Be warned: the mighty Air Force Blue blows away all before him
I was both delighted and unsurprised that Denis Healey made it to 98. One day in the 1970s I took…
Be warned: the mighty Air Force Blue blows away all before him
I was both delighted and unsurprised that Denis Healey made it to 98. One day in the 1970s I took…
Fair minded
One of Alan Bennett’s characters once lamented, ‘We tried to set up a small anarchist community …but people wouldn’t obey…
Fair minded
One of Alan Bennett’s characters once lamented, ‘We tried to set up a small anarchist community …but people wouldn’t obey…
Squeezed middle
It’s a tough old business, this racing. Hayley Turner is the best woman rider we’ve ever seen in this country.…
Squeezed middle
It’s a tough old business, this racing. Hayley Turner is the best woman rider we’ve ever seen in this country.…
Absolute beginners
Heaven be praised for the sinner who repenteth, however long it takes. For President George Bush Senior, his occasional meetings…
Absolute beginners
Heaven be praised for the sinner who repenteth, however long it takes. For President George Bush Senior, his occasional meetings…
In the know
Master golfer Gary Player had the perfect retort when a 19th-hole pundit on his fourth G&T declared, ‘It’s all down…
Racing loses its Voice
Reviewing a biography of Arkle, Peter O’Sullevan wrote, ‘He had an obit to die for.’ So did The Voice himself.…
Easy does it
For all their formidable physical presence, racehorses spook easily. A sudden gust of wind flapping a plastic sack, a page…
Dettori’s double
Eclipse was one of the most remarkable racehorses ever. Sired by the then undistinguished Marske, whom mares could visit for…
Simply the best
Nothing pleases the Royal Ascot crowd more than a winner for the meeting’s crucial supporter, the Queen. Imagine, then, the…
Frankie’s back
Nothing has been lost since William Powell Frith painted his Derby Day panorama in 1858: today, instead of the carriages…
Flat pack
Getting to Goodwood last Saturday was an achievement in itself. On the Bank Holiday weekend I calculated a cross-country route…
Ones to watch
Back on political duty with CNN in election week, I came across a dead rat in Downing Street. It had…
The real McCoy
At Sandown Park last Saturday an era ended. Twenty thousand of us turned up to cheer on Tony McCoy as…
No fairy tale ending
It all depends how you like your fairy tales. OK, so we would have loved the retiring Tony ‘AP’ McCoy,…
The price of success
After listening to a violinist’s justification of his playing, Dr Samuel Johnson responded tartly: ‘Difficult do you call it, Sir?…
Going for Gold
Irish racing guru Ted Walsh was asked at the start of Gold Cup day if retiring champion jockey Tony McCoy…
Size matters
‘I don’t want to seem unromantic,’ said Mrs Oakley as St Valentine’s Day approached, ‘but this year please don’t buy…
The Bradstock mystery
Some mysteries will never be solved, like why planes and boats disappear in the Bermuda Triangle, cats always land on…
From the horse’s mouth
Banks only lend money to those who can prove they don’t need it and it has not been a happy…
Best of Luck
Never mind David Cameron. Are you participating in the Great Debate about an event of national significance that stirs the…
Conquering Emperor
Welsh Grand National day at Chepstow could not have had a better climax than the big race. After slogging three…
