work life balance

I can't believe I missed the grand national on this blog. First time since I started. Bah.

Horses for Courses

Comply or Die thunders home by four lengths
Bloody hell- not only did my horse finish on top out of all the picks, it also won the whole race. Alas, as proprietor of Wisdom Weasel I cannot claim the prize myself. Luckily, Kristin also backed Comply or Die and so she wins.... something. Does getting her husband out from under her feet for an evening count as a prize? Or should something involving lobsters and beer in her new home town be more appropriate? I'm sure she will advise.

As for the rest of you turf accountants and fetlock knobblers, this is how your picks fared:

1st Comply Or Die (Kristin, Weasel)

3rd Snowy Morning (Mike, Margaret)

4th Slim Pickings (The Mole)

5th Bewleys Berry (Weasel's Little Bruvva)

6th Cloudy Lane (Margaret, Mondale, Weasel's Little Bruvva)

8th Baily Breeze (Country Mouse)

13th Hedgehunter (Mondale)

30th fence, pulled up: Mr Pointment (Kristin)

29th fence, pulled up: Dun Doire (Bill)

29th fence, unseated rider: Simon (Joe)

22nd fence, fell: Butler's Cabin (Country Mouse)

22nd fence, pulled up: Bob Hall (Weasel)

22nd fence, pulled up: Naunton Brook (Mike)

11th fence, fell: Kelami (Bill)

11th fence, fell: Fundamentalist(The Mole)

3rd fence, unseated rider: Iron Man (Joe)

Start prepping for next year!

I Almost Missed It

..And I might be too late, but place your bets for this year's

GRAND NATIONAL

As in years past, bragging rights go to the reader who picks the best finisher. Everyone can pick two horses. Follow the "Nags" tag for highlights from past races. Results will be posted on Sunday

For what it is worth, I pick BOB HALL and COMPLY OR DIE.

Sweet Victory...

Read and weep, because for once the Mouse/Weasel household is victorious:

1. Silver Birch (R Power) 33-1
2. McKelvey (TJ O'Brien) 12-1
3. Slim Pickings (B Geraghty) 33-1 (Country Mouse's pick)
4. Philson Run (D Jacob) 100-1
5. Liberthine (Mr S Waley-Cohen) 40-1 (Weasel's pick)

However, being the sporting chap that I am, I will honour my offer of a prize* to the next best finisher, who turned out to be Bill, winner by default for the second year!

How everyone fared:

THISTHATANDTOTHER (Bill) Pulled up at 29th fence.
SONEVAFUSHI (Weasel) Pulled up at 29th fence.
DUN DOIRE (Bill/Joe) Pulled up at 27th fence.
SIMON (Mondale) Fell at 25th fence.
NAUNTON BROOK (Little Bruvva) Pulled up at 23rd fence.
HOMER WELLS (Country Mouse) Pulled up at 22nd fence.
JOES EDGE (Little Bruvva) Pulled up at 20th fence.
IDLE TALK (Mondale) Unseated rider at 19th fence.
THE OUTLIER (Mark/Joe) Unseated rider at 19th fence.
KNOWHERE (Mark) Unseated runner at 8th fence.

Neither of Flying Rodent's picks made the field but both were observed on the Mersey Ferry later Saturday night.

For those of you who are interested, here's the full final standings.


(*A signed photo of country and western star Garth Brooks (dedicated to someone called "Theresa") from early in his career, found by Country Mouse in the attic of the house she rented in Indian Shores, FL during her 2000 college internship.)

The Grand National Field

OK folks, place your bets:

2007 Grand National Field.

More than one of you can pick the same horse, you'll just split the prize.

I'm going with the 25-1 Liberthine for the win, and the 100-1 Sonofafushi as my rank outsider because the BBC tipster says "Sometimes you just have to say a horse is not good enough to win. He isn't good enough to win."

So far, Mark has gone with The Outlier (50-1) and Knowhere (66-1). Joe has gone for Dun Doire at 12-1, Longshot: The Outlier at 50-1. Country Mouse has Slim Pickings (33-1) and Homer Wells (50-1).

Slap 'em down, ladies and gents.

And The Winner Is....

Bill Norris! Here's the proof:Numbersixvalverde wins National.

Weasel's Little Bruva, a blog nickname that sounds like a National horse by itself, would have joined Bill in standing drinks for everyone. Alas, his ethics wouldn't allow him to back the same horse in his work pool and here, so it will have to remain a moral victory. Proof however, that one of us inherited the turf accountant gene of my Granddad Perce, ace tipster and betting man.

