The tour of British racecourses has arrived in Carlisle, a half-decent town in the far north.
They like a drink in Carlisle and, in order to discourage this, the entire pub and brewing industry was nationalised in 1916, and only returned to the private sector in 1971. Along with state ownership, which was expected to reduce sales of beer due to disincentivised salaried managers, the buying of rounds was also outlawed.
None of this has any relevance to the racing, but I think it is an interesting story.
Anyway, Carlisle Racecourse is pretty good. They were holding a family fun day, which is the only way I can get the wunderkind to enjoy a day of turf action. I am becoming something of an expert on horse racing family fun days, and Carlisle gave a good account of themselves with the inclusion, alongside the bog-standard bouncy castle and face painting, of a petting zoo. And free chocolate. Genius.
I couldn't pick a winner in a one horse race, but Sally managed to preserve Verity's inheritance with a tidy win in the last.
