Good price and a better bet lost in translation – well, pronunciation

British point-to-point commentators are occasionally exposed when it comes to correct pronunciation of Gaelic names.

Ni Sin E Mo Ainm has done more than enough damage, and it was a good while before the men on the mic realised Micheal Nolan’s first name was not pronounced Michael. Then there was the small bother of former rider Jeremy Mahot, a Frenchman whose surname was invariably pronounced Ma-Hot, rather than Ma-ho.

Following in Mahot’s Channel-hopping footsteps has come Nathan Vergne, who landed a first win at Cothelstone on Saturday. It came on a horse called Rien Du Tout who I had made a note of after he ran a promising race at Littlewindsor for his new stable a couple of weeks earlier. However, when the announcer at Cothelstone ran through runners and riders and pronounced “N Vern” as Rien Du Tout’s jockey I backed away. I assumed trainer Charlotte Budd was giving a total novice an opportunity, and she has form, for she once gave a journalist a ride in a charity race, and he finished last (well . . . we nearly caught one).