Forget Emily in Paris - it's all about Emily at Ascot for me

It is my birthday this week. I’ve reached the age of 52 and I’m feeling old. It’s stuff like having to go to the chiropractor every time I play golf that’s the most annoying, but I really start to feel my age when the King George at Ascot comes around.

Most racing fans and punters will tell you that they first got into racing by watching the Grand National. Not for me, it was Troy winning the King George in 1979 that got me hooked, and ever since then it has been the race I look forward to most each season.

That is why I dislike the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe so much. The younger horseracing generation have grown up with the Arc being the best middle-distance race in the world, but in my formative years, no-one really gave two hoots about some race in Paris in the autumn – it was all about the King George.