Could be good. Could be very good ...

The post in Newmarket is becoming very bad. (How's that for a boring first sentence?). A week or so ago I received a letter which was addressed to someone or other, c/o Henry Cecil, Warren Place, Moulton Road, Newmarket. And two letters correctly addressed to me have only arrived here after originally, according to the notes scribbled on the envelopes, being delivered to Rossdales Veterinary Practice and to Lanwades Stud in Kentford. How odd is that? Or is it just that the postmen are having a series of little jokes at the Henry's and my expense?

Someone else who seems to enjoy a joke at our expense (well, at Emma's and my expense, if not at Henry's) is Alice. It's been ever so wet, so this property is about as muddy as the Somme, March 1916. Most of the animals (bar Millyjean) manage to avoid getting too dirty most of the time, but Alice appeared in the house today just plastered in the blackest mud you'd find outside of Rotorua. We had to bathe her, to which I must say she submitted with surprisingly good grace. Probably because she was washed in Aloe Vera Dog Shampoo. So she's now about as clean as I was yesterday. (This blog is getting more boring by the sentence - Ed).

Yesterday I was, as you'll have gathered, by my standards very clean and well presented. The reason for this was because I was lucky enough to attend the Derby Awards lunch in the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. I was guest of Antony Harbidge, who takes a table as his works Christmas outing, and was conveyed there in the Darley troopmobile. That was the main reason for my being so clean, because the Darley cars come under the care of Cliff Wigham, who is the travelmeister par excellence, and one wouldn't consider enterring one of the cars under his care in anything but pristine condition. Cliff wasn't at the wheel yesterday, but there was no chance of our getting lost because he had given our driver Phil typically superb street-by-street instructions. As many of you will remember, Cliff's riding career never recovered from his being led up by Joff on the Luca Cumani-trained Lord Magister at Newmarket (Rowley Mile) in 1989, but he's thriving on his current role.

The lunch was great, as usual. And this year it was even better because we had a celebrity on our table. Peter Corbett, who is a familiar face to regular racegoers because of his paddocking duties, has recently had his fanbase hugely extended thanks to his starring role in the National Stud's Blakeney Club ad on TV. If you haven't seen it, just turn on your set (any channel) and leave it on for about half an hour: you'll be sure to see the ad two or threee times. Peter is the man who says "Every foal that's born could be good. (Pause) Could be very good. (Pause) Might just be great". So famous for this has he become that this was reflected in the name cards by the various place-settings on the table: 'Paul A', 'Paul W', 'John', 'Plummy bloke who says "Could be good. Could be very good. Might just be great"'...

Anyway, ours was a great table, and the speeches and presentations also made for first-rate entertainment. Geoff Lester made some joke which I didn't understand about not wanting to join Steve Mellish for lunch in the Piccadilly sushi bar - presumably Geoff doesn't like Japanese people, but one had to know that in advance to get the joke, which I didn't. Otherwise, it was laughs and/or tears all the way. Some of the video shows were fantastic. Seeing Mill House winning the Whitbread (1967? 1968?) under the Duke was great, and the shots of him walking back into the winner's enclosure made it easy to understand just what a very special, very great horse he was: he looked colossal, all power and quality. The Desert Orchid tribute was superb, and the Red Rum/Ginger McCain montage was outstanding. I was feeling slightly bashful about having tears wellling in my eyes by the end of it, until Ginger appeared on the stage and it became clear that that's the normal reaction to the film. Tim Richards' award as Journo Of The Year was very good, and his speech was typically excellent. What was so nice was that the bulk of it was a tribute to his deceased colleague Robert Pratt. It was very poignant to see Robert as one of the nominees for this award, and Will Hayler wrote a lovely tribute to him in the programme. I am saddened to say that I didn't know Robert at all, and I feel that my racing experience has been much the poorer for his absence from it. When he died, Tom O'Ryan wrote the most lovely obituary of him in the Racing Post, which made me realise what a special man he had been. When I saluted Tom on the piece the next time I saw him, he reiterated what a lovely man Robert had been, and asked me if I'd known him, to which I very regretfully had to say that I hadn't. Tim's speech further emphasised what a fine man he was, and I hope Robert was looking down on the gathering and appreciating just how highly his colleagues had valued him. And I hope that Tim too appreciated yesterday just how much people think of him and how pleased we all were to see him collect the award.

Looking ahead, I hope that later this week I might be able to watch some of the horses we met in Australia in action. Amazingly, and with no fanfare, Sky (Aus) has made its way back to the At The Races schedule. There's just a brief outline in the TV schedules in the Racing (yesterday it seems that Kyneton and Scone were shown!). It seems to come on between 2.30 and 5.30 in the morning, so that gives us the bulk of the afternoon's racing (1.30 to 4.30 in the south eastern states during daylight saving). Stoneage Romeo is nominated for Ballarat Thursday and Moonee Valley Friday. If he ends up taking the latter option his race won't be on because that'll be evening racing, but if Ballarat is the preference there's a strong chance his race will be shown. And then Monsam (whose lack of fitness first up even rated a mention on page two of last weekend's Winning Post) should be viewable at Pakenham on Friday. Having watched his dam win there in person eight years ago, it would be good to see him salute there (which he must have a great chance of doing) via live TV.

Before then, we have Timmy running at Kempton tomorrow. He's finally got in a race!!! (Three and a half months after the last time he managed that). He should go well. Unfortunately Brett can't ride him as he is committed to going to the other meeting, but Rab Havlin (birthday boy) will take the reins and if he rides him as well as he rode Jolizero at Warwick, then we'll have a horse ridden very well indeed. I hope we'll be able to make it up to Brett by legging him aboard Mozie Cat on Monday.