Juliette's weekly frolic
Holidays clearly work wonders and it was back to work in splendid style with the 13-2 winner of the Blue Circle Chase — for the second year running, please note — plus an odds-on bonus from young Swift Shadow who gave his supporters a few mild seizures en route with a wide detour round the home turn. Not a day to forget in a hurry — as apart from all that lovely loot jangling in my pocket, there was an eventful Blue Circle party.
It was the boggy ground that robbed Blue Circle of Tingle Creek, but an unfortunate mixture of postal delays and red tape that sees the Wills Premier Chase Final minus its star English attraction, Bruslee. It's now too late for a Jockey Club change of heart over the late arrival of the horse's entry form, but that won't stop people pondering the Christmastime leniency shown to Fred Winter in a similar situation. In Bruslee's absence, Ireland's Captain Christy is quoted at even money, but a recent return to hurdling makes the odds less attractive, while his market rival High Ken may well find the distance a shade on the short side. However, the latier is not the only candidate to have shown his elders the way home this season, for on offer at 14-1 we have Scotland's owner-trained Tee-Cee-Bee. In a
pre-Christmas four-timer he defeated such as The Spaniard, Tregarron and Titus Oates, and his recent half length defeat, when conceding 241b, came after a sixweek lay-off.
To my untutored eye Crofton Hall is a 'must' for the Wills Hurdle. True good things rarely seem to materialise, but if you balance two effortless wins and a third in Ayr's lucrative Johnnie Walker Hurdle against a weight of 10.1' and an ante-post price of 12-1, it makes an inviting equation.
The temporary removal of the Whitbread Gold Cup to Newcastle during the Sandown reconstruction was a great success and now that it's returned to its rightful home the company is sponsoring a similar long-distance event at the northern, course. Tartan Ace and Straightl Vulgan, first and second in another Whitbread race, may attract most financial attention, but further down the handicap don't forget the Fred Withington scorer, Meridian II. Spoken of by the Olivers in the same breath as their thrice National second, Wyndburgh, Meridian II could well be going places.
Assets: £85.45. Outlay: £2 ew Tee-Cee-Bee (14-1 Ladbrokes), £2 to win Crofton Hall and £3 to win Meridian II.
on the Stock Market' was written by an ex-dancer who attributed his investment success to a litigely successful market foray in imoitai stock. Now Thiokal say that they may be abandoning their European operations this winter. It is also reported that at least six other major American manufacturers are thinking of scrapping or selling their British or European plants within the next twelve months.
After nearly thirty years of acquiring facilities it is somewhat of a shock to hear this, particularly by those who took Servan-Schreiber's book, Le Deli Americain, rather too seriously. However it is becoming apparent that the reason behind this withdrawal is not retrenchment, nor is it due to the energy crisis. The reason is that two recent devaluations of the dollar combined with the revaluations ot the yen and German mark make it more economical to centralise manufacture at the home plant and ship worldwide. Subject to the EEC not turning nasty, that is.
Morris Wigram
'12/tiring these critical times for the fringe banks the voicing of a suspicion or a word out of place may lead to pressure and it is thus reassuring to see that Throgmorton Securities, the £8.3 million investment trust that controls the private Morris Wigram bank has agreed to be taken over by a share exchange with Schlesinger European Investments, a part of the South African cinema, property and insurance group, Schlesingers. Throgmorton have found it difficult, presumably, not .to lose deposits during the present crisis and their very large stake in Haslemere Estates has fallen by half in value during the past weeks — indicating to the outsider that Throgmorton are selling shares or alternatively suffering grave damage to their long-term holding in Haslemere if other people are getting out before them.
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