Robin Cook: World would be safer if George Bush had to write a tipping column
Yes, I will be at Cheltenham today. With an easier conscience this year than before as there is no government business in Parliament. Over the years I have had to produce an implausible Labour marginal in the Cotswolds in which I was campaigning for the day. In the year of Garrison Savannah's victory the Guardian blew my cover with a photo on this page of the winner leaping the last fence with myself only too visible in the crowd by the railing.
Thanks to relocation of the Gold Cup to Fridays I need no longer skulk round the stands today dodging the cameras, but can savour the atmosphere. And there is no other race meeting that can match Gold Cup day for atmosphere. There are certainly few where the crowd is so enthusiastic that even the starter gets a cheer for letting them go.
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against other racing festivals. In the absence of a jumps meeting I will even turn up at the odd big summer meeting on the flat. But if we are honest some of those who turn up at Royal Ascot are there for the beer, or the champagne, and some of the others are there to parade their own outfits rather than watch the competitors in the parade ring. The great strength of going racing at Cheltenham is that you know everyone around you has earned their right to be there by spending November to February standing in the open in rain, sleet, and freezing wind to follow their sport. That is the kind of commitment you only get from a true believer.
Out of that common bond springs instant friendships that flower at least until the next race. In all my many visits I have only once been made unwelcome at Cheltenham. On that occasion an old trout upbraided me as I entered the members' enclosure by insisting that socialists such as me would be happier in the silver ring. But that was a rarity. Most punters only want to know if you have a tip for the next race.
Racing is a great leveller. I firmly believe it is the perfect hobby for a politician. There is nothing more humbling and more calculated to remind you of the frailty of your judgment than watching your tip straggle in after the rest of the field has unsaddled. I really believe the world would be a safer place if George Bush was obliged to publish a weekly tipping column and face up to the reality of how often he got it wrong.
Fortunately there are plenty of people around to cheer you up after you lost by telling you how well they have done. It is a curious feature of Cheltenham that as soon as the race is over nearly everyone else in the crowd appears to have been on the winner and is keen to let you know. Like the good friend who rang me up all the way from Cheltenham on Wednesday to inform me that he had a pony on Idole First at 40-1. This made me feel a whole lot better that I had not spotted it myself.
But there will be few people at Cheltenham today solely because they hope to make money. And they are the saddest people in town. Most of us will be there at least as much because there simply is no more breathtaking spectacle than a large field thundering towards a Cheltenham fence. It comes in colour, with sound and in suspense.
And every year it reminds us that horses have as much character as humans and sometimes more dignity. Everyone has their own favourite Gold Cup. For me it is the duel in the mud between Desert Orchid and Yahoo. Coming to the last Dessie was beaten on points by Yahoo, who was a heavy ground specialist, but the grey was so obviously affronted at being passed that he fought back and held his rival at the line. We may have seen a better athlete in Best Mate, but we will never see another champion with as much heart as Desert Orchid.
Today's race is already developing a reputation for being jinxed before it even starts because of the calamities that have forced so many withdrawals. Beef Or Salmon is a class act but is at skinny prices for a horse bidding to break the longstanding trend that no entry beaten in one Gold Cup comes back to win another one. I will go with Kicking King in the hope that his training has not been too badly interrupted, and will hedge each-way on Sir Rembrandt.
I am on Bongo Fury in the County Hurdle getting-out-stakes, but given my luck so far this week you may want to treat that as a warning rather than a tip.