To be honest I thought it was a perfect day. Thirty years of sponsorship at Brighton came to an end with Dark Sun winning my Class 6 handicap and then, against all odds, we had a dead-heat in the following … Read More »

Glorious Goodwood came and went and, to be honest, describing it as a mixed bag might be slightly generous. The atmosphere and the racing itself were both superb but my back played up – I use a walking stick now … Read More »

Another warm spell is upon us. I need it and even when temperatures start to drop again I’ll wish I was in Aix -en- Provence, sipping a glass of chilled rose. I can’t afford it, of course, and given my … Read More »

When I look back at the way I approached racing –  and I’m talking about 60 years ago and more  –  I have to say there have been fundamental changes almost across the board. Who or what did I like … Read More »

From the number of sympathetic messages I received about the Southampton-Middlesbrough fiasco (otherwise known as Spygate) a lot of people thought I was as dedicated to the Saints as ever. In fact, that’s not the case. I go back to … Read More »

I have no strong preference when it comes to the various television channels concentrating on racing. Twist my arm and I’d say there is slightly too much detail on Racing UK  –  is it really all that relevant how fast … Read More »

I went to Fontwell the other day. It was my first visit for a long time and I have to say it was a very moderate card, lifted to a degree by a steeplechase final with £20,000 in the kitty … Read More »

‘Honesty is the best policy,’ as my mother used to say, and I’ve no reason to doubt her. She had her favourite trainers and jockeys  –  most of Gordon W Richards’ winners carried sixpence  –  and never denigrated those who … Read More »

I watched a race on television the other day, partly because I rather fell for the name Pourquoi Pas Papa who is, as you probably know, a French-bred four-year-old trained by Paul Nicholls. He arrived from D Cottin’s stable in … Read More »

Jacquard, Dieu Soleil, Broadway Melody. Tishan out of trap 6. Faraway places with strange-sounding names. Sterrebeeke? Work on Monmore Green first, it’s probably closer. Charles Malizia and Arno Rudolf. 1 and 3 in the last at Hackney Wick, gone to … Read More »

Enough is enough. Frankly, that phrase is rather too direct and often used by someone worn down by something. Which I’m not, although if I say I’ve been looking at the runners and riders just about every day since Halloween … Read More »

‘They are not long, the days of wine and roses.’ No indeed and we all know what the English poet Ernest Dowson meant when he wrote his poem well over a hundred years ago. Sadly, the line lived on many … Read More »