June – 2008

Tuesday, June 17th
I goofed last time by saying that Seafield Bogie was running at Worcester on June 7th . He was a bit stiff and so our trainer, Tom George, decided to send him to the Equine Spa instead of the Worcester Races. All the same, we had a lovely Ladies’ Day at Worcester, what a lovely course it is and a lot of money was raised for St Richard’s Hospice, so everything was very successful. The highlight of the day, however, was the Valerie Lewis Handicap Chase, which was in memory of Jim Lewis’s wonderful wife. And in a way, in memory of Best Mate, the horse that Valerie and Jim owned and loved so much, who died very soon before Valerie. Jim was running a new, young, brilliant horse in the race called Oumeyade, who is trained by Paul Nicholls and was ridden by Tony McCoy, who was Valerie’s favourite jockey and who evidently asked if he could come down to Worcester to ride the horse. Many of Jim Lewis’s family were there, including two gorgeous little granddaughters and by some utter, joyful miracle Oumeyade won absolutely beautifully by three-and-three-quarter-lengths.

Everybody was in floods of tears, we were so pleased and moved. Oumeyade got almost patted to death afterwards by his family and admirers. It was wonderful and there is no getting away from the fact that Paul Nicholls is an absolutely brilliant trainer and Tony McCoy is riding better and better. Here is a picture of me and Jim Lewis before the race, taken by Emma Attwood of the Worcester News. I am wearing a wonderful white suit designed by my friend Mariska Kay, who has now launched her own label, Mariska. Her clothes are absolutely gorgeous and I wear them at every opportunity. I am not going to Ascot this week, but I thought you might be amused to read a piece I wrote for the Sunday Times back in 1981, which shows that nothing has really changed. Read it here
Thursday 5th June:

Great excitement on the Thoroughbred Ladies front: Thoroughbred Ladies is the wonderful racing syndicate to which I belong. Gloucestershire trainer Tom George has already worked wonders with our fantastic horse Island Flyer, who having won three races on the trot is now enjoying a well-earned rest turned out to grass in the beautiful Slad Valley. But our other horse Seafield Bogie, who you can see winning at Ludlow back in 2006, is also doing fantastically well. He was fourth at Cheltenham in a very exciting race last month: then first at Newton Abbot and second at Stratford. He will be running at Worcester races on Saturday, 7th June in the 4.20. This is Ladies’ Day which is always a wonderful occasion at Worcester because you see so many pretty women out in their finery enjoying themselves. I do hope the weather holds. I am privileged to be guest of honour but am fretting dreadfully about my wardrobe because the rain is pouring down in Gloucestershire and what does one wear for a hot day. I do pray the floods aren’t returning to the West Country.