Fitzdares Times | issue 15 by Fitzdares

S B C R A C I N G B O O K M A K E R O F T H E Y E A R 2 0 2 0 • F I T Z D A R E S. C O M

CRAVEN IMAGES Richard Osman on his love of football WITH RORY FAIRFAX

HIGH LIFE George Scott on Noble Mission’s big day

F I F T E E N T H E D I T I O N, C H R I S T M A S 2 0 2 1 • N O U N D E R 2 1 s

FOOD DIARY The twelve tastiest months of the year

REAL POWER Tips for the top at the Oscars

BY WILLIAM WOLFE

BY JOE HODGSON

The four players who have brought Britain close to the top of world tennis again have all ploughed different furrows – but it’s the ploughing itself that sets them apart, says John Inverdale

MMA AND ANDY. CAM AND DAN . They could be pairs in Strictly or some Simon Cowell cobbledtogether band for a quick 18 months of fame. Instead they’re the quartet that, as 2021 nears its end, have suddenly made Britain a major tennis-playing nation again – two grand slam winners and two other ‘serious’ players in the men’s game. A year on from penning an article for another publication which began with the words, and I precis, “Oh well, it was fun while it lasted but let’s get used to a few years post-Murray of not much British interest in anything,” here we are pondering

what our Fab Four might or might not achieve in the coming months. And there’s something that links them all, which is probably where the England rugby coach Eddie Jones was coming from when he sounded that warning note about the pitfalls of fame that might confront Emma Raducanu in the future – a point incidentally backed up by Simona Halep a couple of days later. What our outstanding foursome have in common is a consummate work ethic, and an understanding that there’s no short cut to success. Emma may be 19, but she’s been playing tennis for 15 years – or more than three-

quarters of her life. Yes there’s been education and A-levels and other passing distractions along the way, but fundamentally she’s always been a tennis player, serving and volleying day and night for that moment, whenever it might come, when talent and hard work would collide, as they

While you were partying, Emma was serving. While you were half-cut drinking, she was half-volleying. She knows there’s no short cut.

did in an explosion of sporting pyrotechnics in New York. Dan Evans was going to be an ‘Emma’ once upon a time, heralded as the next big thing until he allowed oﬀ-court issues to discolour his talent, culminating in a yearlong ban for testing positive for cocaine in 2017. His solution on returning to the tour? To work so hard that he’s been on the cusp of the world’s top 20 – the kind of dogged competitor, with ﬂashing Federer-esque ground strokes, that nobody wants in their half of the draw. And then there’s Cam Norrie, British men’s No. 1. Watch him play and ask →

→ yourself some questions. What’s his signature stroke? How is he so good? How has he beaten so many people this year that he was in the end-of-year play-offs in Turin, albeit as a late replacement? And it’s the same answer of sorts, to all three. He is maximising every ounce of talent, never giving up on any ball, chasing even the most hopeless of causes. An example to all, whatever the discipline, whatever the sport. Which leaves us with Andy. Such a part of the sporting establishment now that he barely needs a second name. Written off by probably all of you reading this article. Be honest: wasn’t it you through the duration of the pandemic who kept saying, “He’ll never win another major title”? And yet as we look ahead, he’s probably more likely than either Nadal or Federer to achieve such a feat, especially with Roger unlikely to play until late summer next year. Still believing he could be tennis’s first bionic grand slam champion, if that hip and various other bits can hold together for a

The year of book making A very merry Christmas and thank you for your continued support. I hope you can steal a minute to read this paper over the coming holiday season. If not, it will make for excellent wrapping paper. It’s been a rollercoaster year but at least this time around there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I’m told 2022 is all about ‘human interaction’, which is millennial speak for 'getting out and about’. It’s therefore fitting that we’ve published our first book, a guide to, well, exactly that (see page 26). Please do grab a copy to help with next year’s adventures, or as the perfect stocking filler. The book is symbolic of our collective desire to get back to normal and I hope we all manage to do that – whatever normal means for you! With the arrival of more Fitzdares Clubs (including one just a few furlongs from Cheltenham) and our improved technology, we are doing everything we can to help in that fashion. Wishing you all a wonderful festive season and a happy new year ahead.

William Woodhams, CEO

fortnight. It won’t come easy, but it won’t be for want of trying. So I’d like to take you back to the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Ben Johnson and all that. Now there was a man taking a short cut to ultimately tainted success. I was in the Olympic Stadium as Daley Thompson ﬁnished fourth in his bid to retain his decathlon title. He was the man

Relentless, never-ending ground-stroke drills, rallies of 50 shots and more down the tramlines. Over and over again. who trained twice on Christmas Day because he knew his main rivals only trained once. The games of Flo-Jo (another short-cut taker) and for the second time Redgrave – a competitor whose middle name was workhorse. But my abiding memory of those Games was none of that. It was hot in Seoul. Not just hot – crazy hot. So hot that, as a keen runner in those days, I used to set my alarm for half past 5.30am to head oﬀ for a few miles before the humidity strangled us all. And every morning she was there, on the tennis courts beside our hotel. Chris Evert, in the twilight of her career, practising at 6am in pursuit of an elusive Olympic medal. Relentless, never-ending groundstroke drills, rallies of 50 shots and more down the tramlines. Over and over again. It was two years since her last Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, but there she was, still trading punches with her hitting partner like she was playing Martina a decade before. An unforgettable image, but it’s that attitude – especially in punishing individual sports – that sets the achievers apart from the might-have-beens. By 1988 Evert had nothing to prove to anyone – except herself.

ORE THAN 30 YEARS later, Andy Murray stands supreme, with all due respect to Fred Perry, as the greatest British player of all time. And yet he wants more, and he knows the only way to get it is to work hard. Harder. Dan Evans knows that potentially his best years may have been squandered by a lack of focus, so there’s only one thing for it. Work. And Cam Norrie was no gifted teenage superstar, but a talented player who went to university and then thought he’d give it a go as a pro, and he knows that he’s no Medvedev or Tsitsipas in terms of instinctive brilliance, but there’s more than one way to get to the top.

From far left: Dan Evans has cleaned up his act, Andy Murray has bounced back off the treatment table, and Cam Norrie has scampered up to world No 12

Which leaves us with Emma. Over the next few weeks, Covid permitting, most of you will be inhabiting party central in the run-up to Christmas. Winding down with a view to not winding up again until the middle of January. Which is when the Australian Open is. The ﬁrst Grand Slam tournament since New York. “Would you welcome on to the Rod Laver Arena, the US Open champion, from Great Britain, Emma Raducanu.” Imagine that. Aged 19, when 12 months earlier, all you could think about were your Maths and Economics A-levels. But the one thing you can be sure of, for all the legitimate concerns about her being

distracted by Tiﬀany and Sports Direct (an interesting combination), is that while you were partying, she was serving. While you were half-cut drinking, she was halfvolleying. She knows there’s no short cut. Her engrained work ethic, and its consequences, will be one of the fascinating sporting stories of 2022. But rest assured she most deﬁnitely does not want to be a Chesney Hawkes of tennis. What will drive her on through these winter months will be an insatiable desire to be more than just a “once and only”. n John Inverdale is our tennis Ambassador, and

a broadcaster for ITV and the BBC.

