Cheltenham Et Al: The Best of Alastair Down

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This is a great read and although it is a collection of his racing post articles it makes really great reading. It’s that competitive - there is nowhere else like it and as for the nerves and anticipation, even if this is my 45th year, I still feel a school kid, bonkers about it as I did as a child!

As Down freely admitted to The Yorkshire Post: “I am one of those people who have been lucky enough to pursue a passion for a living – and be paid for it. Sir Alastair Down, Industrialist who masterminded the rescue of Burmah Oil in the 1970s and steered it back to financial health," Daily Telegraph (5 November 2004), 29. Discover the joy of reading with us, your trusted source for affordable books that do not compromise on quality. PPB Counterparty Services Limited, Betfair Casino Limited and PPB Entertainment Limited are licensed and regulated in Great Britain by the Gambling Commission under account numbers 39439, 39435 and 39426. Down commanded a platoon in the Battle of Sidi Barrani in December 1940 and lost his right eye in the engagement.It doesn’t matter whether it’s the Champion Hurdle or one of the handicaps because the handicaps are contested with a ferocity and usually at a pace that is kind of frightening to watch - and they just go off like hell out of the night; so much so, that we’ve had changes in the field sizes in recent years. On his favourite racehorse: 'I'll still thump anyone who doesn ' t appreciate that Rondetto was the greatest chaser of all time. Every day in the 10 days up to the meeting, lots of horses start dropping out due to injury and then all those months of planning and years of planning can easily go up in smoke – it is not a window of opportunity, it’s an arrow slit, and everyone is wanting to all fire through that arrow slit all at once. I also knew his father Paddy Mullins who trained Dawn Run - Dawn Run having been responsible for running the greatest race I’ve ever seen when she won the Gold Cup and rallying from beaten. For many years he was senior presenter on Channel 4 Racing during the jumps season, and he has been named Racing Journalist of the Year three times.

At the top of the hill all the dreams are still alive, the triumphs and tragedies of the long swoop down and hard haul up the hill to victory yet to unfold before the rapt ranks in the stands. A collection of hte author's best horseracing columns signed by Alastair Down to half title page: All the Best , Alastair Down.On recovering after an over-indulgent day at Longchamp: 'I just wish to be left alone with my thoughts and sincere hopes that my liver, which I mailed home by separate refrigerated container, will arrive soon. I first went to the Festival actually when I was 19 and a friend of dads had a wonderful box which he couldn’t use. I mean, it ran, but it ran about as quick as I could – I nearly became a Republican that day I was so cross! I was surfing through channels thinking "you never know" and suddenly I was looking at the holy grail and not believing it. The ruddy-faced Down, who would use Channel Four’s ad breaks to smoke a cigarette to calm his nerves, does not miss his television role.