GLORY DAYS FOR ROYAL ASCOT CITY RACING SET
IT WAS smiles all round for the property world’s keenest racegoers yesterday, as a group of City real estate heavyweights toasted a win (and a hefty £167,472 prize pot) for their horse Paco Boy in the Queen Anne Stakes at Ascot. I hear Parkwood Property Investments partner Derek Lucie-Smith, one of the owners, was in fine fettle afterwards, practising for his annual Property Race Day at Sandown next months as he celebrated the afternoon away – mingling with the likes of former Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan, pub tycoon Kevin Doyle, hedge fund philanthropist Arki Busson and biographer Tom Bower.
City racing stalwart Andy Stewart, the founder of broker Cenkos, had a more disappointing first day to the festival after Fleeting Spirit, the horse he part owns along with others including Newsmith Capital founding partner Paul Roy, was pipped to the post by Scenic Blast.
Hot tips for today include Forgotten Voice, the favourite for the Royal Hunt Cup, which is owned by Paul Roy’s wife Susan, and two-year-old filly Rose Blossom, tipped for the Queen Mary Stakes and owned by the Highclere racing syndicate, in which many a City boy and girl has a stake.
WINNING STREAK
Meanwhile, full marks to agency broker Mint Equities for securing what has probably proved to be the shortest, jammiest sponsorship deal in the history of horseracing.
Mint on Monday closed a deal to sponsor jockey Richard Hughes for the Ascot festival, and the decision has so far proved to be extremely lucrative.
Hughes romped home with two winners at Windsor on Monday evening, and yesterday won no less than three of the races on the first day at Ascot with Paco Boy in the Queen Anne Stakes, Canford Cliffs in the Coventry Stakes and Judgethemoment in the Ascot Stakes Handicap.
“I just looked over at the television screen and Richard was talking to the Queen with our logo splashed down his shirt,” Mint co-founder Richard Barnett gushed yesterday, from the firm’s swanky corporate box.
“He’s a great guy and a quality jockey, we’re absolutely thrilled…”
I’ll bet.
CAPTAIN SLOW
The green lobby’s golden boy Zac Goldsmith has been out and about recently promoting a new facet of his drive to make the world a more environmentally-friendly place.
Goldsmith got behind the wheels of two of the newest green cars around last week on an eco-rally from Brighton to London. First up was cleantech firm ITM Power’s hydrogen powered Ford Focus, followed by a sexy 100 per cent electric sports car by Tesla, pictured below.
But despite the fact that he actually ended up winning the race, the modest chap claims it was rather more by chance than design.
“I was the first to arrive but I think I broke all the rules and accidentally took a shortcut to get there,” Goldsmith chuckles. “If you’re looking for reliability, the hydrogen car is great, and if sports cars are your bag, the Tesla goes from 0-60 mph in under four seconds and is pretty damned impressive. But the truth is, I’m ignorant when it comes to cars – I get my adrenaline kicks from poker.” Looks like he’s not going to pop up anytime soon in Top Gear’s reasonably priced car.
HARD SLOG
Hats off to manager Fred Sirieix and the team at Galvin at Windows, the restaurant at the top of the Park Lane Hilton hotel, who have roped in a bunch of high-profile participants for a charity race later on today.
The Mayfair Park and Tower Race will see the restaurant’s chef patron Chris Galvin join Le Gavroche and Capital Hotel chefs Michel Roux Jr and Eric Chavot, hotelier Sir Rocco Forte and former England footballer Graeme Le Saux in the challenge. They are raising money for Galvin’s Chance, a charity programme to help disadvantaged young people take their first step into the restaurant industry.
Rather them than The Capitalist, though, since the race involves a 4.5km sprint around the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park, followed by a heart attack-inducing tower run up 28 floors to the top of the Hilton.
Thank goodness for all the Pommery champagne that will await the plucky athletes as a reward.