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DAVID CARR |
Weblog: What do you mean the Wi-Fi doesn't work? The life of a Racing Post reporter
Owen steps on it to see winning Half
He didn't fly up by helicopter because he's a mad keen Steps fan and wanted to see them play after racing, did he?
You don't always have to be Hercules Poirot to spot the clues.
Michael Owen had been at Ascot in the afternoon to cheer Brown Panther on in the King George but hot-footed it up to Haydock, or rather hot-choppered it, to see Third Half, who was backed from 10-1 into 9-2 off course.
Those who took the hint were on a winner as the three-year-old paid for a litre or two of aviation fuel with a battling victory and her yard went on to earn enough for a tank or two by completing an 82-1 treble, though Richard Kingscote did his best to make it interesting by easing Deauville Prince off prematurely and only just holding on in the two-year-old maiden.
Trainer Tom Dascombe didn't reveal what he said to the jockey afterwards - but I suspect '5, 6, 7, 8' would have been the number of times his boot was applied to the rider's backside had he not hung on.
You could tell it was 'Steps' night by the look of the crowd, with a much higher percentage of women than usual - including a large group just past the winning post resplendent in bunny ears complete with flashing lights.
Concessions were made for those not used to visiting the track - as they went to post for the first, commentator Alan Howes made a point of mentioning the concert but said: "There are six horse races before then."
Of course, not everyone at Haydock tonight was of the generation to appreciate Steps.
Course chairman Bill Whittle would not exactly be their demographic, as he proved with a rather older cultural reference before the start of racing.
Spotting clerk of the course Kirkland Tellwright leaning over the rail of the weighing-room talking to me about the ground, he said: "You are like Norman Evans, over the garden wall."
A comparison which was not only dated, as Evans will have been dead for 50 years this November.
But also less than flattering to Mr T - the Rochdale comedian was a forerunner of Les Dawson, and he famously donned grotesque drag for his 'over the garden wall' routine.
Kirkland may not be George Clooney but I don't think he's exactly a hatchet-faced Lancastrian housewife either.
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