O U R T R I B U T E TO T H E B E S T B E T S, J U N E TO N O V E M B E R

MONDAY 28 JUNE INVESTED £200 SELECTION 3-3 draw @ 125/1

SUNDAY 31 OCTOBER INVESTED £250 EW TRIXIE SELECTION Hold That Taught @ 11/4 3:10 Carlisle Jason The Militant @ 5/1 3:15 Naas Test Of Firsts @ 7/2 4:15 Naas

France vs Switzerland, Euros

RETURNED £25,200 SUNDAY 25 JULY INVESTED £4,000 SELECTION Cameron Champ @ 16/1 3M Open

RETURNED £68,000 THURSDAY 2 SEPTEMBER INVESTED £25 REVERSE FORECAST SELECTION Snookered @ 13/2

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Lucky Robin @ 20/1 2:20 Sedgeﬁeld

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2021

WON

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04 SPEAKER’S CORNER Grant Harris

BLUE MONDAYS

HEN THE PANDEMIC MADE British racing take its foot off the pedal, it gave it an unprecedented opportunity to consider a radical overhaul of one of the major issues facing the industry. Did it take the chance to “build back better” or did it make the same mistakes – or even compound them? The 2022 fixture list, far from easing the pressure on those working in the industry, will instead make their lives and work/life balance that much worse. I accept that the total number of fixtures did not increase (although we still have to hear about the outcome of the Racing League discussions), but the spread of fixtures has changed, with even more fixtures scheduled during the summer weekends. With the publication of the fixture list came this quote: “The industry agreed objectives of the 2022 fixture list include encouraging racecourse attendances and driving revenues and engagement, whilst also being mindful of the impact on those servicing fixtures.” Mindful? According to the dictionary, mindful means “conscious or aware of something”. They may be conscious or aware; they just chose to ignore those who will be servicing the fixture list. They have added an additional eight Sunday afternoons and 10 Saturdays in the summer months to an already (over)crowded fixture list, and for good measure added evening meetings on the Thursday and Friday of the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend. National Association of Racing Staff (NARS) chief executive George McGrath spoke up against the sheer number of racing days next year: “It completely ignores the 7,000-plus staff that work in racing yards, it is a slap in the face to all of those working in the industry.” The industry talks a good game, telling us staff welfare is paramount with wellbeing surveys and so on. It lavishes praise on the way the staff look after horses when it needs a rebuttal to an incident that damages racing in the eyes of the wider public – but when it comes to taking action it’s, as Greta Thunberg says: “Blah, blah, blah!” Then came the news that the industry wants to increase the fixture list by stealth. Not more new fixtures, just nine-race cards becoming the norm on the all-weather. Really? Action is needed to stop the increasing number of fixtures in the summer months and races on the all-weather, otherwise we aren’t going to have enough staff to service the fixture list. So here’s my solution, and it’s not an original one, but it does seem to have been taken off the table: a blank day, or as they call it in the US, a dark day. I can’t believe there’s anyone actually working in racing who doesn’t think this is a good idea, other than those racecourses that have a fixture on a Monday and the betting industry. Trainers, jockeys, stable staff, box drivers and travelling

staff, BHA staff, betting industry staff. Give me the compelling case for racing on a Monday and I’ll line up any number of those working at the coal face who wouldn’t mind the odd day off in the summer, or at least knowing that after they’ve ridden out in the morning they haven’t got to go racing – just one day a week. And that’s all we’re talking about here. Is it too much to ask, for the sake of protecting those working in the industry that having worked the weekend they actually get a day off? Surely a blank day would enable staff rotas to be organised so that those who have to go racing on their weekend off get the day off in lieu that is part of the agreement signed by their national associations – the National Trainers Federation and NARS. As a compromise, so be it if we have to race on the odd bank holiday Monday, but do we really need to be racing every Monday afternoon? Sometimes less is more.

T Give me the compelling case for racing on a Monday and I’ll line up any number of those working at the coal face who wouldn’t mind the odd day off.

HE JUSTIFICATION for this “mission creep” is additional prize money. I don’t have the figures, but can someone remind me what percentage of horses actually win prize money? Or indeed how additional prize money helps the connections of those that don’t win or are placed? There isn’t much pool money for coming last in a low-grade handicap. As someone who is at the forefront of recruiting and retaining young people wishing to have a career in this industry, I find that time and time again the issue of work/life balance is a major talking point. Racing is still light years behind most other industries, whether we’re talking about working in the leisure sector or not. And look how the hospitality business is doing at the moment if you want to see what happens when young people decide they don’t want to work in an industry that doesn’t match their expectations of remuneration and working conditions. We are all aware that working with horses, despite modern training aids, still relies on people being willing to get up early in all weathers and actually ride horses. However, most people’s alarms don’t go off at 5am with no prospect of a lie-in day after day. All I ask is that we have a sensible debate about making this industry as attractive as possible to those who are willing to do this, because from where I’m sitting we either wake up and smell the coffee or we end up like other industries such as hospitality, having to hang up the “closed” sign because we don’t have the workforce willing to service the fixture list. And I suggest that time is now. n Grant Harris is CEO of The British Racing School.

Seven-day racing has left many in the industry under a cloud

We are dedicated to taking time: we wait, we learn, we perfect. Share the unique character of Glenfarclas this Christmas.

TIMES CHANGE BUT OUR SPIRIT HASN’T

WHATEVER GEORGE SCOTT ACHIEVES IN HIS TRAINING CAREER, THE MEMORIES OF A VERY SPECIAL DAY IN 2014 WILL TAKE SOME BEATING DEVELOPED A LOVE OF RACING when I was at school, watching a bit on TV and then having the odd cheeky bet. My great-grandfather was a point-to-point trainer, while on the other side of the family my grandfather was a starter. I also rode a lot when I was younger. Growing up, there were always horses around – given my competitive nature, I caught the racing bug easily when I was a teen. My career kick-started as an assistant to Michael Bell, but after three years I was really keen to go to America. Everything seemed to be bigger and better over there. Well, put it this way, there’s more money. I was also fascinated by racing on the dirt, so I spent the next few years on the east coast with my own division of horses at Belmont. The next stop was California, to become an assistant trainer. My US career was about to really take oﬀ… then the phone rang, out of the blue. It was David Loder, a great friend of Lady Cecil’s. He had called to say: “Jane Cecil wants to take the licence over following the death of Sir Henry. I have put you forward to be her assistant trainer.” At the time I was very happy in California, but it had been my dream to work for Sir Henry. This was too good an opportunity to turn down.

When I arrived at Warren Place, there were understand-

ably a lot of changes. Horses were leaving us left, right and centre. Thankfully, Prince Khalid stayed truly loyal to Jane throughout and kept all his runners with her. Initially, the plan was for his best horse, Noble Mission (Frankel’s full-brother), to move on. There was a breakdown in communications, though, as Juddmonte were selling him as a breeding prospect, whereas the trainer buying him was intending to run him as a racehorse. Suddenly, on the day he was meant to be leaving, I got a call saying: “He’s not leaving! We’re not selling him!” I had been in Dubai for a few days, going through all his previous racing form. They had been dropping him in at the back of the ﬁeld, but it was clear to me he wanted to be ridden

prominently and on the front end. James Doyle had just taken the job as Jane’s stable jockey and we both agreed to just let him gallop and take advantage of his enormous stride ahead of the Group 3 at Sandown, which connections agreed with. He was a great horse and wore his heart on his f***ing sleeve. Typically, you might get involved in some tactics in cer-

tain situations, but ultimately the jockey has to go out and make the decisions, especially with the guys riding in the big races. There are certain times where you want to have an input and other times where you just leave the jockeys to their own devices. Luckily James, Jane and I all agreed on the best way to ride Noble Mission. Aggressively. The ﬁnal race of his career was meant to be the Belmont Stakes in New York. He was all set to travel over and then we got a call right from the very top. Prince Khalid himself called

to say: “We’re going for the Champion Stakes.” After he’d run in France, James was absolutely adamant he didn’t need the hood any longer, as he was settling much better in his races. I said: “We can’t take the hood oﬀ now! We’ll look like idiots if he runs the whole way with his head in the air, racing with the choke out. He’s won two Group 1s [with the hood on].” We settled on the Japanese hood, which is more of a comfort thing as opposed to the conventional noise-cancelling hoods. We went to the Champion Stakes with the diﬀerent headgear and it ended up being an absolute classic. He battled nose-to-nose with Al Kazeem all the way up the home straight, and just when he had been joined… he got back up and won! There’s no way he would have done it with a conventional hood on. It was an unreal feeling. One of the great stories. That race really sticks out in my early training days. Now,

a decade on, I really love the attention to detail and the communication aspect of the trainer-owner relationship. That’s where I’d oﬀer the most value to any prospective owner, relatively speaking. It’s all about the journey you go on together. We’ve proved that we can train all sorts of horses, from sprinters to staying types, and we’re constantly looking to improve our quality and stock at the sales. There’s no stone left unturned when you have a horse in training with us. We are always searching for that star to take us to the next level and compete at the top table. If I wasn’t training, and I owned horses, three great friends of mine, Ed Crisford, James Ferguson and George Boughey, are all brilliant options. They’ve all clearly shown themselves to be excellent at what they do. They’ve all got a lot of energy and plenty of time for diﬀerent types of owners. Personally, I’d start with those three. In fact, I’d have a horse with each of them… and I really hope that will be the case one day! n George Scott has had his own yard in Newmarket since 2015,

enjoying success at home and abroad.

