Status Quo at Newmarket
I went to Newmarket Races last night and after racing Status Quo performed.
Status Quo at Newmarket
They were very good. Strangely they are not a band that I’ve followed, which was probably because I was at Liverpool University in the 1960s and tended to follow the bands I’d seen there.
It was interesting to note that Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt got together in 1967. That means that they have been a partnership longer than I was married to my late wife, who I met coincidentally early in the same year.
It’s almost sad for me!
My Racehorse in Training
I went to see my racehorse that is in training with Chris Wall at Newmarket this morning.
Oratorio Filly
She is a filly by Oratorio, out of a Sadlers Wells mare. That is pretty good breeding. She was actually bought in-utero by my late wife in 2006.
But as with all racehorses, it is very much a matter of chance, not breeding, that she will be any good on the racecourse.
Richard Dunwoody Finishes
At 2:20 in the afternoon today on the July racecourse in Newmarket, Richard Dunwoody finished his heroic walk.
Richard Dunwoody Finishes
This is the moment when he crossed the line. Richard is in the white t-shirt behind the guy in the blue shirt. Lester Piggott is on his left in the grey suit.
Interviewed by the Press
I hope that the public have been generous in their donations.
Newmarket July Meeting – Day 3
Perhaps we might have better luck today.
- 13:30 – Crackdown, Montashem
- 14:00 – Big Audio, Emperor Claudius
- 14:35 – Al Khaleej, Captain Brilliance
- 15:10 – J J The Jet Plane, Paco Boy, Scenic Blast
- 15:45 – Bella Swan, Larehaan, Silent Secret
- 16:20 – Rock of Love, Master of Dance
I lost again.
This time two legs failed.
Hayley Turner
It is great to see Hayley Turner back riding after the injuries she received on the gallops.
She is a seriously good jockey, who last year rode 100 winners in a year. This is something that few jockeys do in long careers and it is something no lady jockey has done.
But Hayley is also almost unique in that she is a top class athlete, who is a coeliac. I’m one too. We’re all proud of you Hayley!
Walking With Richard Dunwoody
I should say that at the moment, I’m to use a horse term, lame.
I trod on a razorshell on Holkham Beach and the doctor had to remove it. Because of the discomfort, I’ve been holding my lower leg muscles tight and now they’ve all seized up.
Yesterday, I contributed to Richard Dunwoody’s 1000 Mile Charity fund and felt that it would be a good idea to go and support him and perhaps walk a mile.
Richard Dunwoody on the Bury Road
As I suspected it would, my leg did seize up badly, but I did finish.
I asked Richard whether on not he would do this again. He said that it was very boring doing the same half mile of the Bury Road! At least he’s less than twenty four hours to go.
It was all rather poignant for me, in that my late wife used to swim and run every morning from the Bedford Lodge Hotel. If she had still been with us, she would have probably done two miles with Richard every morning.
I’ll be seeing Richard again, when he completes the walk by walking down the racecourse this afternoon.
There’s still time to contribute.
Newmarket July Meeting – Day 2
Today is the second day of the Newmarket July Meeting. I’m not going, but I’m still doing the PlacePot.
- 13:30 – Kite Wood, Free Agent
- 14:00 – Arcano, Orpen Grey
- 14:35 – Class is Class, Firebet, Aqwaal
- 15:10 – Duncan, Campanogist
- 15:45 – Sabii Sands, Swilly Ferry, Farmer Giles
- 16:20 – Cloudy Start, Loch Linnie
Let’s hope I do better than yesterday.
I didn’t!
I only got the 15:10 wrong, but that was spectacularly wrong in that my selections filled the last two places.
Newmarket July Meeting – Day 1
Today is the first day of the Newmarket July Meeting. The weather won’t be as nice as it has been, but I think I’ll take the Lotus.
Here’s my PlacePot for the day.
- 13:30 – Cumana Bay, Balaagha
- 14:00 – Shamwari Lodge, Run for the Hill
- 14:35 – Capercaillie, Habaayib
- 15:10 – Goldikova, Spacious, Rainbow View
- 15:45 – Emerald Commander, Liquid Asset
- 16:20 – Beauchamp Xerxes, Manifest, Reportage
My late wife was a dab hand at PlacePots! Over a year she always won something.
I’ll post the honest results later.
- 13:30 – 1 place
- 14:00 – Nothing
- 14:35 – Nothing
- 15:10 – 2 places
- 15:45 – Nothing
- 16:20 – 1 place
A complete disaster.
But then if I’d got it right I’d have won £1965.20 for a pound stake. As I only bet at 10 pence a line, this would mean I’d have won £196.52 for each one. These are very high dividends as a lot of the placed horses were outsiders.
I’ll try again tomorrow.
An Interview with Bernie Ecclestone
There is a revealing interview with Bernie Ecclestone in The Times today.
Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One chief, said yesterday that he preferred totalitarian regimes to democracies and praised Adolf Hitler for his ability to “get things done”.
He might have done but if you have read Adam Tooze’s book, The Wages of Destruction, about the economic history of the Nazis like I have, you may have a different view to Mr. Ecclestone.
The comments on The Times web site on the whole are hostile.
But if there is a problem that he can do something about it is Formula One. I like it on the television and am old enough to remember the greatest Formula One drive of all when the great Stirling Moss in an underpowered Lotus, outdrove three Ferraris at Monaco.
I went to Spa last year and to say it is boring for those that pay a lot of money to see it is an understatement. Organisation and commentaries were bad and we were very much left in the dark with what happened at the end, when Lewis Hamilton won and was then disqualified.
Compare that with the sort of service you get at horse racing at a gaff track like Yarmouth.
Coeliacs and Mental Problems
Just listening to the twins, Will and Rupert Young, on the radio as I write. Will is the well-known singer and his twin brother, Rupert, has a history of mental problems. He’s just set up the Mood Foundation to help people with their problems.
It’s just a small point, but I moderate a list on the Internet for coeliacs. We are all allergic to the gluten, found in wheat, barley and rye. What keeps coming up is those with this allergy are often diagnosed as suffering for depression, bi-polar disorder and other mental problems. When they go on a gluten-free diet, the symptoms disappear.
Obviously, this is only likely to help in the cases of the 1-in-100 of the UK population who are coeliacs, but to test for the allergy is now a simple blood test.
Taking a scientist’s view of the body, undiagnosed coeliacs are often low in vitamin b12 and guess what? This is absolutely essential for healthy functioning of the brain.
But perhaps more importantly, we need to have a totally open view to mental illness and not rule out ANY cause of a person’s problems. After all a cured patient can become a valuable member of society.
Rupert has just said that he was helped by equine assisted therapy. As someone who breeds racehorses, I know that horses can help in mental problems. To relate to say a mare and a skitty foal, you have to be calm, just to get them to take a tidbit. And so you learn how to calm your emotions. Also for people who have problems with violence and losing their temper, they don’t want to try anything remotely like that with a horse. They’ll get a good kicking. So you learn to control yourself.
The Anonymous Widower 