Twelve for the Flat

During elections, said H.L. Mencken, all the parties rush around the country insisting that the others are unfit to govern — and in the end they are all proved right. I don’t bet on politics because as a part-time political commentator I don’t want to be accused of letting wagers colour my judgment, but I did advise my friends last autumn to back a hung Parliament when you could still get 4–1 against. The Twelve to Follow over the jumps I named then have not stood the test of time quite so well.

Two never made it to the track, but five managed to win and we had half a dozen seconds. The most enjoyable victory was the 14–1 success of the Evan Williams-trained Pheidippides at Kempton. He has undoubted class and will be worth watching over fences next season.

Philip Hobbs’s hurdlers Clova Island and Quinz both obliged, at 6–1 and 9–4 respectively. Lucy Wadham’s El Dancer had a busy season, including two seconds, but finally did the trick at 5–2. So did Charlie Mann’s promising bumper Rebel Rebellion, but the bookies were not generous in his case. A winner is a winner but at 1–8 I wasn’t buying many drinks to celebrate. All in all we had 36 runs and with a tenner to win each time ended up just under £60 the poorer.

‘We all know there’s no such thing as an unmitigated disaster, so just get out there and mitigate,’ said a defeated US senator. I will attempt to mitigate with a lively Twelve for the Flat, taking it as a good omen that No Hubris, from last year’s team, scored last Friday at 3–1 at Sandown and another, Presvis, at 4–1, won earlier this year in Dubai.