Just as the racing was about to start, I got a charming email, which ended with good luck for the Aintree Day 1 selections. With some prescience, I thanked my subscriber for his kindness and then said that I feared, with magnificent hindsight, the Irish. The message pinged away and Mullins popped in a four-timer. Ah well, as my old nanny used to say when she’d run out of Gin, at least there’ll be more tomorrow.
One of the wormholes that sends me regular insider gossip on Grub Street, Grouchos, and the Garrick, has told me that the new CEO of The Jockey Club, is not widely missed in the corridors of Reach Plc. The announcement of former bookmaker and publisher, Jim Mullen’s move, had a much-noted reaction both on social media and in his offices, of unadulterated joy. During his six-year tenure, Mullen oversaw newsrooms close, buildings sold, thousands of job losses, a pay dispute, a strike, and journalists being told to hit page view targets. The wormhole has seen taped redundancy Zoom calls, where his relentlessly upbeat demeanour flew in the face of the misery he wreaked around him. I am assured that racecourse staff can expect a slew of jolly emails beginning “Hi folks”, which will then be followed by news of slim downs, closures, fixture transfers and job-losses as jobs are amalgamated or centralised. The market is 250–290 days.
For some reason this popped into my mind unbidden — it is one of my favourite mezzo-sopranos Joyce DiDonato performing Dido’s Lament, sometimes known as “Remember Me”.
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