Great race. It's the only gambling we ever do at our house apart from a quid a week on the lottery. We all have a horse each with a quid on the nose. Mrs Steve gets a horse, I get a horse, the cat gets a horse. This year, we gave Basil the fox a horse too. Basil has been visiting daily for a snack for the last ten months. We chose Basil the fox's horse by scrolling down the list of riders, and found that one jockey's name was Derek Fox, so very appropriate.

So guess what. Basil's horse won the bloody thing. He got 10-1 so that'll pay for three lots of Bakers' Small Dog food. He got an extra snack reward on his early evening visit.

But a horse died at the first fence. Two other horses have died at this meet. The death rate is almost one horse per year. I've heard faulty reasoning about this, viz "All sports have risks. Rugby players, boxers and F1 drivers are all at risk." Well yes but all those sports are human beings deciding whether they should take risks. A horse has no choice...

There were protesters there today who tried (and failed) to stop the race. Once I'd heard that yet another horse had died in the race, I found myself siding with them. Maybe I'll find something else to bet on next year.

Plenty more to discuss on that front.