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DAVID CARR |
Weblog: What do you mean the Wi-Fi doesn't work? The life of a Racing Post reporter
No T-shirts or shorts at Southwell
Talk about pointless. There can't be many more unnecessary notices than a couple on page four of the racecard at Southwell today.
"No T-shirts or casual shorts are permitted in the Premier Enclosure." And "We regret that barbeques are not permitted."
On just about the coldest day of the year. When anyone in T-shirt and shorts would be certified.
And your fingers were shivering too much to be able to strike a match to light a barbeque.
Just as race-reader Joe Rowntree's hands were that cold he kept double-clicking his stop-watch as the winner passed the post, so he had to start again and time the race off the DVD.
And the cold also caused the raceday presenter to drop the two glasses in a box which he was handing to the winning connections after the fifth race - fortunately he used to be a cricketer and he caught them before they hit the ground.
Yet there are many, many worse places to come to when the temperature drops. Not just because you know racing will be on when you set off and that there will be somethingwarm and nourishing when you get there.
Pasta bolognese today. With chips, of course. But because there is always something to write about. Such as the dozen enthusiastic members of the Elite Racing Club, which is celebrating its 20thanniversary year, who cheered as Sistine probably doubled her value with victory.
Not as a racehorse - her win in an amateur riders' handicap off a BHA rating of 59 does not mark her out as a money-spinner on the track. But as a broodmare - she is a half-sister to the dam of Racing Post Trophy winner Camelot and any kind of win made her very valuable for breeding purposes.
And money is what it is all about in what is as much a business as a sport.
No wonder Mark Brisbourne had a smile as he revealed that eight-time winner Belle Royale, who earned over £100,000 in prize-money after he bought her for just £800, has been sold to race in the USA for "an offer we couldn't turn down - six figures."
Nice place though it is, you need to win an awful lot of races at Southwell to make that.
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