Sitting comfortably?

Following the well-publicised brawl at Royal Ascot Ladies' Day, Giles Smith penned a skit in The Times dated Saturday 25th June in which he compared racing hooliganism to football hooliganism, concluding, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that the recent trouble at Ascot can lead to only one thing: 'all-seater racecourses'. That brought a smile - the number of times I've been on a racecourse, thinking what I'd give for a decent sit-down, never mind a winner; I guess I must be getting older.

Another Giles writing for The Times, this time Giles Coren (how many Gileses do The Times actually have on their books?), posted a piece in this Saturday's paper (July 2nd) after having the misfortune to be seated on the end of a row on a visit to Wimbledon.

Mr Coren observes, 'Tennis fans may all think they're pretty marvellous...but they haven't got the first idea how to behave compared with football fans.' I empathise with the author who clearly spent the whole afternoon shifitng around in his seat to allow assorted old buffers and 'rickety old dears' access to their seats without so much as one single word of thanks; on the other hand when football fans '...slide past you to go and get a pie or stab a copper they always, without fail, say "cheers mate"'. 

Giles concludes he knows which he prefers and I think I'm with him on this one. After all that talk of sitting around, I'm going for a lie-down.  

Weekend notes

In a strongly-run Irish Derby earlier this afternoon, Fame And Glory gained some compensation for his Epsom defeat by beating stablemate Golden Sword five lengths.This was Aidan O'Brien's seventh Irish Derby and Johnny Murtagh's third. In post-race comments Murtagh identified the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown as a possible target for the winner. Riding in his first classic, the winning trainer's son, J P O'Brien, finished tenth of the eleven runners on 200/1 shot Byzantine.

Michael Owen's wife, Louise, has recently been gainfully employed promoting next Saturday's Coral Eclipse at Sandown. That race has been given an extra fillip with the news that Epsom Derby winner Sea The Stars now goes for that prize, having been withdrawn from the Irish Derby on account of the easy ground.

There were plenty of footballing links at Newcastle's meeting on Saturday, links Derek Thompson wasn't slow to point out. Before the Pitmen's Derby, former Magpies' player Peter Beardsley and Hull City manager Phil Brown tipped up Som Tala from the stable of ex-England international Mick Channon. The beast, a 16/1 shot, won with something in hand. Roker Park won the 2.35 and Horatio Carter the 3.45; both are owned by Sunderland fan Mr T Alderson. Roker Park was the ground Sunderland used to play at while Horati Stratton Carter, better known as Raich Carter, captained them to the league title and their first FA Cup final victory. By the way, just in case you missed it, Derek Thompson originates from these parts...

Following on from recent match-fixing posts, I'm grateful to the Wrexham Supporters Association Blog for bringing to my attention two links that add some detail to the circumstances surrounding the Histon v. Lewes game in September 2008. Cambridge News Online reported the Histon team were threatened by a gambling ring while in May 2009 the Daily Mail made reference to five non-league games that were under investigation. Of course, fixing is a worry in all sports - the first-round tie at this year's Wimbledon Championships between Jurgen Melzer and Wayne Odesnik has been been in the news and has been reported to the authorities. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) for its part has welcomed the recent announcement by Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe that he is to set up a Sports Betting Integrity Panel.

Mrs Tips and I were at Wimbledon on Thursday, having been allocated two Centre Court tickets through the public ballot system. The crowds were big, the weather hot - I found it all jolly tiring. I was left wondering whether the tennis product is better consumed through the medium of television. Mrs T. enjoyed it though, so I've asked her to file a report; she says she'll do that when she has fully recovered...

To summarise...

Paco Boy failed to stay a mile on soft ground in Saturday's Juddmonte Lockinge at Newbury, John Gosden's Virtual beating Alexandros a nose. Dettori on the eventual runner-up dropped his whip well into the final furlong - did that make all the difference? Later in the afternoon Main Aim proved the proverbial Group horse in a handicap, winning the six furlong Berry Bros & Rudd Handicap by an astonishing seven lengths.

The Aidan O'Brien pair Black Bear Island and Freemantle took first and second in Thursday's Dante. Crowded House, the 2/1 favourite, ran flat in the trial, finished eighth and scoped badly afterwards; Brian Meehan will make a decision on his charge's particpation in the Derby within the next few days.

