Good advice kindly meant - but ignored

It was a pleasant trip to Chelmsford this evening, not least for seeing a couple of splendid races from Royal Ascot on the TV once we were there.  Tommy finishing last at Nottingham on Monday had put a slight dampener on that outing, but Koreen finishing last tonight did not do much to dowse the enjoyment of today's venture, simply because my expectations were so low in advance.  They weren't low because I don't like the horse or because he wasn't in good condition (I do like him and he's in good shape) but because, as I explained in yesterday's chapter, I consider the mark of 70 which he bears to be unrealistically high, based on the form which he had shown in Britain (two runs in which he recorded Topspeed figures of 26 and 35).

If you go to a race considering your horse to be the worst handicapped horse in the race, it's hardly a disappointment or a surprise when you finish last.  On top of this lack of disappointment, there was the added bonus of a brahma.  I was interviewed by Derek Thompson in the parade ring, during which interview I explained that, while I would be delighted to be proved wrong, I was not expecting much from him because I considered him to be so badly handicapped.  And what happened?  That interview having gone out on the course's close-circuit TV channel (and, possibly, At The Races) there was a flood of money for Koreen, who shortened from 16/1 to 10/1 in the final five minutes before the race.  You can't help some people, can you?  You give them advice not to back the horse, and their response is to back him!

Until this happened, I'd been labouring under the misapprehension that, even if I'd achieved nothing else, I had at least developed over the years some sort of reputation for honesty. That, though, is clearly not the case, because those who backed him after hearing that interview presumably regard me as some sort of villain who was trying to 'put them away'.  Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!   Still, I can at least see the funny side of this - and, in fact, I'm happy to think that people think of me as some sort of criminal mastermind.  After all, if they are not doing that, they are presumably just believing me to be clueless!