The PAs at Betfair had an evening out at Windsor races on Monday night, and they had a £50 kitty for betting on the horses. Chantelle, my PA, was responsible for investing the kitty, and she decided as follows; £20 win Hip Hip Hooray, £10 E/W Acclaimed, £10 win Right Stuff. They won at 14/1, 9/2 and 16/1. I went …
Cor Tina
Tina Cook, sister to Nick Gifford and daughter of Josh and Althea, won two bronze medals last night – in the individual and the team eventing competitions. It’s an extraordinary achievement. I barely know Tina – our paths have crossed a few times in the kitchen at Downs stables and at the odd event – but I feel particularly awed …
Horse Pics
Further disappointment with Skid Solo, but some encouragement for Pete as Exceptional Art won at Windsor in fine style. It was good to see a Chapple-Hyam 2yo winning in the way they were winning last year. Skid is a really nice horse on the gallops but he won’t do it on the course and it’s pretty frustrating. I’ve recently bought a new …
Skid to make his mark
Skid Solo comes out today trying to break his duck in the first at Wolver. We thought a lot of him at the start of the season but he’s been disappointing thus far. To be fair most of Pete’s 2yos that have come out have been disappointing this year, but he had a nice winner yesterday and maybe things are coming right now. …
Big day
I had an amazing days betting yesterday. I had a bit of spare time and I decided to have a bet on the next race. The horse won at slightly better than 5/1 – I carried on to the next race. I ended up backing five successive winners including Darksideofthemoon which I averaged in to at over 25/1. I decided …
Anticipation
Swindon’s season proper kicks off on Saturday and I’m a little nervous but also excited. It’s been a while since I’ve supported a team properly and I’ve never been as close to the action as I am now. I think the early matches are extremely important, as we’ve done a lot to try and get attendances up and we need to …
Ran rain go away
The weather is currently scuppering my racing plans. We made the decision this morning not to supplement Winker at Deauville – the ground there is on the soft side and there is heavy rain forecast on Sunday. These forecasts are extremely unreliable and it’s perfectly possible that Sunday could turn out to be a glorious summer’s day, but he misses …
Back in Blighty
Back in Blighty, and welcomed in by a staggeringly good performance by Marine Boy, who may turn out to be the superstar we have seen on the gallops. I had two weeks in the Forte Village in Sardinia with the family. It’s a fantastic family resort – loads to do, extremely clean and well run, great food, cheerful friendly staff. …
Bert returns
Bert is due back today but is scheduled to land just too late to get to Newbury in time to see his debutant two year old Marine Boy (2:10). I will be going in the hope of having a trophy to collect. Marine Boy has shown he has ability at home, as his Gimcrack entry suggests, but the pitfalls of …
Word on Winker
Just a quick note about Winker Watson’s run yesterday. Before the race it seemed that he had two questions to answer – 1) Had he trained on and 2) Would he stay a mile ? Thankfully the answer to the first one was positive though we got a clear no to the second. Ryan Moore said after the race that …