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I HAVE BEEN ASKED TO MARRY my culinary obsession with the major

sporting events of 2022. It’s nigh-on impossible to ﬁnd a new country and event for each month, but here is my best crack (France has two entries because, well, it’s France). Enjoy – and if you’d like more temptation for your palate, try my new book, more of which is on page 26…

F OOD CALENDAR by William Wolfe

JUN French Open Final, Paris Saturday 4 – Sunday 5

Like Venice, Paris has nine bad restaurants for every good one. Yet the greatest tourist trap of them all, Le Relais de l’Entrecôte, is a total masterpiece. Remember to ask for the ‘special wine list’ and keep room for pudding. You can even sit in Café de Flore and have your concierge queue for you!

JAN Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon Tuesday 9 – Sunday 6 (February)

JUL The Open, St Andrews Thursday 14 – Sunday 17

The two most delicious things I’ve ever tasted were in Africa: a sweet, garlicy sauce while aboard the giant Tusitiri dhow in Lamu, and a steak in Cape Town. However, the continent has also delivered my least favourite food: bobotie. It’s essentially a ‘curried meat, dried fruit and egg’ mega-mix of hate. Luckily, this is not available in Cameroon, where a prawn ndolé, accompanied by the excellent local music, is superb… I hear.

I have almost nothing to say about Scottish food. What I can recommend is that the only haggis you’re allowed to eat is served at the Caledonian Club in London. The venison carpaccio at the Fitzdares Club is also top-notch. AUG World Equestrian Games, Denmark Saturday 6 – Sunday 14

Yes, Noma is great. But what about the rest of Copenhagen? Well, I don’t like hot dogs or pickled herring, so the options are limited… bar the other 36 Michelin stars you can chase after. For a foodie, it’s a dream, but you’ll avoid dill for the rest of your life once you’re done.

FEB Winter Olympics, Beijing Friday 4 – Sunday 20

If you’ve ever passed through Beijing, it’s likely you’ll have had the local delicacy forced upon you: Peking duck, three ways. This, like all guidebook staples, is a massive disappointment. Never fear, the Four Seasons in Bayswater does an excellent duck, which, dare I say, works excellently with pancakes – the preferred method of an Englishman.

SEP Rugby World Cup Sevens, Cape Town Friday 9 – Sunday 11

It might have bobotie as its beacon of culinary traditions, but South Africa excels at one thing: steaks. They really are phenomenal, and most restaurants know what they’re doing.

MAR Cheltenham Festival Tuesday 15 – Friday 18

England, oh England. The most derided food in the world. Well, I have a secret for you. There is a small town in North Yorkshire called Osmotherley. In that town lies a small pub called the Golden Lion. Here you will ﬁnd the essence of English food. Simple white plates, great local ingredients and military simplicity. Eat there before you die.

OCT Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Longchamp Sunday 2

APR The Masters, Augusta Thursday 7 – Sunday 10

NOV Cricket T20 World Cup Final, Australia Sunday 13

We obsess over food and sport at Fitzdares, but I will admit we play second ﬁddle to at least one place: Augusta. No sporting event can compete with its purity and genius when it comes to food. For $60 you can buy the whole menu, which consists exclusively of sandwiches and beer. And it feeds 10! From caddies to billionaires, this egalitarian fayre is perfection and dearly loved by all. Take note, English sporting venues!

Australian food culture is legendary, and one restaurant in particular captures its spirit and charm. Post-lunch at Catalina on Rose Bay, you can watch as the sun sets over Sydney, as sea planes land and ferries jostle past. You’ll even forget the ﬁnal is in Melbourne…

MAY Champions League Final, Saint Petersburg Saturday 28

A night out in Russia is never forgotten. Well, actually, after 20 vodka shots you probably would forget. The Richard Caring of Moscow and Saint Petersburg is Arkady Novikov. However tempting the local food is, it’s always best to stick with his eponymous Italian and Asian chain.

Traditionally, I start my Arc de Triomphe day with one thing: Beef Wellington, either at the Fitzdares Club in London or at the best (only) English restaurant in Paris, L’Entente. It’s the most appropriate start to any day of thumping the French in their own back yard.

We obsess over food and sport at Fitzdares, but I will admit we play second fiddle to at least one place…

DEC FIFA World Cup Final, Doha Sunday 18

Loads of people are saying this will be the worst World Cup ever. Wrong time of year, too hot, no booze. Well, I intend to go for two reasons: 1. It’s the bloody World Cup, and 2. Doha has a Hakkasan. For those back at home, the threehour time diﬀerence works perfectly for long winter lunches. n William Wolfe is the author of our Guide to Excellent Living in London (see p. 26)

Meet Mr. William Wolfe. This Christmas, we welcome him to the The Fitzdares Family with his debut book, our guide to the best spots in London. Available at Jeeves of London stores, The Fitzdares Club and our online shop at www.fitzdares.com for £14.99

10 David Oatley thoroughly enjoyed life as a syndicate racehorse owner – but the group’s most outstanding

IRRESISTIBLE HORSE, IMMOVABLE OBJECT... FIRST MET HARRY HERBERT back in 2006, after I persuaded a friend to accompany me to a Highclere Open Day. Although my friend initially had little desire to buy a horse, we were both quickly sold on the idea. Soon thereafter, we entered our very first syndicate under Harry’s leadership. It was the beginning of something really special for me. Despite my friend dipping out after that first taste of ownership, I stuck with it. Although you only ever own a leg, or a hoof, you do feel very much like you’re part of a team, especially when you’re flying. Colony, our first one, was a wonderful horse – Ryan Moore’s first Royal Ascot winner. Martyr, a lovely colt, won at every age from two to six and even went off favourite for the Ebor. Needless to say, he didn’t fancy York. Then came Memory, trained by Richard Hannon Snr. In her two-year-old career, she won the Albany and the Cherry Hinton before disappointing slightly in the Moyglare over in Ireland. It was three wins and a defeat before she rested over the winter. That was enough for her to gain recognition as the Champion European two-year-old filly of the year. Having a horse in training with Richard was a brilliant experience. Some of the days on the course were marvellous, and we were always entertained in equal measure off the course. Going into her three-year-old career, we were full of hope. That’s always the case at Highclere, such is their glass-half-full spirit. In Memory, we knew we had a special one on our hands. However, ownership is never straightforward. Richard, being as honest as he was, had always made it clear that she was, to put it bluntly, an absolute cow at home. She had all sorts of strange character traits, from sitting down on her bucket to rubbing her backside against the wall. No matter how much effort Richard’s groom put into brushing her tail, it was often half-length. You don’t need a long tail to win a race – but Memory’s behaviour would prove to be an omen. Like all mavericks, she was incredibly exciting to watch. Her style was laid back but devastating. She’d always be slow out of the stalls but somehow manage to rouse herself for the big finish. In the Albany, she broke four lengths last of the 23 runners over just six furlongs, yet still managed to get her nose in front when it mattered. In the Cherry Hinton, she clung to the rail before Richard Hughes pulled her four wide and flew home. With just a furlong and

