Crimson, are you excited?

Confused. And very concerned that, with the wet weather, he won't run. I've never fallen madly in love with Frankel the way I did with Sea the Stars. Maybe it's because his wins have all been so easy; he's never done a Denman or a Dessie, where he eyeballs another horse and says, 'c'mon; show me what you're made of'....And then there's the sadness of Sir Henry being so ill; it's almost as if he made some sort of pact with the God of Racing..if you give me the greatest racehorse that ever lived I'll give you my life. There are also rumours that he will carry on racing; I heard that yesterday but there are denials floating around now. And, I've got to admit something . I love Cirrus des Aigles. The underdog; the horse that can't run in the Arc because he's been gelded; the one with the unfashionable trainer; the one that will relish the mud he'll have to race through tomorrow. I want Frankel to run and I want him to win. But I want Cirrus to go down fighting like the lionhearted horse that he is. And, more and more these days [even with flat racing] I worry that one of them won't come back. But it will be one of those days when it's the first thing I think of when I wake up and I'll leap out of bed to check out theracingpost to see what's happening. Have thought about having a bet so I can keep the ticket [my friend did that at York, and I bet the bookies have made a fortune by a lot of other people doing the same!] but I'm worried that it will bring him bad luck! Nothing, but nothing shows the highs and lows of life the way that racing does. Lets hope tomorrow is a 'high' for everyone. I'm a wreck now; dread to think what I'll be like tomorrow afternoon ...

Henry Cecil was interviewed on our local news programme last night. Awful to see him looking so ill.

Fully appreciate and understand.

There was a lovely section in todays Telegraph sports, where they interviewed the jockeys that were beaten by Frankel, some of the comments were rather funny! I'll have a quick look and see if I can find it.

(I really shouldn't be here you know, I should be doing some work on the presentation for next week!)

Here it is.

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/9618665/How-do-you-beat-a-horse-like-Frankel-You-dont.-He-is-a-different-beast-altogether.html

Oh, I think the S.O. may have that downstairs. I'm going to go and crash out on the sofa and watch that programme about the Kinks; I've seen it before but it's very good [the only band to have been banned from America!]. I'll ask him.

okey doke, have a good evening, no doubt we will be "speaking" again tomorrow!

..watched the programme about the tiger instead; I love tigers....read the Telegraph article, but didn't like the one on the back page about Willie Carson..in fact might write to the paper and complain about it.

I too watched the tiger programme!

I know what you mean about that article, Matthew Norman also does the restaurant reviews in Saturdays Telegraph, and generally I like his style, but the Willie Carson one was a bit uncalled for.

That was lovely photography in the programme about the tigers. Such majestic animals. The poaching that goes on for mumbo jumbo Chinese medicine makes my blood boil.

I would've thought that tigers lived for longer than that. Must be hard, being a wildlife photographer...you get so emotionally attached to the animals but can't interfere with their lives [and deaths]. Never got over being at London Zoo and standing the other side of the glass at the tiger enclosure and having a tiger stand just a couple of feet in front of me. I can't believe how close the photographer got to the tigress; I thought they were very shy of people...the scene where she killed a crocodile was amazing. The setting with the old buildings reminded me of my favourite Korda film of The Jungle Book. Matthew Norman knows nothing about racing. Aussie Jim is actually one of the worst racecallers there is these days. I know Willie can be a bit irritating, but when he comments on a horses appearance in the paddock he knows his stuff.

He runs! Hurrah!

Next Friday BBC2 9pm; A Wolf Called Storm. Can't watch too many films about wolves; looking forward to this one!

Surely, crimson, disappointing though it may be, wildlife photographers nowadays use long telephoto lenses. I would!!

One shot showed the cameraman filming the tigress and she was close to his jeep; in one shot she walked straight past him. I know it's a wildlife reserve and the animals do get used to the wardens etc. I'd imagine the wolf programme will be all long range stuff.

Great race. I bit of a worry at the start.

Phew; said to the S.O. when he was walking round the paddock that I wish the crowd would keep quiet [ok to clap after the race!]. Lovely to see Frankel walking round afterwards with his brother [d'y'think one day they'll find a race for poor Bullet Train to win?]. And my Cirrus ran his heart out [knew he would]. On days like this I wish everyone understood how wonderful racing is. Remember the bit in National Velvet that says 'the glorious ancestress Pocahontas, whose blood ran down like time into her flying children'; to me Urban Sea is 'the' racemare of modern times who did the same [that's why I loved Sea the Stars so much]. When they showed her name in his pedigree before the race, that's when I started crying and carried on throughout the race. She looks down on her boys .

I bet Frankel lets Bullet Train win when they're out on the gallops together! They do look so like each other though, do you ever wonder.................
Exciting though, wasn't it?

So sad to see poor Sir Henry looking so ill , perhaps now he will be able to just remain at home , and be remembered as he was .

Alas no;I think he's been trained to just shoot past him every day. I'm sure I backed Bullet Train for the Derby but he didn't run [was backward I think?]. Frankel's other brother Morpheus finished last'ish at Nottingham the other day but they say he should be better next year [he'd better be!]. Feel a bit deflated now . I'll also miss seing Willie on the telly. I know he gets on a lot of peoples nerves, but I like him.

crimson - a propos the tigers: I wish I'd been able to take an action shot of the two lionesses which chose to run alongside my car in the Amboselli reserve in Tanzania many years ago. I was too concerned with hanging on to the steering wheel and winding up the window - and hoping that the car wouldn't stall!

Amboselli!!!! That's where Echo lived. You've been there.....

What a worrying start to the race! So glad for Henry.

How did he do? I have been out all day, but did see him on TV news this morning he is a beauty.

Started slowly and had to use up energy catching the others, but then cruised past them at the end of the race and won by a couple of lengths. The ground was far too soft for him really. Should be on the news later. I did think he might not get there, though. What a relief all round. Now we wait for a few years to see how good the little Frankels will be. the horse that Frankel has beaten many time won his race easily earlier in the day; had he not been up against Frankel for most of his career he would be hailed a superstar now. My beloved Cirrus came second . Can't get over all the headgear on Frankel; I'd love to understand more about why trainers use different bits for different horses.