No More Mr. Wiseguy

 We haven't heard much from Racetrack Wiseguy during this that is supposed to be our time of year. That's a blessing because although it was good last year, it hasn't ever got started this time. Sometimes, I'm afraid, it's like that. Quite how I'm stil marginally in front on the tyrf account this year is hard to say. I don't deserve to be but when under pressure I bat like Boycott, not Gower.

Protekterat was possibly an unlucky loser in the big race on Saturday and then our new flagship horse, Wiseguy, trailed in a most underwhelming odds on third at Fontwell on Sunday. So it's not at present the sort of advice one needs and so I'll tread even more carefully and keep it to myself. Form is temporary but class is forever so I'll hope to be back, all bouyant and profitable, in due course. It is unthinkable to risk going into the minus and so the rearguard action must be steadfast.

The great benefit of having a variety of interests, though, is that when one enterprise is struggling, another compensates. When I was a cricketer-poet, a couple of poor scores could be alleviated by a good poem and suchlike. Having allowed a reasonable profit to slip through my careless fingers, the chess isn't in bad order with a rating of 1700 restored at Bullet. A little foray back into Rapid took me up to undreampt-of heights of 1972, not quite within sight of an unlikely 2000 but you never know. Blitz stayes on 1929 but those represent Top 12.5 and Top 18% of the players at Lichess while a less well advised attempt to repeat the trick at Classical took me down to 1880 but that is still Top 15%. Magnus Carlsen isn't worried about me yet.

However, I've never had a diary so full and the second half of this year makes busy, busy reading. It's possibly the paradise one always dreamed of, especially with the area being so well catered for with lunchtime concerts. None of them are ever no good, which is either due to my picking them well or the fact that none of them are ever no good. So, tune in tomorrow to hear about Chichester, Thursday for Portsmouth and right up to what could be a most fitting climax to what has been a great season, the Christmas Oratorio on Dec 11.