An inauspicious start to the day when I discovered a flat tyre on the Volvo just before setting off to the West Country for a day out with the lads from the Marquis. Perhaps it was an omen to go steady on the wagers at Wincanton but it did mean I was going to get to Mere, where I was meeting the minibus making its way to Somerset from central London, later than the scheduled 11.30am. I hurtled down the A303 via Marlborough in my wife's Polo and got to Yapp Brothers Wine Merchants just after midday. The gang from the Marquis including one of my oldest mates, Chris Hayes, the landlord arrived 10 minutes before me so they were already sipping on something sparkling when I met them in the shop. Tom Ashworth, another old mate, happens to run the family wine business with his stepbrother Jason Yapp and they supply the Marquis along with several other high profile trade customers in London like Le Gavroche. It struck me to be a smart move to combine a pub trip from the Marquis with a tasting tour at Yapp Brothers and a day's racing at Wincanton especially as I could dump the car and hop on the minibus thereby clearing the way for a few pints at the course (I didn't need to drive home later as I was staying locally in the Deverill valley with a great pal and he had akindly agreed to pick me up from Yapp's later......dangerous). Tom gave us a splendid tour of his premises as you can see from the photos and video clip.
On arrival at the course we met up with Hannah Walker, press & PR supremo at Wincanton, and she immediately took us to box #5 which had been organised for us in the Hatherleigh Suites. The boxes are comforatble, modern and well equipped. Importantly they also have the best views of the course and the surrounding countryside which is some of the most breathtaking in the land. The boys were all incredibly happy and thrilled to have a base from which they could explore the rest of the course as the day progressed. The Chairman of the course, Mark Woodhouse, very generously had a case of the finest bottled Badger Beers sent up to the box to put the icing on the cake really. I savoured a bottle of Poachers Choice whilst the others got stuck into the Tangled Foot and Fursty Ferret - all wonderful brands and thank you again Mark.
There is a Badger Beer theme running through the heart of Wincanton Races and the positioning of their brand is absolutely spot on - Badger Beer Raceday, the Badger Beer Bar & Stand, wide distribution of the product in all the bars, restaurants and suites - it's one of Dorset's oldest businesses, founded in 1777. You can imagine how the group from the Marquis got stuck into their beers.....
We all had a fairly disastrous time on the betting front as most of us had decided to follow David Mitchell''s tips which Chris had asked him to give us earlier in the week. Mitch writes for the Mirror, drinks at the Marquis and is a top bloke but why he wasn't able to pick out Buck Magic in the 3rd race I'll never know...! But Will somehow managed to slip a tenner on Buck Magic each way and, having been fortunate enough to be taken up to the start of the hurdle race (2.20) by Hannah to see what happens close up just before the off (see my video clip), we returned to the crossing point not far from the winning post to witness Buck Magic pipping Vico in the final strides. Vico was Paul Nicholls only runner at Wincanton that day and this is a course where he has traditionally farmed multiple winners.....so whilst we all backed Vico it was down to Will to pick up his spoils, all £497, from the Tote operator located just along the corridor from our box (again see video). This result certainly lifted the mood even further as you can probably imagine.
All that Badger was starting to penetrate my veins so I had a cheeky cheese burger just after the 3rd race which was simply delicious - I can recommend the burger concession at Wincanton very highly - and it didn't surprise me to see they were doing a very brisk trade. I could have had another but I needed to get back to the box to meet up with Jane Southall an old racing pal of mine who lives nearby and is a regular Wincanton racegoer. Jane runs her own business aptly called the Racing Host. She is excellent with customers and, like Mitch, knows her racing having been an amateur jockey and a trainer. She also owns horses and has been a long standing supporter of Richard Rowe down the years. She mentioned her latest horse in training with Richard called Near the Water who runs at Lingfield on Tuesday, 23rd November. When you're luck's out Jane is a good person to seek a remedy.....she very cleverly picked out the winner of the penultimate race I'm a Legend (turning over Mitch's selection in a photo finish) and a decent priced 2nd in the last called J'Adhere to allow for some damage limitation. Thank you Jane.
We had a couple more beers after racing in the Stalybridge Bar and then the inevitable pub stop-off at the White Lion in Bourton on the way back to Mere where we had two more pints of Otter, I'm serious, we moved on from Badger to Otter (sorry Mark, but we couldn't resist giving it a go whilst on our West country Odyssey).
My host and fellow Altis director, Piers Lawson, then very kindly picked me up from Yapp Brothers and took me to his local called the Red Lion in Kilmington. A further two pints of Butts Jester and a packet of Mr. Porky scratchings certainly didn't spoil our appetite as we managed to have supper when we got back to Drove End whcih consisted of a delicious lamb and lentil casserole combined with a Yapp house red. I had to be in Shaftesbury for a 9am meeting with Major Events International the following morning but somehow I made it......
What a day. WELL DONE WINKY. You deserve to do well as a racecourse because you've got a great venue, fantastic set of facilities and real professionals running the show.
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