil – but it was another reminder as to why Murphy…
Newmarket 26th September
A frustrating day yesterday with a 14-1 second and two fourths at 33-1 and 7-1. But that is what happens when you are looking for longer odds. The quality of racing today is better and the form lines more logical. The ever softening ground, however, works in the other direction as many of today’s runners…
Sept 25th
One of my betting systems this year has been to back all progeny of the first-year sire Gleneagles. It has worked very well with a strike rate of over 20% on the turf in the UK and a healthy profit to a level stake. There have also been some tasty e/ws such as Royal Dornach…
Mea Maxima Culpa… it’s work (ed)
Darlings, I fear that unless you collectively glance at the pages without my sending you a reminder. you will miss both the opportunities our tips regularly present. The first alternative world is one where you recuperate from a busy lunchtime cocktail of Brasso and Red Rull, under the arches at Charing Cross, having invested in…
Tuesday 24th September
I can’t find anything that is likely to emulate our long price winner from Sunday but I think these three would make a neat e/w patent. Chelmsford 19:30 Alemaralyoum 1pt e/w I have been tracking this horse for a while and was about to give up when he landed e/w money at 33/1 finishing second…
Thomas Cook – an unfortunate truth
I was slightly surprised that every Thomas Cook customer seen on TV, seemed “horrified”, “surprised”, “dazed”, and “bewildered”, leading me to assume that they had collectively failed to read a single newspaper report that suggested or even hinted at the fact that TC was on its uppers; and even if it wasn’t, it was so…
Hamilton Sunday 21st
Some very moderate racing in the UK today but I have three fancies for Hamilton. HAMILTON 14:00 TWENTYSIXTHSTREET 1pt e/w I have backed this longshot at 25/1 this morning and I think anything better than 10-1 is a decent each-way bet. Andrew Hughes has had a lot of success schlepping all the way from Kells…
Saturday’s Racing
A good start to the day by buying the First Half French Score at 11+. Even better, because it is on a Sporting Index promo offer, so it is their money! The NZ game is deeply engaging, more so as I have rashly backed the SA Hotshots (Willie Le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole…
Fancies for Saturday 21st
AYR 14:40 SHOW STEALER 1pt e/w As a hold-up horse she will need some luck in running but, at her best, Rae Guest’s mare is good value. She has the ability, is in good form (3rd in the Portland) and, unlike many of these, will enjoy the ground. AYR 15:15 GRACEFUL MAGIC 1pt e/w AL…
Leopardstown 14th September
I will leave The Tissue to provide some guidance at Doncaster and focus on some very exciting looking races over at LEOPARDSTOWN.
St Leger Day
As many of you racing historians will know, it was not uncommon in days gone by for a horse to run in several races over the length of a meeting, and indeed that some races might have heats or be run as “best of three”. Thus, today of all days, one should bear in mind…
Donny: Day something
A light lunch with 16 chums at Le Columbier in Chelsea, a light tea somewhere else, dinner at Chelsea Arts Club. breakfast at Le Colbert…. truly an epic epicurean trail around central London, with barely a pause for breath. Thankfully, The Pharaoh of Galway stepped into the breach caused by my abstinence, absinthe, absence and…
Friday the Thirteenth at Doncaster!
