Sunday, July 27, 2008

Footnotes

Fifteen Group 1 victories for Ballydoyle this season and we haven't seen the end of July yet!

In the paddock before Duke Of Marmalade's victory in the King George, the BBC commentators pounced on Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone whose wife (Mrs Ecclestone, apparently) owns Petara Bay. Mr Ecclestone looked like a fish out of water as first Claire Balding and then Willie Carson fired numerous questions at him. Willie's approach to shake hands with the great man was so disconcerting, Mr Ecclestone dropped from his sweaty palm the two pound coin he had been clutching throughout the preliminaries and was determined to invest on his wife's horse; in that very instance bookmakers shortened the odds on Petara Bay from 100/1 to 66/1...

Five days of top-class racing start at the Glorious Goodwood meeting on Tuesday. Highlights include the Sussex Stakes, the Goodwood Cup, the Nassau Stakes and the Stewards' Cup. On Wednesday the course is to honour Sir Peter O'Sullevan who celebrates his 90th birthday this year. On the same day, at 9.00pm, BBC1 transmits an hour-long Panorama special entitled 'Racing's Dirty Secrets'.

Yesterday I came across a copy of Andrew Longmore's Kieren Fallon: The Biography. It's the first racing book I've felt compelled to read in a long while. Amazon currently gives two possible dates for publication of the paperback edition- 17th July 2008 and 5th February 2009.

The hottest weekend of the year and in the post I receive literature from Aintree racecourse encouraging purchase of tickets for the 2009 Grand National. Talking of the winter game, I noticed Woolworths offering Waddingtons 'Escalado' racing game at the knockdown price of £8.00. I am going to buy one - it will help dispel some of the disappointment friends tend to experience when their much-anticipated trip to the races has to be cancelled due to inclement weather.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Any views on Goodwood, PG?