Not quite right

Nothing is quite going right at the moment. Tom didn’t go to Sandown for Bear Behind’s race, but he instructed Ryan Moore to go steady until the 3f pole and wind him up from there. Moore broke perfectly and rode to instruction – unfortunately by the time the 3f pole came he was 3 lengths behind and the race was all but over – he made ground all the way to the line but it was too late.

Cape Moss suffered a far worse fate – he fractured his cannon bone. It’s a bad fracture and in all probability it is a career ending injury. He was just coming together and had been showing promise – all very tragic.

Saturday was prize giving and sports day. Eddie won the prize for computer skills – something of a shoo in I imagine as he’s a bit of an obsessive. The sports day was the normal humiliation for the Black family, but there was a moment of hope in the obstacle race. Ollie negotiated the early obstacles well, and he was in a clear lead when he went past us with a bean bag on his head. The final stage was the sack race – he fell over in the shadow of the line and ended up third.

‘He blew it in the final furlong’ I said, ‘just like my bloody horses’.

Jane smiled – ‘No good in the sack’ she said. I waited for the ‘just like my bloody husband’ follow up but it didn’t come.

I went to the tennis today. I haven’t had a bet on the tennis all week, but when Nadal went 2-0 down I decided to back him. I could have traded out at 2-1 but held on for the jackpot. As Djokovic served for the match the German Derby got underway – two bets went down in quick succession.

I sponsor one of our juniors – Ollie Golding – and he was in the final of the boys doubles. When I got to court 1 he had won the first set and was looking good, but again it wasn’t to be as they lost 7-5 in the third. Ho hum.