SILLY season arrived at Windsor on Monday.
There were lumpy bets flying round the ring all night and three likely lads who work as traders in the City managed to get £12,000 ahead early on the card.
Our boys proceeded to give the dough back with interest over the next hour before trotting out to have a lash at the novice event.
They must have drunk one over the eight by this time and for some unfathomable reason felt an urge to whack £1,000 on 100-1 shot Chicago Socks.
I should point out that the horse was an unraced nine-year-old trained by William de Best-Turner who hasn’t sniffed a winner since the old king died.
Anyway, our three `wise’ men managed to get £250 of their grand matched. That was a result as Chicago Socks couldn’t run fast enough to keep warm and needed ropes, pulleys and a piggyback to clamber over the line.
Mr de Best-Turner’s flying machine was retired pronto – not before the stewards fined the trainer for altering the horse’s vaccination records and getting his sex wrong – and is now off to take the dressage world by storm.
Clive Cox landed a touch with newcomer Dance Fever (7-1 to 9-2) in the two-year-old heat, which was a fair effort considering the colt was greener than Alan Titchmarsh’s fingers for most of the race.
By the way, the owners of Clive’s classy sprinter Tis Marvellous have still got the raging hump about his unlucky run in the Beverley Bullet last weekend.
Their speedball never got a chance to stretch his legs after being boxed-in tighter than a John West sardine and he’s heading over to France on a recovery mission next weekend.
Freddie Meade is a Windsor regular and gave us an upbeat bulletin on his dad Martyn’s St Leger runner Technician.
Fresh-faced Freddie reckons the big grey will love the trip and track at Donny and says he’s been zinging at home. Reliable Rob Hornby has been pencilled in for the ride and he’s well worth a few shekels each-way.
Oliver Sherwood knows his onions and had it right off with Spice War (10-1 to 5-1) at Kempton Park on Tuesday.
Keep your peepers on young-gun Thomas Greatrex who steered this one home. The kid is on fire and looks blinding value for this 5lbs claim.
BEST SOLUTION (2.05, Kempton) couldn’t stop winning Group 1s on the continent last autumn and could be a cut above this field.
By the way, I overheard a comical bit of banter when a happy-go-lucky punter went up to have a bet and the lovely lady serving him remarked that he was always smiling.
“Yes,” the fella replied “but it cost me a job once……I was a funeral director!”
This week’s `golden raspberry’ award goes to the Lingfield stewards who failed to have a gander at Cotton Clubs’ dismal show in the 2-miler on Thursday night.
This horse won by the length of Southend Pier at Bath last week but drifted from 10-11 to 11-4 here and looked about as lively as England’s bowling attack as he trudged home fourth.
There’s no suggestion of skulduggery on the part of his trainer or jockey but the betting was sniffy and someone somewhere knew the horse wouldn’t win.
Every proper punter on the track picked up on the message but the stewards still need a satnav to negotiate betting exchanges and seemed oblivious. Now that just isn’t good enough.
Now there’s a cracking card at Kempton today where HEXAGON is weighted to win the Follow Sun Racing On Twitter Nursery (3.50) for red-hot claimer Thomas Greatrex.
Don’t miss KASBAAN either. He landed a tickle for Michael Appleby here on Tuesday and can complete the old one-two by nicking the £70,000 Sun Racing London Mile Handicap (3.15).
