Haunted by memories of Wigmore Hall

Before the beginning of last week I'd never heard of Wigmore Hall but the build-up to the John Smith's Cup changed all that; my selection in that race, 14/1 shot Kings Gambit, was pipped at the post by Michael Bell's lightly-weighted three-year-old. The York stewards duly entered into the spirit of things and played their part by delaying the agony that little bit longer before announcing that placings were to remain unaltered.

Still cursing my luck, I thought an evening of classical music at Royal Leamington Spa provided by the City of Coventry Youth Orchestra would prove a suitable distraction. I know absolutely nothing about classical music so I purchased a racecard, sorry a programme, and noted that violin soloist Eleanor Percy was to play Max Bruch's Violin Concerto in G Minor, Opus 26. Ms Percy really was exceptional. In the interval I took the trouble to read the accompanying programme notes - it was there I discovered that Ms Percy made her debut at Wigmore Hall in 2005.

Wikipedia describes Wigmore Hall as 'a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music.'

Talk about kicking a man when he's down... I still haven't recovered.

Weekend update

First of all, my apologies for the fact that I didn't post any selections for Saturday. Look on the bright side, I've saved you your stake money.

It's been a bit of a hectic weekend. Earlier today, I attended the City Of Coventry Youth Orchestra's 'Music From The Movies' performance at the Arts Centre, University of Warwick. Mrs Tips has been trying to widen my rather narrow horizons. Iain Lauchlan provided witty interludes to the music and singing; at half-time (I should say 'the interval') Mrs T. struck up a conversation with the lady in the next seat who turned out Mr Lauchlan's wife. Fortunately, at that point, I hadn't made any indiscreet comments about the compere...

In a similar vein, I couldn't help but smile at one of Michael Owen's comments when the Channel 4 cameras visited his training facility at Malpas in Cheshire. To paraphrase, Michael said that taking abuse came with the territory for footballers but, in stark contrast, people in racing were far more polite. Obviously I don't move the right circles. I guess Ms. Zara Phillips does, but her first runner as a trainer, Manor Down, was pulled up at Cheltenham's hunter chasing meeting last Wednesday.

The Lingfield Derby trial lost much of its interest with the withdrawal of Luca Cumani's Curtain Call on account of fast ground. In the Oaks trial Look Here didn't handle the course. In the coming week the big York meeting will take centre stage from Wednesday onwards.

A number of readers have told me they preferred FirstTimeRacgoer's recent post to the drivel I routinely pump out. I don't care, I'm going to carry on regardless...