Nobody ever does racing-speak as well as the Irish. After his Munich recently showed improved form to win at the Curragh, the Irish trainer Eddie Lynam declared, ‘He works like a real machine at home — but until today he raced like a washing machine.’
I, too, woke up last Saturday with my back feeling as though I had been put through several cycles of an industrial-sized washing machine — the legacy of a youth misspent throwing javelins instead of reading improving books like Raceform — and if there is a time I don’t appreciate being forced to do my racing horizontally at home it is in the run-up to the Derby and Oaks. There really is no substitute at this time of year for getting to the track to see the three-year-olds in the flesh.
It is not just the Classic contenders either. The sage John Francome told Channel 4 viewers that he loved three-year-old handicaps.
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