Juliette's Weekly ',Frolic
Matronly ladies sporting tweeds and a respectable air were all for ' clambering on tables and giving the thing a good bash, others, less volatile in temperament, sought vainly for the elusive 'manager'.. The time was ten minutes to Observer Gold Cup 'off, the place the topmost bar of Newbury's glasshouse stand and the offending object a television that could be persuaded to give forth nothing louder than a low, mournful hum, It's at times like these that I wonder why courses bother to provide the machines when someone, somewhere is clearly out to sabotage the operation. In fairness, one floor down they did boast a bit of volume but this was barely audible about' the clinking of glasses at the bar. Still, that moan out of the way, the entertainment on hand couldn't be faulted, the horses were top-class, the climate mild and I actually left marginally richer than I went.
Not being blessed with any indecently rich relatives, or amazing betting coups for that matter, a trip to next weekend's Washington International is definitely not on the agenda. Consequently I'll not be seeing another flat race till next March and would dearly love to fling that formbook into a dark corner prior to getting stuck into some serious study of the National Hunt scene. There is, however, one final stumbling block — next Saturday's £10,000-added Vernons Spring Cup. Robert Sangster has three reasons for being at Haydock:
he's boss of the sponsoring firm, a steward of the meeting and partowner of a fancied candidate in Rapid River. The five-year-old grey mare, Abergwaun with her winning weight of last year, is strictly unopposable but I've never let a little thing like that bother me in the past and scouring round for the bones of an alternative theory have come up with the following gem. In the 'Nunthorpe' Sandford Lad beat Balliol by a length and received 51b, in the Prix le l'Abbaye the same colt beat Abergwaun twice that distance and conceded 31b. Excuse enough for a little punt, don't you think?
Opposing Abergwaum required a touch of bravado, treating Pendil in similar fashion verges on madness. Fred Winter cleaned up four prizes with four runners at Newbury last week and since his Pendil has soundly beaten both Tingle Creek and Balinese in previous encounters. I should probably be locked up for suggesting either might beat him in the Top Rank Club 'Chase (Ascot, Wednesday). Still, odds-on winners get me nowhere fast, and over the past two seasons Balinese has perfected the art of picking up rich Ascot prizes when least expected to do so. Reckless optimism, I'll admit, but ask you to reserve judgement on the insanity charge till after the race.
Assets: E82.75. Outlay: E3 to win Balinese. Brantridge Farmer (Sandown, Saturday) and Balliol.
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