a half she was dead last. Come the finishing post, she had left them for dead. On the bridle. In a Group Two. Sensational. When she finished down the field in the Moyglare after being the hot favourite, I noticed in the paddock after the race that she wouldn’t blow a candle out. You haven’t tried an inch, I thought to myself. Unlike the other races, she didn’t play ball that day. We still went into the winter with very high hopes and she had been working exceptionally well at home. On the gallops she had been leaving other good horses standing. She was the boss. Next stop: 1000 Guineas. She had been well backed in the antepost market through the winter. Then, in the week before the race, there was a deluge of money for her. On the morning of the Guineas she opened up as the 5/1 favourite in a packed field. To my mind, she was a worthy jolly, despite her previous troubles – although from my experience, if a filly has a temperament it always tends to get worse. Unlike many of my fellow syndicate members, there was part of me that thought we were walking on a tightrope – even if she was the best horse. Given that she was well fancied, and in typical Highclere fashion, we did the day in style. It started with breakfast at the Jockey Club rooms, a place that has always had me in awe. Over the years I’ve had several wonderful Highclere dinners there with many of my racing heroes. You can’t put a price on something like that. Everyone in the syndicate had turned up at Newmarket, all full of anticipation. All the members were buzzing. We took up our various positions, waiting for this historic race. I decided to take myself away from most of the other syndicates, practically on to the roof of the main stand at Newmarket, where there’s a stunning viewing area. I had my binoculars trained on the horses. It’s the rarest of treats to have a favourite in a Classic – the most excited I had ever been on the racecourse, even without having had a proper bet. In fact, I rarely tend to punt my horses. Why would I want to have three or four hundred quid on a horse I own that’s favourite for the Guineas? If you haven’t got enough adrenaline circulating round your body, you shouldn’t be in the game. (Well, I did have a little ante-post bet at 25/1!) NYWAY… THE STALLS OPENED. Momentarily, I wasn’t certain what happened. My heart was pumping. I was searching for her, in the midst of a flurry of hooves. And then the commentator opened his mouth. Memory hadn’t come out of the stalls. I immediately trained my binoculars to find her. After half a furlong of the race, she gently ambled her way out on to the course. She didn’t stand a chance of chasing them down – not that she wanted to. Her previous form of being slowly away had become a ‘Sod this, I’m not doing it’. I was devastated as she cantered gently down the track in her own time. It was the lowest moment I’ve ever had on a racecourse. The expectations were sky-high. It was dismal. I’m never going to have a horse with a chance in a Classic again; not a favourite’s chance anyway. We tried to make plans for her next move, but her career inevitably petered out. A decent showing in the Coronation Stakes was followed by another no-show in the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket. I remember watching her go down to post like a lobster. It was painful. Sure enough, she decided not to race at all. And we called it a day. If there ever was a silver lining, she has proved to be a rather successful mare to a very famous owner… n

David Oatley continues to be an avid fan of the sport of kings.

11 prospect had no intention of providing a fairytale ending

IT’S BEEN REAL Most of this season’s Oscar contenders are based on real events, says eternal dreamer Joe Hodgson Cumberbatch-starring western The Power of the Dog could be the one to establish some late awards-based momentum. There is already a clear favourite,

Best Actor

There is a regal front-runner in the

Will Smith 1/2

Best Actress category too, where Kristen Stewart currently pips the field on the back of her portrayal of Princess Diana in Pablo Larraín’s biopic, Spencer. Although Stewart’s performance was almost uniformly praised, the surrounding film left many critics befuddled, which may affect the Twilight star’s chances of Academy glory. Eager to usurp her will be Nicole Kidman, whose performance as actress Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos is generating buzz of all hues. And there could be three in this particular marriage if Lady Gaga’s turn as Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci is considered sufficiently fashionable. Hmm. It seems clear that in order to get ahead in best acting nominations these days it is better to portray a real person in a film, rather than a fictional one. Perhaps that’s why Daniel Craig has yet to reply to my request to play the lead role of Article Man in my movie? n

OSCARSODDS

OLLOWING a tumultuous period for Hollywood, some things are now, happily, getting back to normal. Daniel Craig’s tight, granite pout, for example, has encouraged hordes of people to return to cinemas, eager to see if rumours of an unexpected ending for James Bond are true. (Spoiler: no, he wasn’t a ghost all along.) But despite that boost, there remains a feeling that this is an industry in transition. The balance between cinema releases and streaming services is still precarious. And the mixed box-oﬃce and critical response to Eternals has led some to speculate that the vast appeal of comic-book adaptations – a genre that has underpinned the business for the past decade or so – might ﬁnally be on the wane.

Will Smith is a hot favourite for Best Actor for his role as the father of the Williams sisters in ‘King Richard’

I hope this isn’t the case, because I’ve

If what everyone actually wants is another helping of true grit, then Jane Campion’s western The Power of the Dog could be the one.

just finished writing my own comicbook superhero screenplay. Article Man is a CGI-heavy blockbuster origin story about Kevin Article, a struggling writer, who, after sustaining a nasty paper-cut from a newspaper thinkpiece about lasers, suddenly finds he can write pithy, cogently argued articles on a wide range of subjects… as well as being able to fire lasers at evil-doers directly from his fingertips. Obviously Article Man won’t be ready in time for next year’s Academy Awards ceremony on 27 March, which is an enormous shame, because my script contains a subtle autobiographical element that would have seen it very much at home among this season’s contenders for the top gongs.

Denis Villeneuve 9/1

however, in the Best Actor category. When I first heard that the lead role in King Richard would be played by Will Smith, I hurtled on to social media to promulgate my righteous outrage. How on earth, I frothed, could a man who was ‘iiiiiin West Philadelphia born and raised’ accurately portray a king of England?! And to which King Richard were they referring?! Richard the Lionheart? Or the stars of the more complex sequels: Richard II and Richard III?! Several weeks later, I learned that the film was actually about the life of celebrated tennis patriarch Richard Williams – father of Venus and Serena – though, in the end I decided not to delete my inaccurate Twitter thread as it had received a record four likes. Despite the fact the biopic has stumbled at the box office – where a simultaneous HBO Max release may have been a factor – and some people have grumbled about the film’s focus on Richard and not his remarkable sporting daughters (even though Venus and Serena fully endorsed the project), it’s hard not see to Big Willie improve upon his previous two Best Actor nominations and lift the coveted golden statuette next March.

Currently leading the ﬁeld of

potential winners in the Best Picture category is Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast. Written and directed by the classical actor, the ﬁlm is based on memories of his early life in Northern Ireland amid the Troubles. Shot in black and white, it unfurls in episodic fashion to a soundtrack of Van Morrison songs. While the ﬁlm may prove to be a career highlight for Branagh the director, my suspicion is that it will ultimately fail to triumph at the 94th incarnation of the Academy Awards. There does seem to be a trend for reminiscences of youth this year, but Belfast feels at times like a calculated exercise in ‘How to Get Ahead in Film Award Nominations’ – and its overall aesthetic appears ‘borrowed’ wholesale from Alfonso Cuarón’s 2018 childhood remembrance picture Roma, which, despite a lot of support, also failed to land the big prize. My crystal ball of mixed metaphors

is hinting that the pendulum of favour may swing decisively towards the scent of the early-1970s-set coming-ofage romance Licorice Pizza. (If you thought the ‘Does pineapple belong on a pizza?’ debate was vicious, the ‘Does licorice belong on a pizza?’ discourse is going to be absolutely unhinged.) Licorice Pizza (the title actually refers to a long gone chain of Californian record stores) is a ﬁlm laden with choice toppings. It is written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread), who has received eight Academy Award nominations but is yet to pick up a win. It stars, in his screen debut, the son of a lauded Oscar winner, the late

Best Picture Belfast 3/1 The Power of the Dog 5/1 Licorice Pizza 10/1 House of Gucci 10/1 Dune 14/1 King Richard 16/1 Best Director Jane Campion 7/4 Kenneth Branagh 7/1 Paul Thomas Anderson 8/1 Gullermo del Toro 9/1

Benedict Cumberbatch 9/1 Denzel Washington 12/1 Leonardo DiCaprio 16/1 Bradley Cooper 16/1 Best Actress Kristen Stewart 4/9 Jessica Chastain 7/1 Lady Gaga 7/1 Penelope Cruz 11/1 Nicole Kidman 12/1

Philip Seymour Hoffman. And the action takes place in the San Fernando Valley district of Los Angeles – where the writer and director also grew-up – which will appeal to Academy voters, because that’s where they all live and nibble their shredded cauliflower leaves while playing rounds of macrobiotic golf. After last year’s gritty winner Nomadland, I feel the cinematic rendering of a lighter, simpler, and sunnier time might find favour this year. And if I’m completely wrong, and what everyone actually wants is another helping of challenging grit, then Jane Campion’s Benedict

Joe Hodgson is a writer who contributes

to The Fitzdares Times in print and online.

