My greatest moments...number 2....

Longchamp Hippodrome, Paris...June 15th 2000 The biggest 'coup' in my history of horse racing.... The horse? Slickly a son of Linamix out of Slipstream Queen by Conquistador Cielo (trust me, I'm an expert...) smooth travelling, classy and brash (reminds me of someone)....living in St Germaine I had taken the view that first time out was the best time to back Slickly and I travelled to the track with 140,000 francs to put on the beast..(£14.000) ..... on hearing: "Cent Quatorze mille francs pour gagner le numero un, s'il vous plait" the cashier had enquired: "Etes vous sur, monsieur?"

The stalls flew open and Slickly went straight into the lead. Watching through 12 X 50 binoculars (magnification as opposed to clarification) I knew immediately that nothing would get by my 'flying machine'. Ever the showman, I lowered the bins and turned to the crowd in the grandstand and screamed: "Arrete le, trop de sang!" (Pull him up, too much blood or I've seen enough)....Hard held, Slickly led from start to finish to win me a little over £13,000. I tipped the payout cashier 200 francs (£20) and he phoned for security to escort me from the course. Carrying £27,000 in cash I was escorted along the sous terrain (underground tunnel) to the exit and after giving the very nervous security man another 200 francs, I legged it to the tube....