Arc Sunday

Today is the biggest day of the year in French thoroughbred horse racing and one of the biggest days in thoroughbred racing throughout the world.

The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is just plain one of the most amazing days in racing. Six Group 1 races in one day is really quite spectacular. This was the first time in 10 years that I wasn't there at Longchamp enjoying the great company of passionate horse people and screaming so much that I come home without any voice.

Sitting at home watching the races on TV was more than slightly depresisng as it reminded me just how sick I am as it would take quite a lot to keep me away from the track. It was also an interesting experience playing with the living room TV, which is also connected to the computer, and flipping back and forth between the race coverage on Equidia and betting on the Internet through BetFair. We'd watch the horse presentation and the interviews and then place my bets at the last minute. It was actually quite fun.

Throughout the first few races I kept losing, especially as I tended to (stupidly) bet on favourites, and I was thinking it was going to be a particularly bad day. But then came the 5th race (Prix Marcel Boussac - Criterium des Pouliches) which was the first race I was waiting for. The favourite was a horse bred by our team called Rumplestiltskin who is also the granddaughter of one of our all-time favourite mares (Miesque). She won of course and it was a great boost to my morale.

When I refer to our team I mean the amazing group of people I've been working with over the past 15 years or so who make horse racing such an enjoyable experience for me. If I had been keeping up a blog last year there would have been lots of bright red, blinking and annoyingly loud text when "we" won the Arc de Triomphe last year. The finest racing day of my life and certainly a day Jessica will never forget either!

Two races later was the race of the day if not the year. The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and there was Bago, last year's winner, defending his title and going for that incredibly rare possibility of a doublon hoping to win the Arc twice. The first race of the day was a 4,000 metre race and this one was only 2,400 metres. But somehhow it seems to last longer than any other race. The last 300 metres was just plain wonderful. If only I could scream... Bago didn't win but he did pull up through the crowd to place in 3rd which not only brought me a great deal of pleasure but also helped to recuperate my losses from the first few races. I really, really wish I was there. I can just imagine people's faces, expressions and reactions. Our team would be there maintaining their constant stiff upper lip and acting like it was no big deal but with those childish glints in their eyes. The reactions obviously would be much, much more subdued in comparison to last year but I have a feeling everyone would have been at the very least happy. It was fun watching it on TV but certainly just not the same.

I basically passed out on the couch after the Arc and the family woke me up for dinner.

The pain killers tend to knock me out at least once if not twice a day which I consider a blessing. Although they seem to work fine for my internal wounds they don't seem to be helping at all for my external wounds (the scars) which are hurting the most at the moment. Every now and then I'll move my head to one side or the other or upwards and they'll pull me back and make me say "Ow". I also seem to be getting a cold which means sneezing and coughing both of which are absolutely incredibly painful. Sneezing almost makes me cry...

Finished the evening with my classic Sunday evening of two episodes of E.R. which again reminds me that there's people out there a hell of a lot worse off than myself.

Afterwards was an episode of Law & Order with, of course, some guy dying from cancer who saves his family. It's amazing how often cancer victims are used on television as a guaranteed tear jerker. I've been watching quite a lot of television lately and it's just amazing how preponderant cancer is throughout... especially American television...

I just can't get away from it.