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14 Ben Pauling has tasted a fair amount of success in his relatively short career, working under Nicky Henry Beesley asks him how he got into training and rose through the ranks.

Ben Pauling has tasted a fair amount of success in his relatively short career, working for Nicky Henderson How did you get into training horses? Did you come from a racing background? My father and grandfather used to train point-to-pointers, so from a young age I was exposed to the beauty and wonder of horses. Initially, all I wanted to do was to ride in point-topoints myself, which I did from about 16 to 21. Then I damaged my right eye. It was a huge shock and drew a very firm line through my riding career. I suppose that life-altering moment really fuelled my hunger to be involved within the industry. Training, therefore, quickly became my main goal. Very shortly after finishing university I went to work for Dave Redvers, before I eventually became assistant to Nicky Henderson at Seven Barrows. What was it like working for Nicky Henderson? Tell us more about the later years with some of those top-class horses. Working for Nicky was a rich learning experience and provided me with the perfect platform to embark upon a training career of my own. The final few years at Seven Barrows were absolutely incredible. I was so fortunate to be there at a time when Nicky had probably the best bunch of horses he’s ever had at any one stage. From Sprinter Sacre to Simonsig, Bobs Worth to Long Run, the list is endless! We had so many classy individuals in the yard. The year before I left, we had the ‘magnificent seven’ at Cheltenham, before seven more winners at the Grand National meeting at Aintree. It was an incredible time. You always hope when you’re in a yard of that calibre and you’re

heading into the Festival with four or ﬁve favourites that you’re going to bag a couple of winners – but you don’t dare dream of winning seven. To then go and follow up at Aintree was just out of this world. The year after that, Nicky then won the trainers’ title for the ﬁrst time in years, having wrestled it back from Paul Nicholls. That gave everyone in the yard a huge amount of satisfaction and for Nicky, having won it earlier in his career and then waiting such a long time, it was pretty damn special.

‘Sprinter Sacre to Simonsig, Bobs Worth to Long Run, the list is endless! We had so many classy individuals in the yard.’ Has anything changed significantly in your training methods since you started out? I learnt so much from Nicky and try to use that in my own training methods, so we don’t do a lot of work at home oﬀ the bridle with our horses. We train them to feel very well in themselves. They’re all in good health and all I really try to do with our regime is tailor it to the individual. For those horses that get a bit lighter with racing, you wouldn’t be so hard on them, for example. Naturally, we’re always looking to improve. We’ve tweaked a few things this season. We’re done a lot more work ‘upsides’, for example, to get the horses used to relaxing more when upsides another horse. Hopefully they’ll travel better throughout

their races and not do too much too early. The early signs were good as we had our best ever start to a season. Are you someone who likes to give their jockeys detailed instructions? I find that with those better horses, the jockey often forms a greater relationship with the horse. It’s likely that he knows the horse even better than I do in those bigger races. It’s probably those slightly quirkier horses that need a little bit more thought during lower-profile meetings. Ultimately, though, my job is to get the horses fit. We’ve got a great team of stable jockeys with Kielan [Woods] and Luca [Morgan] and their job is to get it right when they’re on the track. That’s how we tend to operate. Speaking of big races, what was it like watching Le Breuil outbattle Discorama in the attritional 2019 National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham? Any time you watch your horse jump the last in front at any of the major festivals, it’s an incredible feeling. At Cheltenham, we’ve had three horses jump the last in contention and been on the right side of it twice and the wrong side once. It’s a vastly different feeling, depending on the outcome. But with that race, it’s such a long way – it was four miles! So you try not to get too excited, but he was jumping and travelling fantastically well, and he had a lovely position throughout. Coming down the hill, it looked like he was the first to come under pressure, but once he jumped the last we knew he stayed for ever and was sure to go close.

15 Henderson and then with his own stable.

Left: Le Breuil pulls ahead of Discorama at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival. Above: Ben Pauling after Le Breuil’s win. Below: Glory for Simonsig at Cheltenham in 2013.

and then with his own stable. Henry Beesley asks him how he got into training and rose through the ranks Being our second Festival winner, we were able to enjoy this one a lot more. That ﬁrst one you just want it so badly, so it is more of a relief, but we really enjoyed this one. Has there been a moment where you’ve really struggled for winners? Do you change anything during these times? Two years ago, we obviously had some sort of virus in the yard. It wasn’t detectable from every test we did, but it was clear that the horses just weren’t quite right. They were blowing very hard oﬀ limited exercise and they were just falling in a hole in their races. It was particularly frustrating given we’d had such a positive start to our training career. It was a real eye-opener for me of the joys of racehorse training. This

game knows how to keep you grounded. We managed to learn how to train with the virus to an extent. Kildisart, for example, just got chinned at the Festival that year and I actually think that was one of our best training performances, to get a horse there who wasn’t 100 per cent and very nearly win a Festival race. But, you really can’t change anything. You just have to ride it out. It was a very tough time, though. It’s always dreadful when the horses aren’t running well – I genuinely wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Coming out the other side of moments like that deﬁnitely makes you stronger. Why would one pick you over another trainer? We’re a very approachable yard. Everyone is very pleasant and

polite. Early on, we had some high-proﬁle winners, which always helps as ultimately people want to send their horses to someone who can train winners on the biggest stage. I think we’ve proved ourselves to be adept at training good horses – and we know how to train a bad horse! We’re never going to be a yard that sends out horses week after week after week. We train maybe more traditionally, in the sense that we give them a bit of time between races, and as such, touch wood, we have a very low turnover rate regarding injuries. We have a lot of fun, a great bunch of people and I think, given the right ammunition, we’re able to train horses at the highest level, whilst keeping owners involved at every stage. n Ben Pauling is a jumps trainer and Fitzdares Ambassador.

SEVE N BAR R O W S ’ S E V ENTH HEAVEN Ben was part of a golden era at the Nicky Henderson yard, which culminated in a magnificent seven winners at the 2012 Cheltenham Festival Sprinter Sacre Arkle Challenge Trophy The week got off to the best possible start when the future dual Champion Chaser obliged at odds on to deliver the Arkle.

Simonsig Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle The classy grey turned the day two opener into a procession when winning at the Festival for the first time to reward favourite backers.

Bobs Worth RSA Chase The future Gold Cup winner landed a third success for the Seven Barrows team when scoring in the RSA.

Finian’s Rainbow Queen Mother Champion Chase It got even better when the talented gelding got up to land the feature race on day two from Sizing Europe.

Une Artiste Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle It was an incredible fifth winner of the week for the Henderson team as Jeremiah McGrath steered Une Artiste to success at a massive price.

Riverside Theatre Ryanair Chase A no-nonsense ride from stable jockey Barry Geraghty was enough to lift Riverside Theatre to the prize in a powerpacked finish.

Bellvano Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Chase The Festival ended in perfect style as Henderson won the final contest of the meeting in a race named in honour of his late father.

