The Face of Our New Government

People seem puzzled that Michael Martin should abandon principle, precedent and the smooth progress of government to shove through this ludicrous deal with Lowry. Students of history know, however, that abandoning principles for power comes naturally to Fianna Fáil – going back to the oath of allegiance in the 1920s. That Lowry and his rag-tag cohort enabled FF to cement power meant that no request was too ludicrous to consider. The result of this farrago is to place this tainted sleeveen, this blot on the escutcheon of Tipperary front and centre in our proud new government. Its entire term of office will be tainted by this completely unnecessary stroke. If FG had any sense, it would pull the plug on the whole sorry saga.

 

Cheltenham 2025 – Day 4 and Conclusions

 

I’ve been gambling long enough to realise that whenever you have a good day, you think you are invincible and that can lead to giving back quickly your hard-earned winnings. I approached Day 4 with this in mind and had only two bets before racing started. I avoided the temptations of the first race the Triumph Hurdle – a host of inexperienced four-year-olds competing, with 11 of the runners coming from the Mullins stable. My caution was justified as an unraced horse of Mullins, Poniros, won at 100-1. In the second race, the County Hurdle, I liked the profile of Elliot’s horse Nadawi and thought he was overpriced at 25-1. He looked the winner two out but, inevitably, was caught by one of Mullins’ battalion (Kargese). Still a tidy profit at that price for my each way bet. I avoided the next few races, including the Gold Cup, which, like most people, assumed would be won by Galopin Des Champs. In retrospect, the fact that McManus supplemented the winner, Inothewayurthinkin (horrible name), for €33,000 should have elicited an each-way bet. But retrospect is no use to me so we move on. My other bet was Angel’s Dawn in the Hunter’s Chase at a very slim 3-1. I had been advised to back it by a close connection of the stable. Knowing it was my last bet of the meeting, I was wondering should I add to my modest stake. I was uneasy about the quickening ground so I rang my source. He confirmed my misgivings by saying that the ground wasn’t going to help. However, he told me, the stable’s other runner, an outsider called Wonderwall would love it and that he couldn’t believe the generous price. Now I have lost a lot of money over the years from inside information (Dermot Weld once put me horribly wrong about a good thing at Galway many years ago.), but I liked the look of the horse’s form and he had a featherweight. So I abandoned hope for Angels Dawn and had a decent bet on Wonderwall. He jumped beautifully throughout and took the lead from two out. He was pursued, ominously, by one of McManus’s after the last but held on by a diminishing neck. The crowd watching the race at Finnegan’s in Dalkey were left in no doubt that I’d backed a winner. He came in at 28-1. Angels Dawn finished down the field. This was the cherry on the icing on the cake of my Cheltenham.

Over four days, I had 17 winning bets (that includes profitable each way bets). An unheard-of statistic in 50 years of betting at the Festival. I wish my old buddy Donal Murray was still alive to enjoy my run – we shared our resources and insights every year. There were only three disasters:  State Man falling in the Champion Hurdle while I was counting my winnings; the wretched showing of Workahead in the Supreme Novices – he finished last despite being strongly fancied (I had him singly and coupled with my second William Munny); and the arrant failure of Maughreen to be facing in the right direction in the Mare’s Novice Hurdle when the tapes went up. That’s mares for you, and novices. Paddy Power very graciously refunded losing bets.

Cheltenham 2025 – Day 3 – The Stars Align

 

The day started disastrously with my fancy in the first race (Maughreen) facing the wrong way when the tapes went up – so she had no chance. (The starts have been a mess right through the meeting so far – big unwieldy fields all angling for position.) Paddy Power generously refunded my losing stake. However, I had been taken by the effusive praise for Air of Entitlement’s condition in the parade ring before the race so put a saver on De Bromhead’s horse at 16-1. She duly obliged, narrowly besting the favourite. Next up was the Novices Chase, not my favourite type of race, but I very much liked Paul Nichols Caldwell Potter so I backed him singly and also in my Yankee. He led from start to finish at the very decent price of 7-1. We’re on a roll. However, the next race was where I knew the stars were aligned in my favour. There were 24 runners in the Pertemps Final over 3 miles and I very much liked both Henderson runners – the favourite Jeriko Du Reponet (11-2) and the erratic but potentially well-handicapped Dodiethegreat (25-1) – for whom the added tongue-tie gave grounds for optimism. Both had been placed in good handicaps last time out and Nicky Henderson specialises in these high-class handicaps. The pair were always handy and came to the fore two out, pulling well clear after the last (see above). The long shot won me a decent amount, the second kept my each way Yankee going but crucially I had also backed the two in a reverse forecast that paid 144-1. Now you can relax, knowing that whatever rashness ensues, this is going to be a winning Cheltenham. I couldn’t separate Fact or File and Il Est Francais in the Ryanair Chase but backed the latter. He ran well but failed to stay and Fact or File was a most impressive winner. Next up was the Stayer’s Hurdle where I strongly fancied The Wallpark and backed it both singly and in my Yankee. My old favourite Bob Olinger was also running but its form had been spotty, and it was not proven over three files. However, I noted that it was being backed (from 20-1 to 8-1) and couldn’t bear the thought that such a proven Cheltenham horse would win without me – so I lobbed on a reasonable saver. Both ran well, the Wallpark finishing 3rd and Bob Olinger outstayed the warm favourite to win narrowly. I ignored the two concluding chases and retired from the fray, exhausted and elated. There were of course regrets. None of the three long-priced horses were in my Yankee. Had I put my four winners in a Yankee it would have yielded around €72,000. But any profitable day at Cheltenham is to be cherished and this was my best day ever (in 60 years) from that point of view.

