Spills, thrills all a day at the races
Destination: Cheltenham - and the titillating prospect of four rollicking, nag-free days of racing and revelry.
The combination is deadly and a delightful reason to long-finger that kitchen extension if choices have to be made.
For those of us who are as familiar with the landscape of National Hunt racing as we are with the sand dunes of the Gobi desert, the prospect is all the more tantalising.
Caution and sterling to the wind, it’s all about living on a whim and repenting at leisure.
What care we if the favourite to win the Gold Cup - British-trained Best Mate (“Matey”) - burst a blood vessel on the gallops on Thursday morning? All the better for Irish hopeful Kicking King, back in the race after scoping clear - which translates as the tube they stuck up his nose and down into his stomach found no trace of respiratory tract infection. Or something like that.
A bit of a sickener for “Matey” promoters though, especially the brains behind the “Best Mate” clothing range, who promised “a stylish collection celebrating his successes at Cheltenham in those famous blue and claret striped colours.”
For punters more concerned with supping than scoping, Paddy Power is taking bets that Guinness will flow as readily as our hard-earned pounds into the pockets of parsimonious bookies.
A 5/2 bet is on offer that Guinness will sell between 180,000 and 190,000 pints during the four-day festival, odds not to be sniffed at given our hardly laudable reputation for being the biggest drinkers on earth.
To drive the point home, Paddy Power’s communications director declared on Friday that “it’s simply not Cheltenham without a drop of the black stuff.” What’s more, and fitting neatly into the category of truly useless information, he tells us “more Guinness is actually spilt during Cheltenham than is drunk throughout the whole of Royal Ascot.”
With that taken into account, as well as the extra day, Paddy Power has lost the run of himself offering “3/1 that Guinness can break the unbelievable 200,000 pint mark.”
I can only assume it’s all part of the madness of what they call the greatest racing show on earth.