A FAMILY STORY Yasmin and Amber Le Bon wear Be Boodles

THE SATURDAY

Pointless creator Richard Osman has followed up his TV success with two huge-selling thrillers – but, he tells Rory Fairfax, he’ll always find time for the beautiful game Rory Fairfax: You’ve had a remarkable two years, with two bestselling novels out and a third on the way. That doesn’t leave much time for the one thing that matters, though… how often do you get yourself down to the Cottage? Richard Osman: I’ve been a season ticket holder for as many years as I can remember, but recently they shut down the stand I’ve always sat in, the Riverside. Instead, they’re building this extraordinary new place with a rooftop pool. I’m there for half the matches these days, but it used to be every game for many, many years. RF: Which must mean you were at that Juventus game… RO: Oh my God, yes. RF: That’s what we want to hear about. RO: Well, there were zero pre-match nerves because we knew there was absolutely no way we were going to win. Down 3-1 from the first leg, we just thought it would be a bit of fun to go and see Juve. When they [Juventus] scored the first goal, that was that. The turnaround was probably the most extraordinary thing I’ve ever seen. My friend, a Liverpool fan, said it was probably the greatest match he’d ever been to. RF: I’d go along with that. It was up there with one of the best matches I’ve ever watched, so I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like as an actual fan. R0: The noise, the atmosphere, the tears. Generations of Fulham fans who hadn’t seen anything like it. That’s why we watch sport. Normally you can predict what’s going to happen in that scenario – that’s what you guys do, and that’s why you make money. But I’ve been trudging along every Wednesday and Saturday for 20 years because of moments like that. And when it does happen, it means even more because it is so unexpected. RF: You’ve touched on something more profound than just the scoreline. What is it about football that grips us so tightly? RO: I’d argue, purely from a practical standpoint, that football is the greatest sport in the world. Given a level playing field, a ball and two sets of goalposts, anyone can play. It’s always been a working man’s game, stemming from factories and workstations over a century ago, before turning professional rapidly. So, it’s in our DNA. There are really no barriers to playing. If you’re in India, you can play cricket wherever you want because of the weather, but not here. Rugby is impossible to organise at short notice. Tennis and golf are prohibitively expensive. With my TV producer’s hat on, football’s format just works. RF: And yet, despite capturing our imagination, most football fans suffer quite regularly. As an Arsenal fan, you probably

think I live in the land of luxury but it’s just endless disappointment, relatively speaking. RO: All football fans think other clubs’ fans live in the land of luxury. Most fans probably think we do over at Fulham. You can’t just look up and compare your team to a better one. There are many behind you who would just love to be in your position. We’ve been to the lowest, darkest depths of the Football League. RF: On that note, we were having an internal debate the other day about whether, as a fan, you’d rather always be top of the Championship and never promoted or bottom of the Premier League and never relegated. Where do you side on that one? RO: It’s fascinating because we had 14 seasons in the Premier League, watching the best players in the world visit Craven Cottage. Occasionally, you’d beat Liverpool or United and it would be an unforgettable afternoon. Yet in the Championship you’re watching incredibly competitive football and it’s far more emotional in the stands. It’s just more fun. But, let’s face it, that’s because of the prize. Watching Mo Salah in the ﬂesh at your local club, Kevin de Bruyne waiting to take a corner right in front of you. That’s the prize. We’re a bit of a yo-yo club these days, but we are fortunate that the owners back the team. When we do go down, they don’t panic. Hopefully, we are building a legacy that will enable us to stay in the Premier League for another 14 seasons or more. RF: That idea of aspiration in football really strikes a chord, especially in the context of the Super League that was mooted in April. What they wanted was to protect their clubs’ status at the top of the game without the jeopardy of relegation, which must have really angered you...

RO: Yes, of course. Although, listen, I absolutely get it. If I was responsible for one of those teams, who knows. They’re businesses and the people at the top are protecting their clubs’ income, not their status. What they didn’t understand was that promotion and relegation are fundamental to why we love the game. If there wasn’t that danger and excitement, there would be nothing. I go to Fulham because I want us to win, to climb the league, to go top, to ultimately get promoted. That’s the formula. That football. If it’s just six teams regularly playing each other, there’s nothing to it; just Instagram stars kicking a ball to each other. I’m very glad it backﬁred. RF: They saw it as a commodity that could be bought or sold. People would pay to see the best players and that would be enough.

‘If it’s just six teams playing each other, there’s nothing to it; just Instagram stars kicking a ball to each other.’ RO: Well, listen, if you sell Coca-Cola, you want to keep selling it for ever. If you had a bad year, you wouldn’t want someone to say you couldn’t sell it any more. That’s how they saw football – the product that couldn’t fail. They were wrong. Football’s business is that you can either win it all or lose everything. If there’s one sport that doesn’t need changing, it’s football. RF: What sports do need changing, then? RO: When the governing bodies introduced three points for a win or the backpass rule, it was deliberate and effective. When football makes changes, it usually works. But there are sports that could be improved immeasurably and instantly. Tennis, for one. All matches should be first to four games across a best of five sets. You’d have the same number of games as you would across a traditional best-of-three-sets match, but far more moments of jeopardy. RF: The worry is that it might devalue the pressure points or the importance of a set. RO: Look at darts, which has a few legs in each set but a lot of sets. Every moment matters, whereas in tennis, the first four or five games of a set don’t really change the momentum. That’s when we all go for a cup of tea. You can’t do that in darts, and you really shouldn’t be doing that at all if you’re watching any sport. RF: With such short sets, you’re not allowing players to recover. Blink and a set is over. The importance of each one is therefore diminished, surely? RO: Comebacks so rarely happen, though. If you’re 5-0 down, you usually end up 6-0 down. As for the value of a set, it is what it

is: a set. It’s always going to be exciting. You just have more of them and therefore more moments of excitement. Double, even. RF: Then why not 45-minute football matches, and teams play each other four times a season? RO: Absolutely not – football is perfect as it is. It’s like Deal or No Deal. When a format works it works. If people are loving it as it is, you really don’t need to change it. There are other sports that could do with drastic change. Volleyball, for instance. I went to watch it at the Olympics. It was so physical and exciting, such a good sport, but the format was so bad. It went on for far too long, switching between servers, back and forth. Each person’s sport is so dear to them, I understand. That said, if any sport wants to approach me for an overhaul, I’m all ears. RF: In some ways, football has changed significantly, though. Perhaps not in the actual laws of the game, but certainly in the way it’s played. If you were to compare Arsenal’s Invincibles to today’s Man City, you’d notice a massive difference in the emphasis between the individual and the team. Back then it was Henry and Bergkamp doing something magical. Now, it’s Pep creating a fierce structure and system. RO: For the type of person who gambles with their heart, those days would be nostalgic. Now, people bet on the numbers, of which football has plenty; algorithms dictate everything. With my brain, I like that. It does take away some of the magic… if all you are looking for is magic. But for me, every number can tell you something. Ever since Moneyball, the growth in analysts and number crunchers has been exponential, which has had a massive impact on tactics and teams, and I certainly think there’s room for that. Having said that, if you were to look at the data from that Juventus game, every number tells you that Fulham should have been beaten. But there was magic that night, and there will be magic again. Especially if you keep your eye on Mo Salah. RF: With all these existential threats to football, from heavy playing tactics to super leagues and power-hungry businessmen, what do you think the sport will look like in the next century? RO: If you’d been around when Preston North End were playing Blackburn Rovers, well over a century ago, and then transported yourself to the present time, you’d know what was happening on a football pitch. The whole world around you might have changed. The food, clothes, travel – all of that would confuse you, bar football. I suspect that might be the case in another hundred years’ time. Football will be with us for ever. n

Zoltan Gera’s goals against Juventus helped Fulham turn the football world upside down in 2010

LEAPS OF FAITH When Frankie Foster talks about his love of racing, all roads lead back to his home town of Cheltenham. Now the former Love Island star is on a mission to attract more young people to the sport, he tells Henry Beesley When did you first fall in love with racing? I was lucky – my first ever experience was the Cheltenham Gold Cup. It doesn’t get much better than that! From then on, I was hooked. I think if you started off at a smaller meeting, you might need to warm yourself up to racing. Funnily enough, I didn’t even see a horse that day; it was all about the day out. Since then, however, I’ve really grown to love the sport. The one horse that really got me into it was Defi Du Seuil. A couple of the lads that I go racing with love that horse, and we backed it every time it ran. Luckily, he had a great record at Cheltenham. He won the Triumph Hurdle, and then the day he won the JLT Chase at the Festival was just incredible. Barry Geraghty was brilliant on him in that race, and we roared Defi home as he took it up after the last. That buzz of backing a horse as a team of mates, having a big day out, following the season together and then ending up at Cheltenham makes it really special for me.

dressed up, pick a popular meeting and it will all snowball from there. That will be enough for a lot of people.If you’re watching at home without a subscription, ITV does a great job of capturing the buzz of a day at the races. In terms of media I’d certainly start there, rather than podcasts, which can sometimes be a bit too ‘in the know’.