Out of forty starters,only nine horses finished the race so most of us were out of luck. But the record, the rest of our picks finished thusly:

2. Hedgehunter (Mondale)
7. Joe's Edge (Joe's Sea Blog)
Refused the 27th fence: Native Upmanship (Joe's Sea Blog)
Pulled up at the 18th fence: Shotgun Willy (Country Mouse)
Pulled up at the 17th fence: Iris Royal (Weasel)
Fell at the 15th fence: Silver Birch (Country Mouse)
Unseated rider at the 8th fence: Le Duc (Weasel's Little Bruva)
Fell at the 1st fence: Royal Auclair (Weasel)

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Grand National time again! This time last year, I wrote:
"(You should) pick your horse using the tried and tested "Oooh I like the jockey's colours" method... Although also the choice of the BBC's top racing tipster, I'm going for Forest Gunner because my paternal grandfather was an artilleryman from the edge of Epping Forest in East London (see how this works?). My second, outsider, no-hope, I'll put a quid on it for a laugh horse is the 100-1 shot Europa, because the jockey will be wearing yellow and green, the same as Norwich City FC."

You can choose your horse for this year's race here. My personal rules state that I can't go for the same horse two years in a row. Therefore, despite the presence of Forest Gunner at 40-1, my picks for the 2006 Grand National are:

Number 1 horse: ROYAL AUCLAIR (16-1). Last year's runner-up, the jockey rides in yellow and green (see above).

Rank outsider horse: IRIS ROYAL (50-1). It may look like I'm hedging after picking a "ton for a one" nag last year, but Iris is the name of our friends Med School Mama and Syrupy Troy's daughter.

I strongly urge you follow my advice; after all, its not everyone who today was presented with a box of odd computer accessories by the office supplies salesman for winning the "can you find where things are in the office supplies catalog and fax us your answers" contest. I may not have made it on Jeopardy, but there is nobody finer in the State o' Maine at finding on what page break room biscotti can be found.

Holy Bollocks, Batman!

Somebody somewhere loves yellow and green. A beautiful New England spring day of gardening capped by a Grand National victory for the 8-1 Headgehunter (mounting a yellow and green clad jockey), picked by our very own Walter Mondale on the eve of the race (my horse, Forest Gunner, managed a respectable 5th: see how your pick finished here). WM (based on his traditional wager) would have walked 80 pounds richer. Then this gem:

"Manchester United Boss Sir Alex Ferguson refused to speak to his club's TV station or the press after his side's shock 2-0 defeat at Norwich."
Norwich 2-0 Man Utd
Sir Alex, you are an arse, sir. May your miserable Scottish behind rot in the damp North Western air. Norwich City, bit late to start lads but I'll cherish you until the day I die. Even the Blue Jays pummelling David F*****g Wells and the Sox can't take the gloss off.

Spring! It could be worse..... I'll get the beers in.

The Greatest Horse Race In The World

 

Despite the temptations of the ex-pat lifestyle, its very rare for me to become misty eyed and nationalistic about anything other than soccer. However one thing I do feel that the Brits do better than the Americans is horse racing, specifically by having the horses jump over things. The apogee of jumping-over-things-racing, or National Hunt racing as it is more eloquently known, is the annual Grand National. The Grand National is held at Aintree racecourse in Liverpool and is a marathon 4 miles and 4 furlongs 30 jump test of horse and rider like no other.

Filed with pageantry, anxious family members clutching betting slips, needlessly complicated form guides, stirring coverage on the BBC (complete with heroic movie music a la "Chariots of Fire"), and that special spring green that doesn't exist outside of the British Isles, Grand National Day was always one of my favorite simple pleasures on the English calendar. Sadly, with the lack of legal betting opportunities here in the States interest in horse racing is minimal and even the greatest meetings in the USA seem to lack something by being held on the flat on tracks that seem more reminiscent of the Dubai World Cup than the slightly shabby, decidedly seedy, highly worldly, very enjoyable National Hunt circuit. For the 10th year in a row, I won't get to see the race.

There will be forty runners this year: pick your horse using the tried and tested "Oooh I like the jockey's colours" method here: The Grand National. Although also the choice of the BBC's top racing tipster, I'm going for Forest Gunner because my paternal grandfather was an artilleryman from the edge of Epping Forest in East London (see how this works?). My second, outsider, no-hope, I'll put a quid on it for a laugh horse is the 100-1 shot Europa, because the jockey will be wearing yellow and green, the same as Norwich City FC.

Giddyup.