A Week At The Races - Monday

Seven days, seven updates, I though I would be self indulgent and record a weeks working as I travel across the UK and Ireland.


So we will begin with Monday and the day began with a dilemma – where to go? Three meetings, although only two choices as the all-weather at Wolverhampton was quickly eliminated.


So it was a choice between Hereford and Plumpton and, in the end, the decision was an irrational one. Last time I went to Hereford I ended up having to be towed out of the car park after getting bogged in the mud.


So Plumpton it was and with a new train service from my local station which means I can get there avoiding crossing through London I decided to go by train.


That was almost a mistake as, how shall I put it, a discussion ensued with a very prickly lady in the station ticket office as to whether the train I was catching was off-peak or not. I won!


One advantage of going by train is you get the chance to do some work whilst travelling to the races, the disadvantage is it seems to take an age – not helped by the fact there is only an hourly service to Plumpton itself.


2½ hours after setting off it was the stroll from the station to the course.


A kind lady showed me to the press room, then the problems began. First of all there is no wi-fi in the press room. No problem - I have wireless mobile broadband, which works brilliantly and gives response times as good as at home. Once technical aspect though, you need a signal and there isn’t one at Plumpton.


So all the travelling and unable to file any updates – what a bummer?


Hopefully when I get somewhere nearer civilisation I will be able to get a signal and upload the reports.


The racing isn’t brilliant – typical Monday afternoon fare. The sandwiches in the press room are going fast – I need something hot. A nice chilli instead.


As expected the racing itself was not earth shattering and the champion jockey – the greatest jockey – proved he was fallible. Coming to Plumpton for just the one ride and he came home a disappointing last.


It just goes to show that even the great McCoy can misjudge a horse as well as the rest of us.


Some excitement in the press room after out fifth race – someone (not me) forgot to press the record button on the video. Needless to say there was an incident and there was quite a debate as to whether Portrait Royale’s departure was a fall or unseated rider. My view was the latter –
I won again!!!


So began the journey home. It started off pretty well – the train from Plumpton was ontime.


First priority was to file my copy – I couldn’t. It seems the problem with my mobile broadband was not a lack of signal but a more fundamental one in that my dongle has broken – and it you have ever had a broken dongle you will know it is not very pleasant.


So it looks like a trip to get a replacement tomorrow morning.


That was only the beginning of the fun. I had to change trains at Clapham junction – can there be a more depressing station anywhere on the network?


It should have been a 12 minute connection – it ended up a 32 minute wait as a passenger had taken ill on the inbound train and they had to await an ambulance.


Strange isn’t it – the Government tell us we should use public transport but the journey will not take me over an hour longer than it would had I driven.


Well that is day one of the week and I really do hope the remainder of the week is less fraught.