Do you think you’ll be able to boost young people’s interest in racing? I think so. Well, I hope so! That’s what I’m on a mission to do. As I’ve said, I am a big advocate of the day out as a concept. There’s nothing wrong with starting there and then getting into the actual sport afterwards. The more people you get through the turnstiles, the more you give racing a chance to showcase its exceptional qualities. When people see the horses run in the ﬂesh, that’s when the magic starts. It also all about removing the stigma around being a part of the racing world, and not feeling imposter syndrome. It does also feel already that there are lots of young people engaged with the sport. It is doing a great job and I’d love to help keep on moving it in the right direction.

Is racing in your family? It’s not, no. My uncle is a massive racing fan and grew up with Graham Bradley, who was champion jockey, so

Frankie on Love Island in 2018, and at Cheltenham

‘Get a group of mates together, get dressed up, pick a popular meeting and it will all snowball from there.’ there is a slight connection. But I didn’t grow up around horses. The ﬁrst time I went racing, I couldn’t tell you anything about a horse. Over time I’ve been lucky enough to go and do a few yard visits, meet jockeys and trainers, and get more and more engrossed in the sport. That’s what I love about racing too – there really are so many layers to it. Do you think it is important to have friends or family in racing to get into the sport? Not at all. The one thing I always try and get across to a lot of people is that

you don’t need be a ‘horsey’ person to engage with the sport. You can have a brilliant day out knowing absolutely nothing. And I encourage people to do that, because if you do, and then keep on coming back, you will pick up things. The only thing I knew was how to stand at the bar. What would be your main advice for anyone getting into the sport? Number one: just go. Don’t put a question mark on whether it’s ‘for you’. It’s a brilliant day out for everyone. Get a group of mates together, get

Do you study the form or are you more of an instinct and passion sort of fan? I do follow the racing all year round and I study the form as much as I can, but I would be lying if I didn’t say passion takes over occasionally! I often do back a horse that I want to win, rather than one I think is most likely – not the smartest thing to do. The way I follow racing – and maybe this is because I grew up here – is quite Cheltenham-focused. A lot of people, quite rightly, say there’s a lot more to racing than that, but I like to follow horses throughout the season all the way through to the Festival. What are your ambitions in racing? More of the same. In the last four months, I’ve met so many people and got further engrossed in the sport than ever before but there’s still so much more to do. The one thing I do really want to do is showcase the sport in all its glory, and peel back the layers to all those people who used to be just like me. n Frankie Foster is a presenter for

Racing TV and has a dedicated racing proﬁle on Instagram @frankiefosterracing.

We have found our most spectacular home-away-from-home yet, at Naunton Downs Golf Club.

THE FITZDARES CLUB in the Cotswolds opens on January 29th 2022. Based at Naunton Downs Golf Club, right on Ben Pauling’s doorstep, members can treat this as their second home. From there, you’ll be able to spend a morning on the gallops with the Festival-winning trainer before squeezing in a round of 18. For enquiries please email club@fitzdares.com

Save yourself from a trip out into the cold and make use of our exclusive Christmas shopping guide, which has everything your nearest and dearest could wish for Horse Head brooch The outline of a horse’s head is perfectly captured in this 18ct white gold and diamond set brooch, with brilliant and baguette cut diamond set details (1.76ct) and a black diamond set eye gazing for attention. £10,100 from Pragnell Creed Viking cologne The ideal gift for the rugged outdoorsman. With a bold mix of sage, rosemary and pink pepper, there’s no better gift this Christmas for the avid adventurer. The perfect scent for those looking to enjoy the great outdoors in all its glory. £240 Leica Q2 camera With pristine performance and exceptional connectivity, this timeless classic is an absolute must to capture special moments. £4,500 Thom Browne travel kit Coated in striped monogram canvas, with a matching eye mask and inﬂatable neck cushion, this Thom Browne travel set is the perfect travel comrade for anyone looking to resume their prepandemic jet-setting lifestyle. £1,280 Patek Philippe Calatrava They say: “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.” Well, as long as you’re treating this as a gift for someone you love, none of that applies to you. £29,150 from Pragnell Montblanc iPhone 13 case If you’re going to have a snazzy iPhone 13 Pro Max, you’d better protect it! The full-grain, calfskin with saﬃano print Montblanc iPhone case is the most stylish way to safeguard your device. It’s so goodlooking you may even want your phone to protect the case. £100

Domaine Vacheron Sancerre Blanc Domaine Vacheron has vineyards primarily in the hard, ﬂinty soils of Sancerre as well as smaller holdings on softer limestone and clay soils. Vacheron’s ‘village’ Sancerre is a combination of both terroirs, resulting in a subtly mineral and wholly satisfying wine. If it’s true that good-quality wine doesn’t give you a hangover, you’ll be ready for a marathon on Boxing Day. £34.99

Fitzdares backgammon board Bringing a taste of the Fitzdares Club to your living room, our professional backgammon board (an exclusive collaboration with Geoffrey Parker) includes stylish pieces handmade in England and perfectly combines elegance with practicality. Better still, you can neatly roll it up after play, making it the perfect travel companion. £550 from fitzdares.com/shop William Wolfe’s Guide to Excellent Living in London The fictional William Wolfe equips you with a who’s who of London’s luxury scene. This unique, pocket-sized book is a cherry-picked guide to 101 of the best venues, shops and service providers in the greatest city on the planet. £14.99 from fitzdares.com/shop Gozney Roccbox pizza oven With this dual-fuel, restaurant-grade portable pizza oven, you can fire up with the convenience of gas or discover the flavour of wood for the ultimate pizza experience. £488 n

This summer, the Fitzdares Club landed at Windsor Racecourse. Alongside our sponsorship of the season-long Sprint Series, we totally revamped the Churchill Box at the track. As a staple of the Flat racing season, this provided the perfect home-away-from-home for our members to enjoy top class racing in style, every Monday. We look forward to returning next summer.

In September, The Fitzdares Club celebrated its 1st BIRTHDAY party with a star-studded evening of darts, canapés and cocktails. On one side of the oche lined up TV presenter Francesca Cumani and supermodel Jodie Kidd, while on the other darts world number one Gerwyn Price and Fitzdares Ambassador Devon Petersen showed off their skills.

GLORIOUS GOODWOOD had a very different feel about it this year for those lucky enough to have Owners & Trainers badges. This summer, the Fitzdares Club began its three-year incumbency in the O&T pavilion, bringing its fresh and funky design to the bar and outdoor restaurant. We look forward to showing up every other racecourse up and down the country in the coming years.

FITZDARES

OBJET D’ART

To surrender oneself to the expert ministrations of the Trueﬁtt team is to enter a world of the most spoiling selfmaintenance. Each of the resident barbers must have chalked up at least a decade of experience before he can think of applying for a position. As a result, there’s little he can’t or won’t do to leave one looking and feeling one’s best. Comprising shampoo, haircut, hot towel wet shave, facial and manicure, the 90 minute ‘Ultimate Grooming’ package is the most blissful experience one can have in London while remaining on the right side of the law.

lock & co﹒

6 st james s street sw1a 1ef 020 7930 8874

AS CHIC AS A HAMPER FROM Fortnum & Mason, and just as recognisable, a black-on-white box from Lock & Co is a symbol of the heritage that makes it, the world’s oldest hatter, synonymous with the platonic ideal of English style. Since 1759, its warren-like shop on the sunny side of St James’s Street has been a mecca for the world’s best dressed. Name a snappy gent – the Duke of Windsor or Anthony Eden, Oscar Wilde or Charlie Chaplin – and the chances are he purchased his headgear here. It’s even rumoured that Lewis Carroll was inspired by the mid-19th-century manager of Lock & Co, James Benning, to create the character of the Mad Hatter. The connection with Alice notwithstanding, I can think of few establishments less subversive than this one. On the contrary: whether it be a refurbished silk topper for Royal Ascot, a tweed cap for the grouse moor or an impeccable Panama for the cricket, a hat from Lock & Co virtually guarantees its wearer will be comme il faut. Indeed, while it took the combined eﬀorts of several elite tailors to evolve the look we today recognise as ‘Savile Row’, it was Lock alone that contributed the bowler hat, more correctly known as ‘the Coke’, to the national wardrobe. Low-key but always correct, a hat from Lock is a hat for life. It’s impossible to buy better.

