THE week started well with news that a horse sold last year at the London Sale had won a Grade 1 race. The horse in question, Smoking Sun, had been trained in France for its Greek owners and was sold by Irish auctioneers (us) in London to Ted Voute to race in Saudi Arabia where it has succeeded at the highest level. That is the exactly the result we hope for.

Which is more than can be said for the general election here or the way things are progressing with our neighbours, both to the east or the west.

Donald Trump unnerves me in America and, closer to home, we have the Mayor of London Boris Johnson pushing for a Brexit. Win or lose, this rise of isolationism is being perpetrated by men with memorable hair - an observation of mine that could lead to counter allegations of envy, and understandably so.

If the battle to keep my own hair was a proper military battle, the appropriate time to surrender has long since passed. I do however think that there comes a point when a man who wishes to be taken seriously reaches an age when his hair should not attract too much attention.

One member of the Channel 4 Morning Line team is bookmaker Geoff Banks. I am not sure where he has appeared from or how long he has been there. Rather like the story of the Emperor’s clothes, I am slightly reticent to ask in case it displays my ignorance, (an ever-increasing theme in my life these days). I mention him because he appeared recently with an “impossible to miss” hair styling that is best described as “cruise ship cabaret singer”.

BETTING

Banks knows a lot about betting which I do not, especially ante-post betting. I often wonder just how big ante-post betting is and would love to know how the percentage of money staked on a top class race is actually apportioned, ranging from the day of the race itself back through to six months and more in advance.

Racing television is always happy to talk about ante-post prices which must be a help to producers and presenters. They face the challenge of presenting a sport that has between one and 10 minutes of frantic activity followed by 25 minutes of down time before it can all happen again.

There are only one or two other activities that come to mind which work like this. Most sports have extended action followed by much shorter periods of analysis without media-savvy bookmakers giving us the gobsmacking news that the winner is now a shorter price for his or her next assignment.

BEARDED

Returning to the hair theme for a moment, there does seem to be very few beards in horse racing compared to other sports such as rugby, GAA, football, or even UFC.

Whether this is because of wind resistance, chinstraps or fashion I do not know but I cannot recall a bearded jockey. Moustaches too (Movember aside) are a rare sighting these days. I suppose that small moustaches never really made a comeback after Hitler and Lord Lucan did not do much for the larger version.

If moustaches are a rare sighting, the same cannot be said for camera phones. At every opportunity, ranging from a school concert to a major sporting event people are hell-bent on recording proceedings rather than watching them.

Surely the focus should be the event itself, not the chance to post and share your experience. Why photograph your food in a restaurant to show the world how lucky you are - just eat it.

Fortunately most Cheltenham racegoers are too busy using both hands to applaud the occasion, count their money or hold their drinks so are less concerned with amateur cinematography.

Which is hopefully one of the many reasons why, next week, they will all have such a happy look on their clean-shaven faces.