As a departure from my recent missives focusing on politics and current events in this troubled corner of the world, I thought I’d share with you a little excitement that has been building up on
the horsey front!
Those familiar with my work will know that I used to ply my trade as a racing journalist and commentator and have been sorely missing the day-to-day contact with the sport in recent times. By way of ‘keeping my hand in’, I took part in the annual ‘Ten To Follow’ competition run by the Tote, which invites contestants to pick (surprisingly enough) 10 horses to follow through the Flat racing season out of list of 500 possible nags.
Now, out of around 25,000 entries to the contest from all points of the compass, all of whom are striving to get their ‘sticky mitts’, (that’s not a reference in any way, shape, or form, to the Republican presidential candidate), on a whopping first prize of no less than £76,485(!), ‘yours truly’ is currently lurking and preparing to pounce (panther-like) in joint-55thplace with just 17 days to go until the end of the competition, with a fine running total of 684 points.
The game works like this. Every time a horse that is selected manages to win you get points, and the bigger the race it wins, the more points you accrue. And I’ve been accruing very nicely thankyou since the spring with nearly all my horses winning the top races of the season. This Sunday is one of the world’s biggest races, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and as of Monday amongst my ‘Ten to Follow’ three were in the race, all of whom were amongst the leading fancies.
I’m sure, dear reader, you are already getting a sense of foreboding, as around 1100 hours on Monday news broke that my leading fancy for the race, German champion Danedream, would not be travelling to France as one of the horses at her stable compound in Cologne had caught a dose of something nasty, and now the whole bloomin’ lot are in quarantine! I was not best pleased, but consoled myself with the fact that I still had two of the leading fancies – Nathaniel and Camelot.
After a lunch of schnitzel and mash I returned to my desk to see a newsflash on the venerable Racing Post website declaring that Nathaniel would “miss the Arc” after being found to have a high temperature at morning stables. I don’t know what the wretched creature had been doing the night before to come home in such a state – the mind boggles - but he is now well and truly a non-runner. So, having been ‘sitting pretty’ with three hot chances, I’m now down to Ireland’s great hope Camelot, who will be ridden by everyone’s favourite Italian, Frankie Dettori, a man with even more ‘mazel’ on the big occasion than his late countryman, ‘Lucky’ Luciano.
Camelot may well be sent off favourite, but the horse had a hard race when losing for the first time ever at Doncaster three weeks ago as he finished a close second in his bid to land the Triple Crown, and I just hope that unlike Nathaniel he hasn’t been burning the candle at both ends in the interim and arrives in Paris with a hangover and runs like a drain!
Of course, the nature of the ‘Ten to Follow’ contest means that nearly all the others up there vying for the prize also have Camelot, so I must also hope that my French selections Cirrus des Aigles and Moonlight Cloud, can manage to win their respective races on the same day at Longchamp and boost my points total to propel me even closer to the pot of gold.
Being the bright spark that I am and choosing to live in one of the few countries in the world that almost unbelievably has no horse racing, I have to say that the £10 spent in entering the competition way back at the end of April has kept me well and truly in touch with the sport I love on a daily basis. With all the other names on the leader board emanating from Britain, Ireland, and France, (plus a few other waifs and strays like P Alster), wouldn’t it be nice for someone – i.e me –from a country where racing doesn’t even exist, to come through strongly inside the final
furlong and beat the lot of them in the dying strides to grab the 76 grand?
Somehow, I can’t believe it will happen, bit win, lose or draw, I’ve had a fine run for my money.
the horsey front!
Those familiar with my work will know that I used to ply my trade as a racing journalist and commentator and have been sorely missing the day-to-day contact with the sport in recent times. By way of ‘keeping my hand in’, I took part in the annual ‘Ten To Follow’ competition run by the Tote, which invites contestants to pick (surprisingly enough) 10 horses to follow through the Flat racing season out of list of 500 possible nags.
Now, out of around 25,000 entries to the contest from all points of the compass, all of whom are striving to get their ‘sticky mitts’, (that’s not a reference in any way, shape, or form, to the Republican presidential candidate), on a whopping first prize of no less than £76,485(!), ‘yours truly’ is currently lurking and preparing to pounce (panther-like) in joint-55thplace with just 17 days to go until the end of the competition, with a fine running total of 684 points.
The game works like this. Every time a horse that is selected manages to win you get points, and the bigger the race it wins, the more points you accrue. And I’ve been accruing very nicely thankyou since the spring with nearly all my horses winning the top races of the season. This Sunday is one of the world’s biggest races, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and as of Monday amongst my ‘Ten to Follow’ three were in the race, all of whom were amongst the leading fancies.
I’m sure, dear reader, you are already getting a sense of foreboding, as around 1100 hours on Monday news broke that my leading fancy for the race, German champion Danedream, would not be travelling to France as one of the horses at her stable compound in Cologne had caught a dose of something nasty, and now the whole bloomin’ lot are in quarantine! I was not best pleased, but consoled myself with the fact that I still had two of the leading fancies – Nathaniel and Camelot.
After a lunch of schnitzel and mash I returned to my desk to see a newsflash on the venerable Racing Post website declaring that Nathaniel would “miss the Arc” after being found to have a high temperature at morning stables. I don’t know what the wretched creature had been doing the night before to come home in such a state – the mind boggles - but he is now well and truly a non-runner. So, having been ‘sitting pretty’ with three hot chances, I’m now down to Ireland’s great hope Camelot, who will be ridden by everyone’s favourite Italian, Frankie Dettori, a man with even more ‘mazel’ on the big occasion than his late countryman, ‘Lucky’ Luciano.
Camelot may well be sent off favourite, but the horse had a hard race when losing for the first time ever at Doncaster three weeks ago as he finished a close second in his bid to land the Triple Crown, and I just hope that unlike Nathaniel he hasn’t been burning the candle at both ends in the interim and arrives in Paris with a hangover and runs like a drain!
Of course, the nature of the ‘Ten to Follow’ contest means that nearly all the others up there vying for the prize also have Camelot, so I must also hope that my French selections Cirrus des Aigles and Moonlight Cloud, can manage to win their respective races on the same day at Longchamp and boost my points total to propel me even closer to the pot of gold.
Being the bright spark that I am and choosing to live in one of the few countries in the world that almost unbelievably has no horse racing, I have to say that the £10 spent in entering the competition way back at the end of April has kept me well and truly in touch with the sport I love on a daily basis. With all the other names on the leader board emanating from Britain, Ireland, and France, (plus a few other waifs and strays like P Alster), wouldn’t it be nice for someone – i.e me –from a country where racing doesn’t even exist, to come through strongly inside the final
furlong and beat the lot of them in the dying strides to grab the 76 grand?
Somehow, I can’t believe it will happen, bit win, lose or draw, I’ve had a fine run for my money.
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