Currently the top five in the ante-post Derby market are all trained in Ireland. At this stage Rip Van Winkle, generally a 10/1 shot, offers decent value provided you take the view he'll stay -stable jockey Johnny Murtagh has expressed his concerns. The horse suffered a bruised foot in the run-up to the Guineas and John Francome was less than complimentary about the horse's appearance during the preliminaries for the classic. In the circumstances Rip Van Winkle ran well to finish fourth, especially as the stable was under something of a cloud at that time. There's improvement there but we don't know for certain he'll stay...

Back in March Venetia Williams won the Pertemps Final (three miles) at the Cheltenham Festival with Kayf Aramis. Two months on the same horse, with a different jockey up, wins Thursday's finale at York - Theripleycollection.com Handicap (two and a quarter miles) - by an eased-down thirteen lengths. A trip to Royal Ascot looks on the cards for this hurdler...

Earlier today I watched the BBC's coverage of the tennis exhibition matches from the new all-weather Wimbledon (roof closed). As a plug for the forthcoming Match of the Day Two programme, commentator Andrew Castle was heard to say something along the lines of '...and the [football] season's really hotting up now...' Would somebody please tell the man that Manchester United were crowned Premier League champions yesterday? Thanks.

Finally, a photo finish...

Caption: Another cert takes the wrong course, the race at his mercy. Mrs T wears the look of someone who has seen it all before...

Weekend chit-chat

Philip Hobbs was the guest on Saturday's Morning Line and, as you'd expect, much of the talk centred around his Festival entries. He appeared quite keen on Snap Tie in the Champion Hurdle (provided the ground remained good) and put up Planet Of Sound in Tuesday's Arkle as his best chance of the week. Mike Cattermole highlights the same horse as one of his best bets in the Raceform Update Cheltenham Guide.

After masterminding a Liverpool victory against Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday, it was back to earth with a bump for Benitez on Saturday. At The Riverside Benitez, the Liverpool manager, saw his team beaten 2-0 by Middlesborough. At Kempton Park racecourse Benitez, the nine year old gelding, was sent off at 20/1, weakened up the home straight and was pulled up two out. It's interesting to note that the horse is owned by the Lord Helpus Partnership; Liverpool supporters, perhaps?

Spare a thought for four Chesterfield fans who travelled 150 miles down to Brentford expecting to see their team play on Saturday. The fans had misread the fixture list and were two weeks early - their team fought out a 1-1 home draw with Barnet, just around the corner from where the four unfortunate fans had started their journey!

My in-house tennis correspondent, Mrs Tips, informs me that at present Andy Murray would appear to be suffering from a mild form of glandular fever. Apparently Roger Federer suffered something similar last year which may have contributed to a loss of form. I mention this just in case you're thinking of backing Murray for the Men's Championships at Wimbledon in June...

Finally I'm indebted to Sandracer, editor of the excellent sandracer.com racing blog, for bringing to my attention two links that demonstrate perfectly the parsimony of our friends in the bookmaking industry. You may have followed the discussion in the comments under the 'Weymouth wagers win £1 million' post below, but if you never venture into such dark electronic places, here's a summary. Sandracer commented that he'd heard a bookmaking firm say they were around 30k down on the match in which Weymouth, fielding a teenage side, lost 9-0 to Rushden & Diamonds; I'd heard a figure of £100k quoted. All of which led us to agree that you can't always believe what a bookmaker tells you. Sandracer then goes on to recall how William Hill posted profits in the region of £64 million in 2007, two days or so after crying wolf when centenarian Alec Holden collected £25,000 having placed a £100 bet a decade previously that he would reach the ripe old age of 100. Here's William Hill representative Rupert Adams' reaction: "These age wagers are starting to cost us a fortune and from now on we are going to push out the age to 110." Marvellous stuff.

Royal Ascot assessed

This proved a vintage Royal Ascot for Aidan O'Brien and his team, the highlight being Yeats' third consecutive victory in the Gold Cup on Thursday. By way of contrast, my own figures make for dismal reading with three wins (Henrythenavigator 4/7, Duke Of Marmalade evens, and Honolulu 7/4) and two places from thirteen selections, returning a level stakes loss of 6.68 points over the course of the week.

I will remember this year for Duke Of Marmalade's win in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes on Wednesday, Patkai's scintillating turn of foot in the Queen's Vase and John Best shouting home Kingsgate Native, his 33/1 winner of the Golden Jubilee. By the way, did anyone else notice Her Majesty have a momentary attack of the 'jelly legs' after her two year old Free Agent came from last to first to win the Chesham?

