I was pulled up by a Cheltenham Grandee today when I exclaimed how much I was looking forward to the first day of The Open.
I arrive, as ever, late to the party and so am finally able to say “Lumme. That Margaret Attwood and her Handmaid’s Tale. Bleak? …
Tomorrow it starts. The last big meeting, the final hurrah for 2022. The Breeders Cup gets underway on Friday, ends on Saturday and sandwiches The
We live in a world where it is increasingly difficult not to have some major cause for unsettling angst. Penury, hypothermia, dehydration, pandemic, nuclear war,
A little shout-out to Amazon, from whom I bought some stamps last June in bulk. What can go wrong with that transaction, I thought. Nothing
As the weekend looms, it’s difficult to know how to divide one’s time. The TV alone will be providing: The Singapore Grand Prix (Sunday 1:00
The Autumn double arrives with The Cambridgeshire, a race with a history that should reinvigorate the spirit and souls of ALL racing fans as they
Since we were last together, it is accurate to say that the world has changed, and the impact of those changes is primarily unseen and
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
This week’s diary found me pinning a badge saying “I like Milk from Cows” on a small Ukrainian child. As you might imagine, my historical
An agonisingly slow day in the office – but not at York where the ground simply got faster. No Stradivarius (not as predicted) and no
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
There is a lot of pressure this week as we prepare for the builders to arrive and we also move into temporary offices. The Wifi
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
I suppose one might describe this past week as better than expected. In cellar terms, not a filthy glugging week, but more a robust cru
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
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,
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
Another (as in rare and yes we have had them before), profitable day at Raceweb Towers! The crowd at York was down – but according
What a joy to be at Badminton. From the Car Park to The Members Enclosure was just shy of 3000 paces. Shopping with The Hon,
I’m still slightly reeling – as indeed is The Hon. – at the result of Man City, Real Madrid. We had both been given free
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
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
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
I have this vision of hundreds of people around the country, wandering around in their Jim Jams and dressing gowns, shuffling from fridge to kettle
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
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
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
We managed to claw a bit back on Saturday and ended up +10.35pts. The Treble crashed out on the first leg but provided two odds-on
As I write, I discover Barry Cryer has died. I saw him on The Edinburgh Fringe many years ago, and the wave of affection and
It’s hard to know what to make of the nellies who constitute the lower orders on the Conservative backbenches. The Rt. Hon. Member for Frightfully-Cross
Despite calling in sick for exactly 26 days, it turns out that the Lateral Flow Tests I used every seven days were all flawed, and
A slow and steady start to the day after a delicious beano last night. Chums from Warwickshire who had been dining elsewhere came to inspect
Robert Duvall – possibly my favourite American film actor – once said: “It’s no big thing, but you make big things out of little things
The elephant in the room at Villa Kneesup, is the inherited double oven gas Aga that pumps out about the same heat as Chernobyl as
Very little time is left now for a preamble. I still fear that the medical panjandrums will force the Government’s hand and my SPAD-based tip
Three English racecourses, two jumps meeting, the final televised Flat Handicap Turf race (as I type I wonder whether that’s right?) of the 2021 season,
Were I to be asked to take High Office, I’m afraid that some of my beastlier attributes might come out – not least my intense
I seem to spend a fair amount of time these days, accidentally drifting in and out of parallel universes. In this multiplicity of locations, 16
A quiet lunch in East Garston, where I see the shoot wagon bringing in hungry souls all sporting long woollen socks and rather bizarrely in
I just spent two hours writing a preamble that was just another tired rant and I realised that it was pointless. There are simply too
Despite empty shelves, nobody apparently working, the collapse of Kabul, the changes to the NH handicapping system, the sale of the house, and a 15-week-old
I wondered last night over a pint, whether there were wise old men in Sodom and Gomorrah, who, as the great fire rained down and
Yesterday was one for bursting reputational bubbles, and sadly for my wallet, some of them went without much of a pop, more the raspberry of
There are days when you might think Huzzah, York races and the Ebor will soon be upon us. Your spirits are lifted because the wind
As Open tipping short-lists go, the one that ended my last posting was pretty good. “I was torn for my 5th selection to pick from
Last Saturday saw another decent performance for Raceweb with an overall 14.97 pts profit to start the month of July with. The weekend also gave
It was a day when the Shortlist produced 3 winners and the final selections looked like after-thoughts. Mark you, much of the day was lost
Work raises its ugly head and delays matters, while winking at me from the sideboard are the 227 tests I have to take before Friday’s
Sometimes you have days when God leaps out of bed and says “Here I am – and because you have recently been less of an