Lesson to self: don’t put a bet on in autumn

When things went wrong in his days running the Daily Mirror, the scoundrel Robert Maxwell used to shout: ‘Which effing idiot thought of doing that?’ Told once by a bolder-than-average subordinate that what proved to have been a disaster had been his own idea, he responded: ‘In that case what effing idiot let me do it?’

Thanks partly to generous layers who pay up to six places in Heritage handicaps, it has been a prosperous punting season for me but at Newbury last Saturday it was bookmakers 7 – Oakley nil and I have nobody to blame but myself. Every year I counsel myself to hold back as the autumn rains start changing the going and making a nonsense of form figures achieved on good to firm.

At this point of the season, too, racecards are flooded with over-the-top handicappers having one run too many because their owners are looking for a contribution towards their winter keep. Two-year-old fields swell with un-raced babies whose trainers are anxious to get a run into them before winter, whether they are ready or not.

Every year I counsel myself to hold back as the autumn rains start making a nonsense of form figures

It is a period to shelve the betting books and go racing purely to watch out for next season’s prospects but did I hell. In the first two races there were bankers, previous winners trained by Charlie Appleby, en route once again to be champion trainer and ridden by William Buick, crowned already as this year’s champion jockey. Both were hot favourites but Batal Dubai finished seventh of eight, and Striking Star last of nine on ground which churned from soft to heavy.