PUNDIT PROFILE
QUICKFIRE AGE: 37
NICKNAME: Former colleague and current BHA handicapper Graeme Smith christened me Frodo soon aſter I’d joined Timeform. Can’t think why...
FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE: Sense of humour or lack thereof
YOUR BEST QUALITY: See above, obviously. Oh, and humility, too.
YOUR WORST HABIT: Spending WAY too much time staring at my phone
WHAT SCARES YOU: In the literal sense, snakes. But don’t really fancy premature death, either.
DREAM CELEBRITY DATE AND WHY: This is more competitive than a Wokingham. But I’ll go with Emily Atack and, as I’m married, will decline to explain why.
hard, get to know as many horses’ characteristics as you can and, above all, do all you can to maintain discipline. If you can put the time in to a card and get your bets on before midday, say, therefore avoiding the urge to add more less well- considered puts as the day goes on, then you will give yourself a head start.
Biggest punting myth? I think the idea that nearly every horse has a ‘preference’ for a very narrow band of ground conditions is overplayed. Sure, a staying type is likely to benefit from the mud more than an ex- Flat horse, but I don’t believe in the notion that a certain horse ‘needs good to soſt’ for instance in order to show its form.
What’s your one wish for racing? Ensuring its integrity is as high as it possibly can be should be the aim for all involved.
Most under-rated jockey and trainer? I always think of Tommy Dowson and Philip Kirby when asked this, while Laura Morgan has put herself in that conversation in terms of trainers lately as well. But I think Jonjo O’Neill Jnr is just about the best I’ve seen since McCoy and Walsh so, naturally, I think anyone who doesn’t view him in the same terms isn’t rating him highly enough
Best moment in racing? Smoothly Does It winning at Wetherby on his first start for our ‘Ipso Facto Syndicate’ will always take some beating, above and beyond the time Joe Jo Star won the Swinton for the same bunch a couple of years later (watch here). ‘Smoothly’ was the first one I bought a share in and Wetherby was just a brilliant thrill. He repeated the trick back there a week later as well.
RACING TV CLUBMAGAZINE 37
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