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DAVID CARR |
Weblog: What do you mean the Wi-Fi doesn't work? The life of a Racing Post reporter
Classic smiles from Rochdale to Doncaster
Camelot. Mythical home of King Arthur. Exquisitely rhymed with 'We eat ham and jam and spam a lot' in Monty Python & The Holy Grail.
And a great result on both sides of the Pennines today.
Wasn't just Aidan O'Brien smiling as the Ballydoyle colt got up in the last 100 yards to land the 2,000 Guineas this afternoon.
It made the day for one punter in Rochdale who, according to a press release, had apparently strolled into a Betfred betting shop last month to put £100,000 on him at 3-1.
To put that into context, the £300,000 he won was £86,000 more than the prize money that Camelot himself earned.
Plenty of cheering too at Doncaster, scene of the horse's victory in the Racing Post Trophy last autumn. No winner had gone on to land the Guineas since High Top and it's not obvious at this stage who'll prevent his becoming the first to land the Derby since Authorized.
Course officials are already dreaming of rolling out the red carpet to welcome him back to Town Moor to complete the triple crown in the St Leger.
But much as anybody over a certain age would love to see another Nijinsky, Coolmore did not become a hugely successful commercial breeding operation by letting sentiment get in the way of business decisions.
An unbeaten Guineas and Derby winner would be a priceless asset, a phenonemally attractive stallion prospect - whether they'd then elect to run him over 1m 6f 132 yards and risk his being thought a potential jumps sire remains to be seen.
More likely to be seen again at Doncaster are Eaon Reid and the 16 others who had a whale of a time on their trip down from Edinburgh for his stag weekend.
Or rather a lion, a crocodile, a monkey and a polar bear of a time. Those were among the fancy dress outfits organised by the best man - who is clearly an expert forecaster as they were just the thing to ward off the cold and rain.
They'd been at Musselburgh yesterday and rolled into their South Yorkshire motel at 3am after a 'lively' day yet Reid's father Robert was still in good enough form to do his bit for the Doncaster tourist board, declaring: "The people are absolutely fabulous here. We came to Doncaster for the racing and you have got a great place here."
And that was before he backed 12-1 winner Farlow. Though easy 1-5 winner Sendaril is the one who'll probably be remembered longest and this may prove to have been a useful training ground for the promising filly - she's bound for Royal Ascot so she needs to get used to people in unusual outfits.
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