Readers of Raceweb enjoyed a bumper day yesterday with The Tissue picking five out of seven winners at Doncaster. The legend of Longcot started off with a 170-1 treble courtesy of Graceful Magic, Endbihaar and King’s Lynn. There followed the two blots on the copy book in the fourth and fifth. Many of us would share…
Donny Day 2
I was reminded of late, about the dreadful old Saturday magazines that contained vast numbers of advertisements for chest expanders, which would ensure that never again would one have sand kicked in one’s face down on the beach. One would be exhorted to try so-and-so’s unrivalled pools selection model that guaranteed a result every 100…
Donny, Leger and a proper chap
There are few races that don’t have some history attached to them. A fatal accident, a crowd gone awry, a fortune lost, another gained. The St. Leger, not least because of its age, is one such race. Currently, I’m reading Chris McGrath’s Mr Darley’s Arabian: High Life, Low Life, Sporting Life: A History of Racing…
TV Racing and a jolly day at Ascot
I am indeed fortunate that I have been invited to a day’s racing at Ascot on Saturday and I am much looking forward to some exciting racing, both there and on TV. It is a small window of R&R after a hectic week, which has seen the opening of The Lost Boy, a great new…
Haydock and Salisbury
HAYDOCK 14:50 GRAND BAZAAR 2pts win CALEDONIAN CRUSADE 1pt e/w There is nothing particularly rare about a John Gosden trained horse, ridden by Frankie Dettori being favourite for a big race. Grand Bazaar meets this criteria, is beautifully bred and has a Derby entry – so all stacks up that he is the likely winner….
Tuesday September 3rd
Today’s selections: 14:45 Goodwood LADY LYNETTA 2pts win The entries in the two-year old races at Newmarket’s Cambridgeshire meeting are a good guide to the view of trainers on their young charges. Richard Hughes is doing well with two-year olds this year and over the last ten weeks has a strike-rate of 14.29% and is…
Hares and Rabbits? Not if William has the gun!
I was startled by The Archers omnibus this morning, when William Grundy, gamekeeper to the big estate, failed to shoot either his brother, his father or himself, in a small bedroom with a loaded 12-bore. Crikey, I thought. It’s probably fair to say that Borsetshire’s poachers can sleep easy in their beds at the beginning…
Saturday’s Racing Tips
Well, Friday wasn’t a train crash by any means. A 10-1 Irish Cambridgeshire winner in JASSAAR. My first choice CURRENT OPTION was 2nd. Two other horses I mentioned filled the next two spots – and yes Jessica Harrington’s ONLYHUMAN performed as you would expect a Raceweb tip to behave and came plum last. Still and…
Irish Cambridgeshire
A brief lull in the day and, as I haven’t been called up by The Sealed Knot Society to defend Parliament, my mind has inevitably turned to The Irish Question. Elsewhere, The Pharoah of Galway, (one day I shall reveal how he was given that name by a man whose long-dogs were the talk of…
A view from the track
Exchequer 17:45 Thirsk A bit of a longshot but possibly very good value at his current 33-1. He’s value at 20s and a shortening of the price would provide further encouragement, as this Yorkshire stable likes a gamble and comes up with some brilliant excuses when the Stewards politely enquire about sudden improvements in form….
Raceweb Update
Firstly I’d like to formally welcome The Pharoah of Galway, Peter O’Tool, who will have an irregular column within the pages of Raceweb. Yesterday he sent me an email with a 14/1 winner four minutes before the off and opened by me 10 minutes after the finish. When I asked why he had made the…
THE BEGINNING OF THE END?
Prorogation, a few facts BACKGROUND Yesterday, August 28th, HM The Queen accepted a request from the government to suspend parliamentary sessions between September 9th and October 14th – to prorogue Parliament. To prorogue Parliament simply resets the session. Any legislation yet to become law is wiped clean – except for those that MPs vote to…
York, The Ebor, Day 4 and Saturday Racing
1:50 York Sky Bet And Symphony Group Strensall Stakes (Group 3) Cl1 (3yo+) 1m1f ITV 6 runners ZAAKI 2:05 Goodwood Ladbrokes Celebration Mile Stakes (Group 2) Cl1 (3yo+) 1m ITV 6 runners DUKE OF HAZZARD 2:25 York Sky Bet Melrose Handicap (Heritage Handicap) Cl2 (3yo 0-105) 1m6f ITV 12 runners TRENDS 14/14 OR 80-96 13/14…
York Day 3
I had lunch yesterday in Farnham with Peter O’Tool, The Oracle of Galway, who seemed terribly pleased to inform me, thirty seconds before the off, that Mums Tipple could not be beaten. An 11-length victory confirmed his summary pretty well. POT had also bought Magical on the spread, and his York was all light. In…
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…