I had an amazing day on Sunday when I went to the tennis. I’d managed to convince myself that Nadal was a sure fire winner and I had a big bet on him. As I sat down on Centre Court I was rather wishing I hadn’t had a bet at all, as it was such a big match and I didn’t want …
Swiss rollover
Jane and I went to the tennis yesterday. Semi-finals day is often the best day to go, but yesterday was just the administration of a couple of sound beatings and the prelude to what might be a classic final. I grew up in Wimbledon and I’ve been to the tennis virtually every year since I was a small boy. I’ve …
Old Muggins
Last week we took delivery of a climbing frame, although you wouldn’t have recognised it as such when it arrived. There were six bags of tubular steel rods all drilled with holes, three bags of nuts, bolts and assorted fitments, a swing, a slide and a canvas “den”. There were also a couple of alan keys to put it all …
Over the moon
A good day yesterday with Lilac Moon winning in fine style. In quality terms she’s not one of my leading lights, but she’s developed into a lovely looking horse and and I’m very fond of her. She isn’t what I would consider broodmare quality, but I’m looking for a few cheaper mares to have on my stud in the early …
Gubbed
I had a good day at Wimbledon with Jane and our two daughters. In truth the girls were a bit too young to appreciate it and they got bored towards the end. When Andy Murray went two sets down we decided to call it a day and head home. Oh well. I spent most of the morning with Tom Goff who …
Unsatisfactory race
Another group 1 wings its way to Ballydoyle, but again it was an unsatisfactory race. I’ve watched the race a few times – it isn’t clear to me whether or not the AOB trained Tabor owned Frozen Fire would have won had the AOB trained Tabor owned Alessandro Volta not veered dramatically left when he did, taking out most of the …
Season starting in earnest
I’ve been busy this week working on something that I’ll publish some other time. Kings Head was supposed to run on Friday but we pulled him out after the overnight rain. Lord Snooty ran in the US last night coming third. My first four bets of the week, all at decent prices, all came second – I got a little back …
Incredible scenes
I can’t remember a more enthralling day’s sport than yesterday’s fare. In the afternoon I watched the key bits of Ivanovic/Dechy, including a point where at match point down Ivanovic slams a forehand into the top of the net and it hovers and drops over just on the right side for her. You couldn’t write the script – she wins 10-8 …
Ascot part 2
I went to Ascot on Thursday, feeling a bit sheepish – parts of my blog had been written up in the Racing Post, and it had also been written up on an Australian news site. Skid was running in the first race – I was hopeful of a decent run but he could never go the pace and trailed in tenth …
Fourfourtwo
On the Swindon front: I was extremely pleased to see Town sign the sponsorship deal with Fourfourtwo the other week. The first I heard of this was through a friend of mine at Haymarket – Fourfourtwo were looking for a shirt deal and they had Swindon on the shortlist. They had a series of meetings with Nick Watkins and team, and …