Scottish Salmond and flying dismounts for Ayr

Something of an eventful day for Frankie Dettori at Ayr yesterday...

A change in Ryanair security procedures meant Dettori was not allowed to board his intended internal flight from Stansted to Prestwick using his driving licence as ID. Another Ryanair money-making stunt perhaps? Unperturbed, the jock went back home, dug out his passport, took a later flight and promptly rode Dandy Nicholls' Redford to win the Ayr Gold Cup at odds of 14/1. This was Dettori's second successive victory in the race, having run off with the spoils last year aboard Clive Cox's Jimmy Styles. The First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond MP presented the booty and then appeared on television shortly afterwards to inform Channel 4 viewers that Dettori had said his mount Vesuve would win the Doonside Cup. I'd imagine that viewers who took the hint will be on good terms with themselves today as the 2/1 second favourite held market rival Kings Gambit (15/8f) a neck on the line. Other viewers, probably of Scottish descent, might well remark that's the first time the First Minister has ever given them something for nothing. Needless to say, viewers in the latter category are also likely to have based any judgement on the First Minister's previous form, so they probably wouldn't have bothered to have a bet anyway. Poor old Alex Salmond - can't do right for doing wrong...

Tommo's recorded interview with Scottish trainer Jim Goldie (JG) before the Gold Cup also brought a smile. Tommo kicked off with the fact that a Scottish trained runner hadn't taken the race since 1975 but Goldie appeared to have a very good chance with the aptly-named Hawkeyethenoo. A rough transcript follows:

JG: Winning this race, it would be like Scotland winning the World Cup!
Tommo: And you haven't done that for a long time!
JG: No, and neither have you!

Finally a Scottish footballing story from The Galloway News to finish with. Last Saturday Threave Rovers were due to play Crichton at Castle Douglas in the semi final of the Cree Lodge Cup. After a pre-match incident between the Threave keeper and a Crichton striker, Rovers offered to remove their player from the town so that the match could go ahead. Crichton rejected this offer on the grounds of safety with the result the match was abandoned. C'mon lads, it's only a game...

After all that, this...

York's midweek trials may have shaken up the Derby and Oaks markets but Geordieland's thrilling victory in the Yorkshire Cup on Friday was most emotional and will live long in the memory of many. Jockey Shane Kelly's return to race-riding following a twelve month ban for 'passing information' is a success story in its own right; this win will count as his biggest to date - full credit to trainer Jamie Osborne who stood by the rider through thick and thin. On the subject of corruption, I'm sure Kieren Fallon will have a view about the verdict on the police inquiry into race-fixing, reported on the same day.

Following Comply Or Die's win in this year's Grand National, regular readers may recall I wondered when was the last time a blinkered horse had won the Aintree marathon. Sad, I know, but I mailed Channel 4's Teletext service with my query - I still await a reply. However today, browsing in Waterstone's (Leamington branch), I stumbled across the answer in a book entitled A-Z of the Grand National. In the last seventy years or so only five National winners have worn blinkers: Battleship (1938); Foinavon (1967); L'Escargot (1975); Earth Summit (1998) and, of course, Comply Or Die (2008).

Just down the road from Waterstone's in Leamington Spa is the Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum. One of the texts available for perusal at that establishment is 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die, (editor Stephen Farthing). Being the wrong side of fifty, I tend to browse through this work whenever the chance presents itself. One of the 1001 paintings is Mark Wallinger's 'Half Brothers (Exit To Nowhere - Machiavellian)'. Paul Bonaventura, Senior Research Fellow, Fine Art Studies, University of Oxford, comments on the painting: 'Like art, horseracing subscribes to its own set of invented rules...' As if we didn't know.

I couldn't help but be struck by the contrasting performances of two TV pundits today. Harry Findlay's enthusiasm on The Morning Line was infectious; Mark Lawrenson's comments during the FA Cup Final were tedious.

An unusual thing happened earlier in the week - I received some unsolicited mail that was of marginal interest. The literature for Scottish Racing's Tartan Turf Tours opens with the line 'What could be better than a few days racing, a round of golf, a tour of the local distillery and a walk in the hills?' The answer is quite plain - a few days racing and a tour of the local distillery.