brown s hotel albemarle street w1s 4bp 020 7493 6020

Welcome to 2022’s most essential book, a guide to the venues that every discerning Londoner needs to know

N THE 1960 s a gentleman couldn’t possibly exist without Sir Francis Chichester’s Guide to Good Living in London. It was a pocket-sized map of the West End and the City, supported by an indispensable index of his favourite haunts. Now, with the help of William Wolfe (an amalgamation of several real-life characters), we have created such a guide – minus the map, now retired by Google – for a new generation of gentlemen. We hope this guide not only confirms your excellent taste but also informs you of a few new establishments to discover on a wandering day in London. The guide is divided into three sections: MORNING (of which the guide says: “An unhurried breakfast remains one of the foundation stones of a civilised existence”), AFTERNOON (“To stroll Jermyn Street of an afternoon is to run the gamut of English style at the most rarefied level”) and EVENING (“When the clock chimes five, the curtain rises on the wealth of possibilities afforded by the London night”). If the reviews of the three businesses shown here tickle your fancy, why not order the book for yourself and perhaps another copy for a deserving friend or relative…

truefitt & hill 71 st james s street sw1a 1ph 020 7493 2961

EVERY SO OFTEN, I encounter a blowhard who claims to be opposed to the very idea of ‘male grooming’. For him, I have only pity. He’s obviously never been to Truefitt & Hill. Founded in 1805, on the very day of the Battle of Trafalgar, Truefitt (which annexed ‘Hill’ in 1935) has shorn, shaved, scented and sharpened generations of discerning gentlemen from every walk of life. Name-checked in the works of Dickens and Thackeray, this most illustrious establishment has led the field in the development of first-rate grooming products. These include the still-procurable ‘C.A.R.’ lotion, originally formulated in 1900 to ensure that the motorist’s hair would never be disarrayed. A Truefitt jar has even been retrieved from the wreck of the Titanic.

FRESH BUT COSY, grand but homely: only an establishment as invincibly English as Brown’s could marry its contradictions so beautifully. Opened in 1837, the patina of age imbues it with a uniquely patrician character. It was at Brown’s that Alexander Graham Bell made London’s first telephone call. It was at Brown’s that Rudyard Kipling worked on The Jungle Book. And it’s rumoured to have been Brown’s that inspired Agatha Christie to create the fictitious Bertram’s Hotel. With its open fires, plush-covered sofas and dignified woodwork, the ambience is as reassuring as that of an ancestral seat in the Cotswolds. To check in is to sink in, as one would into a featherbed. Still, there’s nothing in the least bit soporific about Brown’s. Acquired by Sir Rocco Forte in 2003, it was refurbished with such finesse that it gained an air of cheerful modernity that, far from detracting from its illustrious heritage, only enhanced it. On fabrics and wallpapers, flowers bloom at every turn. In Charlie’s, Michelin-starred chef Adam Byatt takes classic British dishes and gives them a contemporary twist. In The Donovan Bar, cocktails by master mixologist Salvatore Calabrese can be sipped to a backdrop of vintage photographs from the heyday of Swinging London. If it’s true that some places, like some people, improve with the passage of years, then Brown’s, far from being over the hill, is only now in its prime. n William Wolfe’s Guide to Excellent Living in London

is available to buy from Jeeves of London stores, The Fitzdares Club and the Fitzdares online shop at www.ﬁtzdares.com for £14.99

WINTERREAD

Victor Chandler is the most iconic character in bookmaking history. In this authorised biography he tells his very own compelling story, through the powerful words of Jamie Reid

ictor Chandler’s life in the bookmaking industry started at a very young age, before he was catapulted right to the top of the game at the age of just 23. His father, Victor Snr, had built up the firm his own father had founded in 1946, only to succumb to illness in 1974. In stepped Victor Jnr to take the firm into a third generation. The ‘game’ was in his blood, no doubt about it. However, he struggled at first, finding the early years of bookmaking a real challenge, as many do. There were opportunities to sell the business early on, with Playboy Bookmakers making a serious offer – an offer that young Victor almost accepted. However, he soldiered on, putting his early worries to bed with his first profitable Royal Ascot. Had the meeting not gone his way, we wouldn’t be reading this book – a timely reminder of those sliding doors moments in life. Royal Ascot was the beginning of a lifetime of daring and excitement. Towards the start, Victor details brilliantly how his grandfather faced up to Darby Sabini’s Italian mafia and the real Peaky Blinders, among many others. Those familiar with the BBC TV drama will not have to stretch the imagination too far.

Victor’s grandfather’s stories serve as an omen for his own duels. With trying times ahead near the end of the 20th century, he headed to the Far East to take on some of the biggest punters in history. From there, his time was punctuated by threats from the Triads and other local gangs in Hong Kong and Macau. There was no escaping controversy and danger. At other times, he dwells on his relationship with Lucian Freud, not only a famous artist but also one of

Victor details brilliantly how his grandfather faced up to the real Peaky Blinders. his clients. Freud is but one character among a cast of colourful players in Victor’s life. While these fast times create plenty of ammunition for such a well-versed raconteur, some of the most interesting lines concernthe growth of the business in the digital era. Just before the turn of the millennium, he moved the firm to Gibraltar, for reasons one can imagine. This was a catalyst for bringing Victor Chandler, the

business, roaring into the world of online betting. It is even mooted that he was the first man with the vision to take gambling online. Nearly half a century of a fierce and fast-paced love affair with bookmaking is covered in these engrossing pages. It is apt that racing is at the heart of his story. Victor, now 70, is a wellcampaigned, international thoroughbred who has leapt every fence of his career with daring. You won’t want to miss a jump. It is a wonderfully compiled biography of the last of the great bookmakers. As a reader, you are catapulted on an emotional journey across the globe and through the decades. Jamie Reid, an author with a rich pedigree of books about the racing industry, brings Victor’s story to life with rich detail. It is a wild ride and very reflective of the life as a bookmaker, even if it is slightly toned down in this day and age. This book is a must-read for anyone who has picked up the Fitzdares Times and enjoyed even one article. It is a book for lovers of racing, betting, history and, above all, a story beautifully told. n VICTOR CHANDLER – PUT YOUR LIFE ON IT is published by Reach Sport (£20).

THE CROSSWORD

ACROSS

SPECULATE TO ACCUMULATE Back short-priced favourites or aim for a big return with our winter accumulators

LOW BALL 10/1 Australia to win the Ashes Honeysuckle to win the Champion Hurdle Man City to win the Premier League Novak Djokovic to win Wimbledon

HIGH BALL 500/1 New England to win the Super Bowl England to win the Cricket T20 World Cup England to win the FIFA World Cup

1. 3. 5. 10. 11. 12. 13. 20. 21. 22. 24. 25.

Behind which the server stands (8) Nile Rodgers’ band (4) Trick tennis serve (8) Idi Amin’s birthplace (6) Los Angeles basketball team (8) James, Chelsea defender (5) Golf club maker (5) Steers a rowing boat (8) Sharp tasting (6) Forward position (8) Cricket shot (4) 2nd Ashes Test location (8)

DOWN 1. 2. 4. 6. 7. 8. 9. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 23.

Type of cricket delivery (7) Johnson-Houghton (3) Dishonest player (see David Warner) (5) Golf shot (5) The highest point, also F1 term (4) Elon (4) Horse colour (3) Empty piece of paper (5) Home of the Grand National (7) Slang for a multiple bet (4) The way out (4) Good golf course management (3, 2) US soccer prodigy, Freddy (3) US government organisation (3)

£100 PRIZE for the first correct submission! Email answers to rory@fitzdares.com

8 10

13 16

23 22 25