Mrs Tips has insisted I take a break from racing so we're off to Wimbledon on Wednesday. Today a couple of the Sunday papers have led with stories about corruption in professional tennis but it's interesting to note that Harry Findlay, who has wagered an awful lot of money on the sport, believes the game to be absolutely straight. That should give Sue Barker something to discuss during the inevitable rain breaks...

Derby debrief

To me, this looked a decent renewal of the Derby and New Approach's victory something to celebrate. Yet the undercurrent of controvesy and recrimination which has surrounded this horse's participation was never far away, even in the winner's enclosure; Jim Bolger strikes me as an individual who won't lose too much sleep over all that. The first three home could meet again in the Irish Derby three weeks hence.

Statto, the BBC's 'betting expert', appears to have sorted out his money problems. The Corporation didn't want Angus giving his market commentaries at Aintree's Grand National meeting while he still had a bankruptcy case hanging over him. Viewers will have been pleased to see The Numerate One back on our screens, together with the laconic Gary Wiltshire, the over-dressed Claire Balding et al...

There will be no more racing at Epsom this season while building work is completed. I'm looking forward to taking Mrs Tips to the new on-site hotel...

Just eight days until Royal Ascot starts; I must locate a copy of Raceform Update's Royal Ascot Guide.

Over the weekend I struck a deal with Mrs Tips. I watched the Derby day racing on Saturday while she watched the men's singles final from Roland Garros on Sunday. Nadal's defeat of Federer may have been expected but the manner of that defeat certainly wasn't. Will this be the year Roger Federer relinquishes his Wimbledon crown? Hills bet 11/10 Federer and 4/1 Djokovic while Nadal is 9/2 with Coral.

Wimbledon weather

Earlier in the year Mrs Tips (pictured), feeling a little fed up with the dull roofing jobs I kept giving her, expressed an interest in the champagne lifestyle of the professional tennis circuit. As an indulgence, last Thursday, we hit the All England Lawn Tennis Club Championships at Wimbledon, hopeful of a full day's play, strawberries and cream and glasses of bubbly sipped romantically together on a typically tranquil English summer afternoon.

In the event we were fortunate to see two ladies' quarter finals matches and roughly forty minutes of Roger Federer's match with Juan Carlos Ferrero before the rain came, big time. It wasn't big rain, you understand, but it was the sort of rain that stops tennis being played and it was accompanied at times by a gusting wind. Initially we were informed that the rain would pass through and play in the evening was a distinct possibility. Three hours later, at 7.10pm, The Man told us he'd been kidding us all along (because it was good for business) and there would be no more play at all.

When play gets stopped at Wimbledon, there's surprisingly little to do other than spend your hard earned on souvenirs in the Wimbledon Shop or overpriced drinks. I searched everywhere for a betting shop (see picture), but to no avail. Still, the action was to be savoured and we'll certainly be applying for tickets to next year's championships.

Anyone for tennis?

The going at Wimbledon is currently described as soft, heavy in places. This year, as well as the ubiquitous Claire Balding, the BBC have been using Rishi Persad for certain items in their coverage - I've been expecting him to start talking about colts and fillies and mixed doubles at any moment but so far he's resisted the temptation.

I take a passing interest in the sport but, in our house, chief tennis correspondent is Mrs Tips who informs me that Wimbledon has been pretty low key so far, with more stops and starts than a 27 bus. A few months back we made our first ever application for tickets in the public ballot and were lucky enough to be allocated two centre court tickets on Thursday, Ladies' semi-finals day. Given the rain that's falling, I doubt the quarter final matches will have been completed.

In preparation for this event I invested in a sun hat, (not to be confused with my racing hat), factor 40 sun screen and a pair of new sandals. It is highly unlikely that any of these items will be required. I shall take a copy of Michael Simkins' Fatty Batter together with a copy of The Weekender to peruse as I sit sipping a Pimm's under my Wimbledon umbrella.

For the record, Mrs Tips takes Roger Federer to win the Men's Championship and thinks Justine Henin will win the Ladies' Championship, although she's supporting Amelie Mauresmo.

When I've recovered from the whole experience I'll preview this Saturday's Coral Eclipse at Sandown.