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DAVID CARR |
Weblog: What do you mean the Wi-Fi doesn't work? The life of a Racing Post reporter
Wolverhampton's rocking - for once
Saturday night's all right for racing. As Elton John would have sung if he were a regular at Dunstall Park.
Scarcely a punter to be seen at Wolverhampton on Thursday or Friday evening.
Tumbleweed blowing through the betting ring. Races taking place in near silence.
But Saturdays have been a hit ever since the floodlights were put up and another goodly throng braved the autumn chill for '70s v 80s night'.
Whose theme (I hope) explained the female racegoer by the paddock dressed in sheer leopardskin top and white hot pants.
Dave Hill appeared to be a more-than-fitting presenter of the prize for the fourth race - until it turned out not to be the Dave Hill from local 'Cum On Feel the Noise' band Slade but a lad who looked at least 40 years his junior and seemed never to have heard of his namesake.
No Slade but there was live music after racing from 'One Stop Boogie', who sounded just the guys for the job.
The self-proclaimed 'ultimate party band' advertise a 70s show which features an original Raleigh Chopper while the lead singer jumps out of a three-foot square Rubiks cube at the start of their 80s set (though that was small beer compared to the 'Moulin Rouge' show which apparently comes complete with working eight-foot windmill).
Got in the mood with a pre-racing visit to the RAF museum at Cosford, home to the world's oldest Spitfire and a Vulcan bomber among over 70 aircraft - if you like that sort of thing, it's the sort of thing you will like.
Astonishing for someone of my generation to visit the comprehensive National Cold War Exhibition. A real eye-opener to find that the stuff of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s is regarded as history nowadays, not current affairs.
Almost as eye-opening as what some people think is a worthwhile prize.
From Fontwell this afternoon, commentator Alan Howes tweeted: "Tommos 'lucky bucket' today, one of the lucky 'winners' won a tour of the local sewers courtesy of southern water #comeracing".
Happier payout was the third place money which Beckermet picked up this evening and which means that the evergreen sprinter - runner-up in the Wokingham at York back in 2005 - is just £650 shy of the remarkable landmark of £1/4 million in career earnings.
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