A ‘Full House’ yesterday following a few moderate days, proof that sticking by this column rigidly makes sense. I moaned about moderate jockeyship, lack of information from Newcastle racetrack about alterations to the tapeta surface and other factors because it’s upsetting to think readers/punters aren’t getting a good service.
Of course I worry, thousands depend on my judgement and to suddenly produce a ‘trixie’ which yielded more than twenty points profit was a release of tension, even though Buckhorn Rocco obliged at 16/1 earlier this week.
It doesn’t concern me that some papers/publications have seen fit not to pay me for ‘services rendered’ but I’ll never withdraw the missives knowing you are profiting; money isn’t my main concern and never will be!
Percy Jones will not be a surprise if he causes one in division one of the Maiden Stakes over ten furlongs of Lingfield polytrack this morning even though Hughie Morrison’s twice-raced charge is drawn worst in eleven and might not be a 100% trier!
To qualify for handicaps, usually the objective for owners/trainers, a two-year-old needs to race three-times and Percy Jones will be qualified after mid-day!
It’s a bizarre situation to think ‘breakfast racing’ at this time of year is all about starting pre-noon but when Percy Jones goes to post, along with ten others, it will be 3 o’clock in some parts of the world where licensed bookmaking outlets will stream live action from the United Kingdom; many years ago I watched the English racing scene regularly immediately after breakfast in a Scarborough betting shop situated in Tobago among a seething mass of magnificent black humanity!
I remember walking into the premises, as racing correspondent for the Trinidad Guardian, and getting a cheer from locals who instantly recognised the only ‘white man’ who stuck out like a beacon; talk about laughter, the banter was priceless and I felt completely at home!
They were/are wonderful people in Trinidad and Tobago, not a hint of racism which nowadays is clouding relationships world-wide due to persistence of several high-profile sporting personalities/journalists who maintain they have been oppressed despite enjoying wonderful lives and becoming extremely rich.
No names will be mentioned in this column, you probably know who they are and I’m sickened to think humanity, especially in the United Kingdom, can be contaminated by the constant chronicling of such bigotry.
‘Soon I’ll come to the end of life’s journey’ (words of a hymn sung by Elvis Presley resonate through my mind) and I’ll remember being the attachment to so many ‘racing folk’ throughout the world as this chapter closes, so sad.
In the meantime it’s all about ‘Percy’ and whether trainer Hughie Morrison has him sufficiently fit and wound up mentally for a task well within his capabilities; whatever happens Percy Jones should pay to follow and don’t forget to keep a note of my losing naps, they invariably pop up eventually at good prices.
Selections, Lingfield, 11.40 Percy Jones (e.w); 12.10 Park Street (e.w); 1.55 Mick’s Spirit (e.w).
Jeffrey Ross, horse-racing correspondent for WMN since 1983 when winning the most prestigious racing journalist award, Sporting Life Naps Table, before winning it a record number of six times collectively in the Racing Post, the current ‘trade’ paper, including 2019