It was under sunny skies that a dozen hopeful Guilders made their way to Kempton on a bright April evening to see the seasonal debut of Lord Muffin of Devon.

The Southampton contingent failed to arrive in time for the first race. Our Mum claimed it was my fault but in actual fact we had to wait while she shaved her beard off -- if she doesnt then people can't tell us apart. So, as usual, I failed to contribute any funds to the place pot. Stuart's other horse, No Sting, was running in the second race. In only here second race, she wwent off at a 66-1 that tempted a couple of us to invest one or two spondoolies. Unfortunately, on tonight's performance she seems to be aptly named, at least when it comes to the finishing burst out of the last bend.

I finally worked out how to pick horses in time for the third race. The course has introduced coloured saddle cloths -- a different one for each number. We were scheduled to wear #4, which was yellow, in Race 5. I'd also already made my selection for Race 4, based on the horse's name containing my ex-wife's name (very scientific, I know), and that was also wearing the Yellow #4. It therefore seemed obvious to pick the horse wearing the yellow #4 in Race 3 too.

This strategy seemed to be working well, since #4 in Race 3 finished 3rd at 10-1 and in Race 2 #4 finished 2nd at 16-1. Can you see a pattern emerging here?

To prove how closely we study form, our Mom put her money on a horse named Victoria Sponge in Race 4 -- a nice E/W bet that came in 3rd. Why did she pick that one? Because we happened to be eating Victoria Sponge for dessert when we made our picks. As I said, science baby!

Then it was time to go see the Muffin in the pre-parade ring. As we arrived one of the other runner's in the race came belting out of it's hutch on it's hind legs, dragging its poor groom behind it. We all agreed that we were glad he wasn't ours. Meanwhile, Muffin was being extremely well behaved. We were soon joined by Mrs K, whose foray to check out the bookies revealed that some of them were offering our boy at a staggering 25-1. Insulted we certainly were, so we'd just have to hit them hard to teach them a lesson.

Both Stuart and Fergus seemed happy that the odds-on favourite was a front-runner, which rated to give Muffin a target to aim at. Muffin continued to behave as he was led around the Parade Ring... until, that is, he spotted Fergus walking towards him.

Then it was off the the viewing area (more money being piled on at 25s on the way), and then they were off.

Coming off the bend about two-and-a-half furlongs out, Fergus seemed to have Muffin in perfect position, on the rail just a couple of lengths behind the leaders. From where we watched, we all thought there was a good chance that Fergus would turn on the afterburners and Muffin would glide past them down the straight. It was not to be, though. The leaders opened the gap to 4-5 lengths and Muffin never really looked like getting any closer. Certainly, a mile rather than 7f would not have improved this result. The big plus, though, was that he stayed on really well to hold off the rest of the field and just cling on to 3rd place.

The two horses ahead of Muffin were the 1-2 favourite and the 7-1 2nd-favourite -- the horse that was misbehaving badly in the pre-parade ring. It just goes to show that you never can tell.

Unfortunately, the lack of a donkey to expand the field to 8 runners meant that E/W bets only paid two places, meaning that the bookies failed to learn the lesson about insulting Lord Muffin. We'll get them next time, though, for sure.

The general impression from both Stuart and Fergus afterwards was that this was a very satisfactory first outing of the season and that he would improve for the run. Fergus commented that Muffin had been forced to work hard in the middle of the race in order to get up close to the front runners with the result that he had nothing left for a burst down the closing straight. Indeed, Fergus added that he expected Muffin to tire down the straight, but he seemed to find a second wind in order to stay on to maintain his 3rd place finish (worth a useful £1100 or thereabouts in prize money).

Next stop for Muffin is the Victoria Cup at Ascot in two weeks. Although that rates to be one of the strongest fields Muffin has ever run in, he will be working off one of the lower weights and should not be considered without chances. He should also be available at a decent price too.

The final twist to the evening was the placepot. Di and Paul both had two live runners going. In the end, the one that was common to both of them led with a furling or so to go before being relegated to fourth in the run in. Fortunately, though, both of them managed to get one horse into the frame. This gave Di one winning 50p line from her original four lines -- a return of just over £50 for her original £2 stake. Paul managed three winning lines, however his were only 10p lines, so his return was a bit less. Three winning lines may sound good -- until you consider that Paul had started with 540 lines. So, alas, his return did not quite cover his original £54 stake.

So now it's onto Ascot where, Paul has reminded me, everyone is looking forward to seeing me in a tie! Actually, it is a good job he mentioned it since it wouldn't have occured to me. I do have a couple somewhere -- not any tie that Paul would ever consider wearing of course.

Marc