Still crazy after all these years - Randall's racing madness

A pink carnation and a rolled up copy of The Times are traditionally just the job when strangers meet for a luncheon date, but Jeff Randall is confident he'll be easy to spot without either across a crowded bar at the Cheltenham Festival.

"I'll be the one sitting in the corner foaming at the mouth, my eyes will be swivelling and I'll be babbling nonsense," he assures me. I stress this isn't guaranteed to single him out at the festival but, true to his word, the doyen of newspaper and TV business correspondents is to be found gibbering in the most unbusinesslike fashion with a stiff drink and a Placepot ticket for company.

Randall may have been racing since childhood but he's still not immune to the frenzy. Luckily he has survived 45 years of the season's biggest meeting and can still speak coherently (this is before the first race, I should stress) about the impending arrival of a very significant landmark of the turf – his full house of 60 British racecourses visited.