From books to television, racing makes for great drama

I take heart from racing material turning up in non-racing books – everything from Throwaway winning the 1904 Ascot Gold Cup in James Joyce’s Ulysses to dear old Sooty Tern landing the Eric Simms Memorial at Brighton 93 years later. A sprightly ten-year-old then, he features in Breakfast in Brighton by Nigel Richardson.

Joyce must have researched tirelessly, bearing in mind that Ulysses was not published until 1922. Leopold Bloom, filling out the day in his lonely sojourn across Dublin, is the wandering Jew, accepted but hardly made welcome. He unwittingly tips Throwaway to Bantam Lyons, who is in turn dissuaded by Lenehan, no great friend of Bloom’s.

Throwaway started at 20-1 in a four-runner field because one of his rivals was the mighty Sceptre. Sadly, she was deteriorating at five and, following defeat in the Gold Cup, was retired. Blameless throughout, Bloom fails to back the winner himself but the others persuade themselves he is a sly individual who has put them away.