I can't believe Venetia has been named in this thread. She is utter genius. I was at Towcester one year and she turned up in her new free car, she was really perturbed at getting out on a muddy surface and you could see her thinking "I should have stayed at home". Yet she made fun of it in an interview on track stating, it could have been worse she could have bumped the car! One that I really dislike is Emma Spencer, if you ever see her on course she is a proper nose in the air type.
Reading through this list its pretty short isn't it which much mean that generally racing is pretty full of lovely people. I have to say that the ones that I have had dealings with and know reasonably well are generally nice, hard working people who absolutely love their horses. As with people from all walks of life they have their flaws and can sometimes disappoint you, none of us are perfect. Interesting to see the phrases "toff" and "silver spoon" bandied about. It seems that we forget that this sport has only in relatively recent times been anywhere near close to being accessible by the working man. Most trainers, including A O'Brien come from racing stock and generally that means the upper middle classes. Most will have had a public school upbringing and come from families that are very well to do and their owners will generally be family friends and business acquaintances. A lot of these trainers will also have close ties to real blue blood and several of course are titled. Its not a sin you know and doesn't make them bad people. More modern trainers have learned to adapt to the more modern owner. Successful businessmen and fat cat bankers have succeeded in distributing the wealth of the truly rich. Interesting that nobody has mentioned the Arabs yet they have been regularly maligned on these pages in the past.
The 2 people that have upset me the most are AOB and Dettori. Don't like loudmouths, so that brings in Harry Findlay
I did, it really pisses me off that we have to be grateful to Sheik Mo for access to racing on terrestrial tv. The easy ride he got from Channel 4 on the Goldolphin drugs scandal was nauseating. Interesting to hear from folk like PN who has rubbed shoulders with some of these people. I always thought that Gosden chap was a standout good egg based on his interviews on telly. Back in the day our cricket team had some connections with the Stoute stable and we played the odd match against his stable eleven (boosted by some fairly decent ringers). I have to say I found him to be right decent sport as was his stable jock at the time Walter Swinburn.
The whole aristocracy thing just pisses people of I think. You can see why. All people are equal just some are more equal than others and all that!
Unlike a Communist system where everyone is equal. 25 years since the Berlin wall came down it is worth remembering how "equal" Erich Honecker and his cronies were. Or how about our wonderful "free market capitalism" where the very few very rich just keep getting richer and richer, whilst global poverty increases at an alarming rate? How equal is Rich Ricci to the people who were put out of work by one of his "investment" decisions?
Oddy my man, I have a shock for you. According to the United Nations, the World Bank, and the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative, there has been a massive decrease in global poverty over the last three to four decades. It has just about halved since 1990. Roll on the free market.
Depends how you measure it Cyc - most people in China and India now earn $2 per month rather than $1 and there are fecking millions of them
Did you see the vid I posted on the "Have a Laugh" thread - with the Aussie anchorman interviewing the Dalai Llama? Briliant
Yeah, I've seen that before Oddy. The Dalai Llama appears to be a most humble man. He had no problems with not understanding the joke. He has a wonderful, sincere laugh. Nice and warm.
No particular order... Rich Ricci - Tediously annoying. Wears sunglasses in the winter and as made his fortune from the banking sector which automatically annoys Me. Derrick Smith - Out of the three lads he appears the most arrogant and smug. Whereas John Magnier and Michael Tabor are more reserved. Danny Mullins - I watch a fair few Cheltenham previews leading up to the festival and he as nothing good to say about anything English. His voice irritates Me not to mention he's mediocre ability in the saddle. Rishi Persad - Hopeless.
Most people in racing seem pretty good. I can believe Gosden is unbearable to some people but I like him. Compared with football and footballers Racing is a dream. I do have a problem with Warren and you can probably add Herbert to that. I don't like Ponsonby because of one thing, BTRB. Jeremy Tree was the best I've seen on the Turf. A rich gentleman who never lost the common touch and was a generous man with his time and his help. Jakie Astor wasn't far behind.
I'm throwing Gary Moore and Nigel Twiston Davies into the mix. Their interviews after IC's Gold cup and Sire de grugy's Champion Chase were pretty tawdry in my opinion - far more resentment than joy even thouigh everyone was delighted for them. Always thought Moore, in particular, has a huge chip on his shoulder. Fully endorse Barney on Simon Crissford and he would have been the first on my list. Prescott is an interesting one - I'm not a fan on the basis that he seems to be hailed as a genius for doing things that other trainers get labelled as being cheats for. But he does come across as an old school raconteur which amuses me.
Actually, in the interest of balance, NTD was great when asked which was better out of IC's GC win and his son's win in the foxhunters he looked at the presenter as if to say "are you really that stupid?" and said Sam without skipping a beat. I note nobody has said the dreadful Charlie Brooks - probably doesn't need saying!
He usually wins the carriage race down the straight mile run at Royal Ascot, before the ‘proper’ racing, starts every day. Over the years I’ve won a small fortune betting on the carriage that The Queen, God bless her and save her, and King Philip are sat in to come home first.
