On we go to 2009, and a happy new year to all readers of the blog. I’ll leave my resolutions for now (still a work in progress…) but here are my investments for the year; 2009 is already booked to be a pretty poor year – the recession is unavoidable and the earthquake that was the banking collapse is stull rumbling. …
Sporting Greats
Today I will be backing mostly sporting greats at Leopardstown. Kempes goes in the first, and he’s a warm order this morning. It’s a tough one to fathom – he appeared to prefer top of the ground on the flat, although he did well on soft ground on his only hurdle. He may improve for the move to Willie Mullins. …
Back at the knee
Christmas at Black Towers was a fairly quiet affair with most of the family ill. It was pleasant though – traditional and understated. We’ve all had the flu now, and I blame the flights to and from Lapland. I’d love to see a statistical analysis of how much of the time people get ill after flights – if I’m a representative sample it …
HAPPY CHRISTMAS
… and a happy new year to all readers of the blog. It’s a bit belated – I took to my bed early on Christmas Eve with a bad case of flu. Will 2009 be a better year than 2008 or will it just be a hideous year of social unrest? Is the world a better place for the events …
Conspiracy
I’m going through a quiet period horse wise. Mon Michel is probably out for the season, and he was possibly my best prospect for this year. Tifernati was bought to go hurdling this year, but he had a massive wart on his backside which had to be removed – he should go in to Gary’s at the beginning of January. …
Black Hole
Two years ago I was on a plane with a senior partner at a large investment bank, and he was filling me in on the latest gossip from the city. Christmas time is bonus time in the city, and 2006 was a good year. He’d heard that there were going to be around 10,000 people in the city receiving bonuses north of £1 million. …
Big Bucks
My poor run continues with Mon Michel soundly beaten at Taunton on Thursday. Again he coughed after the race and he clearly isn’t right. It’s worrying – he has the scope to make a very decent chaser but he needs to be right in himself and he hasn’t shown his best for a while now. Shepherd’s Warning goes on Monday …
Process of elimination
Mon Michel disappointed at Fontwell – he travelled well enough but faded to 5th at the end of the race. We were expecting better. He scoped clean and his blood was good after the race but he did cough – I don’t think he was 100%. No matter – he’s filled out and he’s ripe to go chasing now. Both of my …
Thoughts on Melbourne
I’m back at my desk having flown in to a freezing cold Heathrow at 5:30 this morning wearing shorts and a T-shirt. I hardly slept a wink and I’m fading fast – as soon as I’ve done the blog I’m off to bed. I couldn’t have been more impressed with Melbourne – it’s got everything. It’s clean and well maintained …
Ugh
More carnage in the markets tonight with the Dow losing 7% of its value in the afternoon session. None of this is reflected in the UK, and currently the FTSE is trading 5% down off market. It’s very grim, and it’s anyone’s guess when it’s going to stop. Many years back (it feels like a lifetime ago) I was a trader …