GALWAY 4 - GOODWOOD 3
Stupid staking, sheer greed, too many selections, a lack of decisive decision-making… no, I’m not talking about the numpties that pass themselves off as our representatives, but yesterday’s tips. Yes, we had the first five winners at Goodwood, but nothing with any real meat on the bones. We had a woeful day at Galway, with just the one winner who plummeted at the off from 11/2 to 7/2… the whole day was so near and yet so far, and despite winners aplenty, we still managed to show a small loss.
As an aside, my selections are generally placed in order of preference. You do not have to back them all - perhaps they might just support your own theories.
What was I thinking to have five selections in a race where the largest price was 17/2? The simple answer is that I’m either going potty or possibly - say the words quietly - making mistakes!
The good news, however, is that, according to scientists in HK, because everyone in Blighty born between 1945 and 1953 was subject to sugar rationing - as I was - we are all 23% less likely to suffer from dementia. Apparently, this absence of two chocolate Hob Nobs and a can of Coke as a child is not the cause of my mental aberration. Dear God, I hope it's not the Claret leading me to suggest five runners which would always show a loss regardless of outcome. Mea maxima culpa and pass the Kitkats.
I recovered enough from my angst to accept a very kind last-minute supper invite from a local chum, whose encyclopaedic knowledge of Debretts is second to none. I was delighted therefore to to tell me of the immense amount of fun I am having in reading Kenneth Rose’s diaries.
Rose worked for decades as a prominent Sunday Telegraph columnist and royal historian. His access to anyone and everyone of importance was unmatched. As a result, his personal journals offer a sharp, witty, and detailed look into 20th-century British high society and politics. Rose went to Repton, taught at Eton, and was almost an OE in his devotion to the institution. My chum would know at least half the children or grandchildren of everyone mentioned, so I am now hoping he buys it and can fill me in on the gory background details that might have stayed Rose’s hand. It is fascinating and is one of those rare books these days that actually makes one burst out laughing in public. (Volume One (1944–1979): Titled Who’s In, Who’s Out, covering the post-war world up to Margaret Thatcher’s election.Volume Two (1979–2014): Titled Who Loses, Who Wins, spanning the Thatcher years until Rose’s death).
As I gird my loins for Rounds 3 and 4 across our two great racing nations, I am aware that I have yet to give you my verdict on Ulysses - the new film. Simples. Go and see it.
DO NOT wait for it to appear on your TV, and do not go and see it in anything other than an IMAX-equipped cinema. Nolan filmed it in IMAX, and you will only get half the experience in anything less. That said, Madame had booked it and misinterpreted the position of the seats and the screen on the booking seat map. This meant that we sat in the front row of a film where the seats throbbed, the eardrums and eyes were all fried, and the sheer expanse of imagery was almost overwhelming.
And it was still brilliant.
Don’t get involved in Clever Dick’s questioning in Theatrical Gardener of whether it is a fair representation of so-and-so’s translation, or bastardises the original, or whether it is misogynistic or any of the other over-thought tosh I have seen and read. It is simply a long, brilliantly filmed epic, and I hate to use the word unwisely, on with an heroic scale. I couldn’t fault the casting; (background thought if Charlize Theron gave me “that” look and fed me Lotus, I would happily lose ten years and grow a shaggy beard if she told me to.) Bloody good storytelling using the best current technology. It isn't quite apò mēkhanês Theós (Deus ex machina if you will), but bloody close.
I looked everywhere in the credits to see if Prof Jason Arday, currently of Cambridge University, had played any part in the making, directing, acting, funding or writing of Ulysses and could see nothing to suggest he has. Perhaps, as with so many things in his life and in general - I missed it.
Spare a thought for Baroness Lawrence, who some might think has been poorly used as a stooge for the legal machinations of others. I hope and expect that no part of the £18m demand for the legal costs incurred by The Daily Mail will be foisted on her by Harry and Co.
Talking of sad endings, disappointing results, and a poor turn of events that might be considered, with hindsight, a waste of time, here are today’s tips.
