‘After a few decades of marriage a man ought to be able to recognise his own wife,’ Mrs Oakley observed a little tartly last Saturday when I picked her up post-Goodwood from Reading station after patrolling the concourse for 15 minutes. But if a woman buys herself a beanie to keep out the rain and buries herself behind A Month in the Country in the station café’s furthest corner he might be excused. Well, I thought so anyway.
It has been excuses all round this week with three of our Twelve to Follow running unplaced while Brando, She Is No Lady and Mecca’s Angel all occupied the dreaded second place. Mecca’s Angel was particularly unlucky, having been carried across the course by the swerving Profitable, but after 15 minutes deliberating the stewards let him keep the race.
It is always hard to find winners in the first few weeks of the season proper, by which I mean Flat racing after jumping’s Sandown finale.
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