Thank goodness for the Midlands as mystery of the Tinkerman solved

Ever since Problem Child bolted up at Newbury I’ve carried with me a small yet highly significant statistic: the one that says Alzheimer’s is hereditary in five per cent of cases.

It was a long time ago, of course. Ron Smyth and Sir Peter O’Sullevan were still with us, Problem Child had shown nothing on the Flat and was making his debut over hurdles and my mother wanted a cup of tea. She always wanted a cup of tea and her face would light up when it arrived. She also thought there was a bus stop nearby with a regular service from Nailsea to Southampton. I have often wished for such a bus stop myself, whilst keeping quiet about it.

You’ll have worked out the rest. It was probably the only time in a long and chequered punting career that the line to Coral was busy – I tried twice – and in the background I could hear The Voice, a gentle yet insistent lapping of waves over light shale, building to a crescendo and calling Problem Child home at 25-1. "Good tea, boy," my mother said.