Rolled around the rafters of Twickenham on Saturday afternoon. Irish jigs aplenty…
England’s sweet chariot rooted to the spot…
Tallulah and I picked it up early. After the second Irish try, when there should have been totemic leadership and calls to battle, there was slumping of shoulders and wide eyed fear. Ireland were very good, England were abject…
All that talk of a Grand Slam decider in Paris seems very hollow now…
As ever, a happy gathering in the Cardinal Vaughan car park amongst great friends. Which is really what it is all about…
A fortnight tomorrow, and “The Greatest Show” will roar away for four days of madness and mayhem and brilliance and intense drama. The Cheltenham Festival. The Festival…
A fortnight of the phoney war now – all preparatory and sighting bullets have been fired, and now it is all about getting there on the day. The legging up of the jockey is the moment when you know that you have at least got to the races and you have a chance…
These final mornings are filled with anxiety for those charged with getting their horses into that gilded paddock. A cough out of place, a lame step, “he feels a little flat Guvnor”, a stone bruise, a hint of a snotty nose. Every morning that there is no raging disappointment is a good day in this game…
But it happens to us all. The dream ripped apart. The gut wrenching agony. The miserable telephone call that Owners dread. Tiptoeing. Text messages that effectively say that no news is good news. Because the physical call at this stage sets hearts racing, and worry coursing through the veins…
Right now, there will be those who are pondering an unexpected lump and bump on fragile legs. Something of nothing. Or something that wrecks it all….??
Inevitably there will be dull news in the days ahead. Markets turned upside down as news filters through that a star will be staying in his or her stable, and not having the chance to charge up that famous hill to glory…
Part and Parcel. Agonising. Tiptoeing. Why do we put ourselves through it all….??
Because the day of days might be upon us, and the day that defines, and that nobody can ever take away from you, is the reason that we batter on…
