|
DAVID CARR |
Weblog: What do you mean the Wi-Fi doesn't work? The life of a Racing Post reporter
Going with the Flo
Dangerous things phones, when you can get a line - which has been a problem this week.
When 50,000 people turn up and spend all day calling, texting and downloading on their mobiles, the airwaves gets rather clogged and connections are ridiculously hard to come by.
Trying to make or receive calls becomes a sort of Russian roulette. One played without even a single bullet in the gun at peak times.
Bet my colleague wished he'd not been able to get through when he phoned to get a Gold Cup preview quote on Weird Al and absent-mindedly dialled Ian Williams, from whom the horse was taken away last year.
Fortunately there was no reply and he left a message on the answer phone - which he swiftly followed with another, apologising for bringing up bad memories.
Shortly afterwards, John McCririck got a call in the noisy press room, clearly could make nothing out amid the general hubbub and ended up shouting "Who is it?" in a haranguing roar familiar to anyone who has seen Channel 4 racing.
"Oh, sorry boss" were his next words, delivered in a meek and mild style decidedly unfamiliar to anyone who has seen Channel 4 racing.
Big Mac has a rival in the hat stakes. Flat jockey Philip Makin found things a good deal colder as a spectator in the jumping world and ended up buying an extraordinary fur hat with large ear flaps to keep himself warm.
All-weather expert Simon Mapletoft went native on a rare excursion away from the likes of Southwell and Wolverhampton, with tweed waistcoat and jacket, though he was probably a good deal less uncomfortable than the poor unemployed actor who spent the whole dressed as a packet of Burts hand fried potato crisps (sea salted flavour, if you are interested).
He really ought to have been booked by the track to dress up as Superman in readiness for Big Buck's - though the course did have the nous to have the distinctive theme from the 1978 Christopher Reeve film blaring out as the star of the meeting so far returned to a huge reception after his fourth World Hurdle victory.
Not something you see every day. Nor was the sight of a horse doing repeated laps of honour in the winner's enclosure - by popular demand from a crowd who would not let him leave the stage.
Great result for racing, as was the announcement that St Asaph is to be made a city. Fitting recognition for the North Wales hamlet that gave the world commentator Darren Owen.
Though I should say that I was rather more taken by the result of the Byrne Group Plate, the race contested by the horse I had told punters in both Maghull and Pudsey last week was the best bet of the meeting.
Salut Flo must have had an awful lot in hand if he was able to defy the handicap of being that horse.
Comments