On course for thrills
This year you don’t want to be a jockey’s valet. Never have their washing machines spun so vigorously. From every…
Women’s ways
Liverpool manager Bill Shankly was once challenged with the story that for their wedding anniversary treat he had taken his…
Man with a plan
Can you be both restless and content? Standing last week with Graeme McPherson on the viewing platform over his sharply…
Talking dirty
At Christmas a friend from CNN sent me the story of a US officer on a European train. Searching for…
Hennessy Day highlights
You don’t realise how much your pleasures mean until you are denied them. It was wonderful to get back on…
Dirty rotten scoundrels
In one of those old Mae West films a girl admires her friend’s jewellery: ‘Goodness, what lovely pearls,’ only to…
Twelve to Follow
Women truly are different. Recovering in a spare bedroom from the wonders of a hip replacement (don’t ever jump on…
The day of fallers
On a grey October morning, along a Berkshire lane leading up to the Ridgeway amid fields stuffed with pheasant, 30…
True gamblers
Not having the odd £100,000 to spare, I had never before joined the world’s richest owners and their bloodstock agents…
Great expectations
At the degenerative stage of a dinner party recently I heard related with perfect timing the tale of the gent…
Towering Ivory
Trainers used to come into racing with Aunt Agatha’s legacy after a short service commission, having probably worn a trilby…
Hot Candy
Cape Peron was my easiest choice for our Twelve to Follow. When Henry Candy smiles his gentle smile, as he…
The turf
Driving to Newmarket through a biblical-style deluge that had sheep, cattle and horses queuing in twos in case Noah had…
Veterans’ day
As part of the after-dinner entertainment on a cruise ship recently, I encountered a couple of comedians. One claimed he…
The turf
A fresh new breeze is wafting through British racing. Led by the enthusiastic Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, the Qatar ruling…
The Force is with us
Clive Cox, once a conditional jockey in Lambourn, fell at the first fence one year in the Grand National. ‘Mind…
Go, Johnny, go
Ginger Rogers, clever girl, did everything that Fred Astaire did — but she did it backwards. I am looking backwards…
