Slack Jawed Babbling

The curtain fell on an eventful jumps season last Saturday with an excellent mixed card at Sandown. Why aren’t there more of these? Both feature jumps races went to trainers outside the big yards: Henry Daly with Quintin Collonges in the Bet365 Chase and Gary Moore with Sire De Grugy in the Celebration Chase. The latter was a particularly uplifting result, not just because I had a small win bet. I was impressed with the honesty of connections who recognised that although the horse is probably just short of the very top class, the possibilities are limitless with careful preparation and proper targeting of races. This was a deserved success for the likeable trainer. The horse featured in my 40 to follow last season and I have a generous soft spot for him.  Which brings me to the fortunes of the 2012-13 40TF project. In summary, it was a reasonable performance. The bald stats:  167 bets with 33 winners (including each-way returns) at a strike rate of 19.7% ...

The last week or so has been a culinary roller coaster. If this had been a food diary for a school homework project, I would be bringing home a letter to my parents suggesting gastric bands and strict five-a-day regimes. We celebrated Mrs A’s birthday with my Dad and Bruv in Pickering. The White Swan in the Market Place is far and away the best place to eat in the town. Indeed it may be the only decent place. For a pretty enough market town on the edge of the Moors hosting the terminus to one of the most popular heritage steam railways in the country, Pickering can seem remarkably unambitious. Shops close early and don’t open on tourist Sundays; most of the pubs are trapped in a patterned carpet 80’s time warp and the restaurants are left behind by more inspiring eateries in nearby towns and country pubs. But the White Swan always comes up trumps. Tasteful décor, unpretentious service and fabulous food.  Little Bruv’s seared pigeon breast looked amazing, deep brow...

A couple of people have kindly asked if it is possible to get hold of physical copies of my photos anywhere. So after looking round at various options, I've uploaded a few albums to a Photobox gallery  here . And whilst we are on the subject, Mug Punting - Short Tales About Long Odds, a book of racing stories from the early days that inspired this blog, is now available in paperback through Lulu.com. Info page  here . The kindle version is available from the Amazon store - click the book cover in the right hand panel. Free to borrow for Amazon Prime customers. OK, advert over.

Easter has provided a welcome break between Cheltenham and Aintree this year. A timely religious Festival to temper the experiences of one equine Festival before the start of another. Once again, Granny played the Easter Bunny for a family gathering that involved a giant egg hunt in the back garden. This year the chocolate prizes were both hidden and retrieved in record time, spurred on by a biting easterly and steel grey skies. Not like a few years ago when my niece found one of her Easter offerings in July, tucked down the back of the hedge, still wrapped in its yellow tissue paper. The hunt is, of course, colour co-ordinated. Uncle Chris gets always gets blue paper because he supports Chelsea.We have sometimes holidayed with Auntie Sue over Easter. However, an egg hunt in 25 degree heat offers an altogether different challenge to its British counterpart.  One needs to be speedy and focused if a messy, liquefied celebration of chocolate is to be avoided. Sue supports Chel...

I was sorry to hear of the death of James Herbert this week. Like most blokes of my vintage, Herbert's dark, often psychological horror was required reading during the early eighties. As a teenager with a healthy, inquiring mind, Herbert hit the spot for both suspense filled fear and the best naughty bits going. Facebook posts have been paying tribute to this very duality all week. It is with some regret that I realise you cannot find the high class filth in a well thumbed electronic copy of, say, Creed by shaking the spine of a Kindle to see which pages are bent back the furthest. Where do today's teenage boys get their cheap thrills? That's a rhetorical question. I don't really want to know. The Facebook discussion about Herbert's demise also led to the title of this post. As I listed my favourites from his oeuvre, Brynaldo suggested this would be a good title for my Cheltenham Festival post mortem. A doomed strategy conceived in the Fog, delivered i...

The three-day glacial freeze/thaw and epic scouring wind in the Prestbury Park bowl has turned me into a fair approximation of the The Old Man of Hoy. My face has been chiselled into features craggy enough that outdoor types want to embed climbing nuts in my permanently furrowed brow. I had a hangover yesterday morning so piercing that I thought the cast from Stomp were rehearsing in my brain. I couldn't manage a fry up until dangerously near the off-time of the first race. I didn't find a single winner at all on World Hurdle Day. My pockets, on-line accounts and children's piggy banks are empty. Cleaned out. Mother Hubbard is empathising. And yet, what a fantastic festival it is. I can't imagine one single place I would rather have been this week. Today presents an opportunity for some juvenile relaxation over a Doom Bar or two in the pub with a dozen or so lairy, fired up mates who think they can still fleece both the bookies and each other in the final of the...

Don't know where the day has gone. I blame Chris and Laura for their wonderful hospitality last night, resulting in everything turning rather more slowly than planned this morning. It was tremendous to catch up, though I fear I exhausted their patience with my ceaseless blatherings about hitting crossbars and near nap misses. Thanks guys. So without further ado, and rooted on the back foot, though convinced that day 3 represents my strongest book of punts yet (the sorry cry of a desperate man), here are today's bets. Surely one of these can get competitive? 1.30 - Jewson Module (8-1 ante post. Now a bigger price since Dynaste was rerouted here.) 2.05 - Pertemps First Fandango (66-1 e-w - tiny stakes) 2.40 - Ryanair First Lieutenant (9-2 win ante post) For Non Stop (16-1 e-w ante post) 3.20 - World Hurdle Get Me Out Of Here (11-1 e-w ante post) Smad Place (16-1 e-w ante post) 4.00 - Byrne Group Plate Vino Griego (11-1) 4.40 - Kim Muir Problema Tic (23 win,...