Juliette's weekly frolic
" All the prettiest girls are here today," observed the racecard vendor at Ascot and there can be few better vantage points for weighing up the talent than his sentry box at the entrance to the enclosure. The ' today ' referred to was not Royal • Thursday when the female of the species is traditionally expected to flaunt its most stylish plummage but to Saturday's downbeat ' Heath ' meeting. I overheard one eminent veteran of the turf compare the crowd to a pre-war Gold Cup and, with the sun making up for lost time, your average deb was clearly bent on getting maximum mileage out of the summer ensembles that had hung fire during the midweek monsoons. On top of which the lift lady celebrated a double silver anniversary — one' with her husband, the other with the racecourse — and the Queen won the Roll-up to the great delight of a pair of strikingly attired Australian females, there as the prize-winning designer and model in a fashion show at Brisbane races. As for me, a tumbler of Pimms in the paddock bar and it was only too easy to forget that I'd just lived through the most expensive week in my gambling care
er. . . .
Society and racing now go their separate ways until. Goodwood comes round, and while the former moves half-heartedly on to Wimbledon, those addicted to the serious business of losing money, will be haring off for a long and alcoholic weekend in the Emerald Isle. The excuse for this particular jaunt being the E60,000 Irish Sweeps Derby which lost Cavo Doro, but gained Ksar during a weekend of confusion in the antepost market. The last named, plus Freefoot, Ragapan and Relay Race — third, fifth and sixth at Epsom
— should not be unduly troubled by the O'Brien/Piggott second string, Hail the Pirates, but what is less certain is their ability to cope with the race's unknown warrior, Buoy. The last namecl comes to the Curragh in much the same way as
Morston did to Epsom — brilliant but backward. A third outing saw him line up for Goodwood's Predominate Stakes and wander over the width of the course before arriving at the finishing line four lengths clear. Wise men see a great career in prospect, and though a second immature classic winner less than a month after the first seems unlikely, I am willing to take the risk.
Not to be outdone by the Irish, England stages its own ' Derby' — the Pitman's — the same afternoon. Sponsors Joe Coral make Ebor winner Crazy Rhythm a tentative favourite for the 141st running of the Northumberland Plate, but the poor fellow is five years old now which is the kiss of death as far as this race is concerned — no less than nineteen four-year-olds have been successful in the past twenty-four runnings, against a soli t.ary victory for his own age group. The records also tend to favour, those carrying less than 8 stone but one can't have everything and the medium-weighted but correctly-aged pair, Brief Bay and Party Time are well worth tossing a coin over.
Entry fees and forfeits for maiden races may be peanuts compared to the classics, but the money still mounts up and Noblest Noble who is entered for five such events in one week must be really on the boil. Having missed a Monday date, he can now choose between Newmarket, Lingfield or Newcastle on Saturday, or the Northumberland course on Thursday..
Besides being the title of a wellloved 'golden oldie ', Lazy Sunday is the name of a three-year-old maiden in Ian Balding's care. Bea ten a length by Long Row in the Houghton Stakes, he filled the same position behind Ascot scorer Laurentian Hills on his seasonal reappearance (Newcastle or Newmarket, Saturday).
Assets: E89.28 outlay: Et win Brief Bay (10-1 ante-post), Buoy, Noblest Noble, Lazy Sunday.
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