Baileys Blog Search
9th May 2020
It was plus 10 and dry again first thing this morning
I am not sure I can cope with all this socialising.
Thursday night clapping for the NHS and Care workers and yesterday VE75 celebrations.. all drinks were taken with social distancing measure in full place.. I think another email to Majestic or Goedhuis needed to replenish stocks..
Talking Care homes.. Vince Burmingham (shares in KBRP horses Commodore Barry, Does He Know, Silver Kayf, Arthurs Sixpence, Subway Surf and Hendra House) sent me this excellent video of his team looking after the old folk in his award winning Hendra House
Mat, Evelyn, Archie and I spent a most enjoyable hour last night wandering round the fields looking at all the horses.. how many winners did we predict?
In the mares field we saw Galante De Romay who is now on her second night out.. Peter is syndicating her and he has now only two shares left..One share has been sold to a new owner to KBR who lives in York..
It goes to show many are still hugely optimistic about the future of jump racing which is most encouraging..
Mat was not very complimentary about my new video selling pitch.. It was my first attempt and with the help of Maddie we will both become better at doing it..A low base to start?
Tim Caven who has shares in the KBRP horses Balleticon, Younevercall and Hendra House has kindly taken up the mantle of the Kim Bailey Racing Community spirit
Kim, reading the approach to racing described by Mark Stallard in the blog prompted me to think of how I became involved in the sport and why I continue so to be.
My earliest recollection was of acting as runner between my arthritic maternal Grandfather and the post box. Brown pre addressed envelopes went to Wm Hill. Occasionally similar would return and if so a distribution took place. This was strictly between the pair of us, as was my reward for cutting his grass at the age of 14 – a trip to the shed for a bottle of Bass Blue.
I remember clearly placing £5 on Anglo to win the National in ’66 – he obliged at 50-1. The next year Ollie the barman at the Belmont Hotel in Leicester had more on Foinavon - that Saturday night was a big one. Others followed but a pattern emerged, I clearly didn’t derive much pleasure from supporting favourites.
Moving swiftly through a few decades and I find myself married to the sister of a professional cricketer, now umpire. Sister I repeat as, David Bass is convinced my wife is in fact Nick Cook’s mother. I find too that I have an interest in three syndicated horses in training with yourself, something I’m sure would never have seemed remotely likely when Anglo did his bit.
Professionals in all arenas are nothing if not competitive. They, we, all expect to win, hate to loose and should this happen inevitably have a plausible explanation. If this is applied to horse racing you find, in my experience, some as my brother in law who study breeding, form and statistics religiously, thereby knowing for certain which horse will win every race they choose to take an interest in.
Others, like myself, approach the situation differently and look for patterns, go for names, wonder why so and so is going all the way to Perth with one horse, you know the sort of thing, perhaps rather cavalier.
It doesn’t always work, but when it does the reaction is worth every looser. Chase the Spud winning the Midlands National took Nick a lot of getting over. My dentist pal Bob caused great unrest, my grandson Arthur has had a few good moments too.
Most recently, and I’m not certain Nick knows this,The Racing Manager announced that a relative of Hendra House was entered for the Australian Oaks. The Ladies previous run earlier in April resulted in 8th place in a Grade 3 race on the same track. Why I questioned was La Falaise moving up to a Gd1? I couldn’t resist a small investment each way at 66-1 - a big field meant that 4th was good enough.
Events such as this are what brings so much pleasure to me from racing – along of course with the friendship and the banter and the general good humour and fellowship that you find around racing over obstacles. Long may it continue for us all.
Thanks Tim.
A cricketing question. What feat did Shane Warne achieve in Lahore in 1996?
To finish.. happy birthday to Lavinia Sidgwick..
Have a great Bank Hioliday weekend and see you on Monday!