A major blow yesterday when Mon Michel coughed and later returned a bad blood test after his final piece of work for the Totesport Trophy. Everything up to this point had gone right and I thought he had a major chance of picking up the prize, but it wasn’t to be. He won’t be out for long but it is a real …
Come on you robins
I made my first move in a new direction over the Christmas period when I effectively took a piece of Swindon Town FC. Jeremy Wray (Ed€™s brother) is a long time friend, and he was working on the deal alongside his business partner, Andrew Fitton. Andrew takes the lead (and is chairman) with Jeremy playing a strong supporting role. The other two …
Ching ching
Phew. I decided that having not backed Shepherd’s Warning last time I’d have a proper go at her this time. She got home and she wasn’t claimed – a win double. The RP marked the run at 65, 3lb below her last run, commenting that she was “not exactly progressive”. Richard Kingscote told us that she was flicked in the …
Saint Nic
There are certain horses that really catch the eye, and one that caught mine a couple of years ago was Nicanor, who saw off the mighty Denman at Cheltenham in imperious fashion. Harry Findlay had taken the box next to ours that day, and I know him pretty well – it wasn’t his best day and I don’t think he returned to …
Bad to Worse
Ugh. This season is going from bad to worse – it’s the fourth time I’ve decided to have a big bet on a horse the day before the race only to change my mind on the day and then see it win (others were Osana, Twist Magic, Denman). I think I suffer from having too much information – I was probably …
Follow the Bear
A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL It’s been a fairly low key Christmas for me this year in as far as Christmas with four small children can be. My side of the family come round tomorrow – 18 of them with 11 children, which may get a little noisy. I’ve been to church a couple of times this year, which is something …
Irish tour
I’m still having a busy time in the run up to Christmas. On Thursday night I went to a do in the city – later on the Duke and Duchess of York turned up (separately), giving me my celebrity action although I didn’t talk to them. I got to Heathrow late, meeting Tom Goff, and we flew to Cork – from there we …
Maternity leave
It was a big day for me yesterday, with Betfair finally launching the SP mechanism. I kicked the product off over 2 years ago, but it was a year and a half before we started work on it (the Betfair roadmap is permanently backed up). It is a very big piece of work – in many respects the biggest single …
Tristesse
A long day yesterday. It’s been a while since I’ve made it to the racecourse so I decided to take a day out – it isn’t a disaster for me work wise as I can work from home in the morning and I always get a lot done on my Blackberry when I take the train. Ours was running at Chepstow …
Treble chance thwarted
Bert is on his way to Chepstow and has asked me to pass on this morning’s news. Nicky Vaughan reports that Shepherds Warning is running a slight temperature and was a little lethargic when trotted out this morning. He suspects she may be coming in season. As a result, she will not be running this evening. Lilac Moon is fine …