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DAVID CARR |
Weblog: What do you mean the Wi-Fi doesn't work? The life of a Racing Post reporter
From the sublime to the remarkable
Juddmonte International day. Yorkshire Oaks day. Genesis Wealth Management Handicap Chase day.
Yes, something of a change of pace. After two days at York comes an afternoon of summer jumping at Bangor.
Low-grade stuff - if you swept the board and landed all the win and place money available in each of the six races you would still havemade less than Prohibit collected on his own for finishing third in the Nunthorpe Stakes.
Yet this was probably the place to come to see something truly out of the ordinary.
For all the talent in action on the Knavesmire, there cannot have been a ride at the whole Ebor meeting to surpass Tony McCoy's effort on Golden Dream.
A real never-say-die effort, at work from halfway, five lengths down at the final fence yet he still got there - a conjuring trick to rival anything in Paul Daniels' repertoire.
Tim Vaughan had a double - no biggie after a treble and a four-timer on the previous two days, though he always does well here and after his second victory one regularquipped: "We have a cash machine at Bangor - it's called Tim Vaughan."
Barry Keniry did well just to get here in time to ride novice hurdle winner The Tiddly Tadpole. He had to make a hair-raising dash after long delays on the M6 and arrived 'with two seconds to spare' - though as a jump jockey he probably felt that meant he actually had one second in hand.
Those same M6 problems also delayed me - who'd have thought there would be roadworks on the alternative A49, so that I spent half an hour crawling through Warrington?
Yet the effort was worth it - you don't get hairdressing advice from the powers that be at York but you do at Bangor.
General manager Jeannie Chantler reckoned my locks were getting a shade long. Though she did admit it could be because I am now much darker on top - the artificial blonde highlights have had to be ditched as they were starting to clash with the natural grey.
She also revealed news of an unwelcome visitor to the track on the even of racing - a mole, who had the nerve to burrow into the pre-parade ring.
Coyness prevented her from spelling out the intruder's exact fate in her blog on the Bangor website.
She wrote "the perpetrator will not be creating any further hills in this area."
But I think it is fair to add he won't be doing it any other area either.
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