Cheltenham 2025 – the Story So Far

This has been one of the most eventful Cheltenhams so far – with hot favourites (Marjborogh, Constitution Hill, Jonbon etc) failing and romantic stories abounding. My betting returns have been solid but unspectacular – two winners and lots of places. Prior to the Festival, I had been going through a prolonged period of seconditis (almost getting it right) – so much so that I began to halve my win bets and back everything each way. This seems to have worked well the first two days. The opening day is my favourite, and the opening race, the Supreme Novices Hurdle, my favourite race. Sure enough the very hot Mullins favourite won, but I had the second, William Munny, at 8-1. He was also in my each way Yankee. I just watched the next two races which were chases, I mostly focus on the hurdle races. In the Mares Hurdle I had another second – Jade De Grugy at 5-1. The next race was the Champion Hurdle and I had a very strong fancy for State Man (owned by my old classmate Joe Donnelly) – especially at the generous 10-1. He won it last year and there was widespread uncertainty about the short-priced favourite Constitution Hill. I had a decent single bet as well as having included it in my burgeoning Yankee. When Constitution Hill fell my bet suddenly became more promising and with the second favourite Brighterdayahead weakening from two out I was already calculating my winnings, and feeling that warm glow about being correct in my judgement. He was well clear at the last hurdle, but instead of just popping it, Townend inexplicably went for a long jump, clipped the top and went arse over tip. From woe to weal and after out of joy eh. Just to add salt and vinegar to the wound, the fourth horse in my Yankee, Haiti Coleurs, trained by the fragrant Rebecca Curtis, won the last race at 7-2. So while I didn’t lose on the day, I didn’t win as substantially as I coulda, shoulda.

 But you wipe the slate and get down to studying day 2. I did the usual Yankee and my anchor bet was Impose Toi at 13-2 in the Coral Cup – on whom I had a hefty each way bet. Jumping the last he looked the winner, but was caught on the run-in by a Mullins dark horse. Second again but quids in and Yankee intact. I know I shouldn’t bet in the Cross-Country but, as am I sentimentally attached to Henderson’s Mister Coffey, I had  included him in my each way Yankee. He gave me a good run for my money and plodded home in 5th -  which kept my Yankee intact as Paddy Power paid for 5 places. Next came the Two Mile Champion Chase and I had a decent bet on Marine Nationale – considering him a certainty to be at least placed. The hot favourite Jonbon jumped poorly after a slow start and my choice ran sweetly from start to finish and provided a poignant reminder of what might have been.  His erstwhile jockey was Michael O’Sullivan, tragically killed a few weeks earlier. Quids in and each way Yankee intact. The fourth and last leg of my Yankee was the most problematical – Jason Des Dames at 22-1. He is trained by Henry De Bromhead who has not been going well so far. However he has a tiny weight and surely Henry’s luck must change on a course where he has been so successful. He jumped well all the way around but when the going got tough between the last two fences he began to fade. However, there was a lot of fading going on and he managed to drag his weary arse into 5th place – just making the each way mark. Suddenly my each way Yankee made for a very decent day. 

King Lear at the Gate

 

It was refreshing to see a relatively conventional production of King Lear at the Gate, not the novel contemporary take, often trying too hard. Director Roxana Gilbert also avoided the United Nations casts that have become the norm (leading to speculation such as why Ophelia is from a different race to Laertes etc.). Ok, Kent was played by a woman, as was another male character (Oswald), but gender fluidity was common in Shakespeare’s time, so we’ll allow that. The costumes too were not trendily modern but rather an essay in what ancient Britons may have worn. The set design was abstract and striking, falling somewhere between Richard Gorman and Patrick Scott – but with strong rich reds and blacks predominating. Conleth Hill as Lear was mighty fine, as was Stuart Graham as Gloucester – mind you their similar white-beardedness could cause confusion for the ill attentive. The juicy parts of Goneril (Jolly Abraham) and Regan (Evan Gaffney) were also played with relish, and as usual goody-two-shoes Cordelia was left with the blander lines. If there was a weakness in a fine entertaining version, it was in the character of Edmond. The actor just seemed to lack the presence and substance of this prime mover of evil intent. Not bad in the part – just not quite right. The gouging out of Gloucester’s eyes (more pulling than gouging in this case), led to some incidental entertainment. When Edmond did the dreadful deed, he threw the removed eyes one by one on to the stage floor where they made a convincing plop. At the second plop, two middle-aged women sitting a few rows in front of me, of the dress-up-for-the-theatre type,  rose from their seats and marched out righteously – their body language suggesting that they were much affronted. They clearly hadn’t done their prep – it’s one of the best-known scenes in the play. King Lear is, as we know, a tragedy, but I wonder if some of the language has become risible in a modern context. A few times the audience burst into laughter at what seemed to me to be inappropriate times. (I did feel a repressed urge to chortle occasionally myself) One particular instance was when Edmond lay dying as he uttered the deathless words:

“Yet Edmund was belov’d.

The one the other poisoned for my sake,

And after slew herself.”

Cue an outburst of guffaws from the audience. Maybe it was the way the actor delivered the lines, bathos is pathos gone wrong.

Overall a fine night out at the theatre – all three hours of it (less intermission).