Gimcrack speech

Opening the batting for the after-dinner speeches at York's 254th annual Gimcrack Dinner was the man of the hour, the winning owner of the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Gimcrack Stakes, Martin Tedham. If Lord Allen's later address led the odd guest to refill their port glass in need of fortification, Tedham, owner of the Declan Carroll-trained colt Lifeplan (Kodi Bear), had them rolling in the aisles. The Scottish Borders native said that his trainer had been supremely confident of the colt's chances in the Gimcrack but Tedham had not realised...

I wish I had met Paul Mellon. He does seem to have been a rather good egg. Mill Reef was born the year before me and though I wasn't precocious enough to have enjoyed his racing career live, for some reason, since I started taking a serious interest in racing, he has long been one of my favourite horses. I think a lot of it has to do with Mellon himself.  Can you imagine a modern-day Gimcrack-winning owner writing a poem about his horse, as Mellon did for Mill Reef...

The cleverest Premier League football club tycoon is also a devoted racehorse owner committed to "expanding" his racing empire. QED: put Tony Bloom in charge of UK racing and tell him to replicate the miraculous transformation of his Brighton & Hove Albion FC. One day last week Bloom addressed the Gimcrack dinner as an owner of Lake Forest, the Gimcrack Stakes winner. A couple of nights later, Brighton finished top of their Europa League group to cruise through to the last 16 in their first ever European campaign. To Bloom,...