Keith Randall

Huge figure in 80s racing. I was once in a lift at Ascot & Henry Cecil entered. I was so in awe,I took a step back & crushed the foot of the man behind, who turned out to be the Aga Khan. Took it in remarkably good spirit, a
& was very amused by my fumbled attempts to utter correct form of address.

There’s this special kind of dad…

We finally know the name of the mystery taxpayer who bought a dodgy tax avoidance scheme and tried to obtain an anonymity order to keep his fight with HMRC out of the press.

It's Frankie Dettori.

Too much Guinness

I'm no tipster & never want to be. However,if anyone fancies a fun bet to very small stakes tomorrow,they could do a lot worse than a little dabble on Silver Thorn at around 25s in the 1.35 at Newbury. A long term prospect, I was really taken by him at Stratford. Sure he's better than the bare form

He seemed to enjoy that, bless him. Jumped beautifully, admittedly against poor opposition. I do just wonder what level he can reach over hurdles. A decent handicap at least, I would have thought.

First horse I backed on course was the filly Topsy at Ascot(Geoff Lewis for Harry Wragg) in late 70s,purely on looks - stunning. She won, & of course I thought I was a great judge. Her only direct breeding link to present day is through her son,Most Welcome,but sadly,I think the line's diminishing.

First horse I latched on to in this way would have been Heighlin in the early 80s. Saw him run so often, and made a very small fortune backing him in running.

What was the horse that Julie trained that was a dodgy spoonerism. Was it Mary Hinge?

Definitely more time here than in the snake pit.

Just passed it on to my wife as part of my Christmas wish list. 👍

My favourite horse in training, Wise Eagle, returns to hurdling (solely due to running so well on the flat) after four years on Friday for Adam Nicol (12.38 Musselburgh). How much do I love this horse? I once travelled from Bucks to Redcar SPECIFICALLY to see this fella (he won, gawd bless him)

Phrases you don't like to hear from racing presenters (Luke Harvey) when a horse falls. "He didn't deserve that, he was going well".
When DOES a horse deserve a fall, Luke?

Crikey, Willy Twiston-Davies is morphing into his dad rapidly - poor lad 😂

Five writers of whom I've read 10+ books:

Charles Dickens
Dick Francis
David Nobbs
Michael Morpurgo
Philip Pullman

and table lighters. Aesthetically pleasing.

Conspiracy theorists and loons of all political hues who think 14 years can be cancelled out in five months. Sadly a lot of it is being reposted by a prominent ex-bookie turned poker player who I stupidly followed.

Well it's not taken long here for the block option to go into overdrive. So much for the "better place".

Fantastic

Are you a champagne socialist?

Here’s a short story about who wins and loses from the status quo of our inheritance tax rules - and about, what you might politely call ‘sub-optimal’ journalism🧵

YouTube video by Under The Apple Tree Sessions The Albion Christmas Band - 'Mad World' (cover) | UNDER THE APPLE TREE

It’s definitely a Mad World. #albionchristmastour www.albionchristmas.co.uk

#Sugarbabes on #SCD - the Trigger's Broom of pop.

I hate this fixture on that ground All too often, horses leave their season behind at this meeting.

White bread only for a bacon sarnie. Something spongy like a decent bloomer. Oh, and brown sauce, NEVER tomato ketchup.

Love watching Charlie ride.Presents a horse at a fence better than most, and never asks a horse to rush things.

Hendo will have him as ready as he needs to be for whichever races he runs in. It's hard to bring a horse to a peak early,even harder to keep him there,or bring him back for a second time in a season.NH is an absolute master with Champion Hurdle types.The gallop was no worse than OK, which is fine.

In reality, for many, above £3m - and nothing stops farmers passing down to offspring, potentially tax free, now if protecting the farm is the number one concern, not the fact that IHT may be payable, albeit at a lower rate than us mete mortals.

If your display name is something other than your real name it's going to make it very hard for people to search for you and for you to grow your reach. If you edit your profile and make your display name different to your handle you should gain followers.

Any more like that and I'll unfollow 😄