Crash.
Suddenly all the good work of the last few weeks is undone. I shouldn't still have been up after midnight but after the opera I had been through Wednesday's racing and then thought I'd see how the American election was going.
It looked okay for Hillary. No, they couldn't possibly elect Trump, not least because he is unelectable. So I went all in at long odds on to make a few quid that I really didn't need. And when I woke up again six hours later my account was just about to be empty. Even more galling was that Hillary won the most votes but even if you win, there's always a democratic system in place (if not the judiciary, who handed the Republicans a previous presidential election) to make sure you don't get the prize.
It's nothing to do with horses. The Autumn plan was all going well and I was steadily on my way to the same healthy profit I made last year and in 2014 but this, and the referendum, have set me back alarmingly.
So it's asking a lot of the horses to mend what they did nothing to break and Cheltenham tomorrow is unlikely to be easy but it's a good game and one must persevere.
No, Cheltenham tomorrow will be great sport, a tremendous spectacle and an open invitation to go broke.
The only bet one can currently have on Thistlecrack is for the Gold Cup and that isn't very sensible yet. More of That might be good value as favourite for the Mackeson, a World Hurdle winner who has had no trouble winning first time out but Jonjo is not a trainer in form. Sausalito Sunrise will probably win because, love him as I do, it is 'backs against the wall' again now and such an open handicap has too many unseen dangers in it and I can't be chancing proper money on such a race. The first will be enlightening and won by a good horse, no doubt, but I'm not going to guess which.
So, away from the best action, I'll be skipping over to Uttoxexter for Rolling Dylan (1.05), and the much-admired Philip Hobbs, which at 5/2 looks a fair chance to restore the equilibrium of this project and be a first step back to where I was luxuriating in a warm glow of satisfaction only three days ago.
David Green
- David Green (Books) is the imprint under which I publish booklets of my own poems, or did. The 'Collected Poems' are now available as a pdf. The website is now what it has become. It keeps me out of more trouble than it gets me into. I hope you find at least some of it worthwhile.
