I am the proud owner of a six-year-old ex-racehorse. He’s terribly well bred — his sire’s stud fee was in the region of $60,000, and his mother won the Princess Margaret Stakes at Ascot. If he was a human, he most definitely wouldn’t talk to me — though he was born in America, and they’re not as hung-up about class over there, are they?Despite his grand start in life, his racing career was somewhat short-lived: having been flown to the UK at the tender age of two, he raced twice, won the second time, then tweaked a suspensory and was retired. He had a year off completely, before being brought back in for retraining, and 18 months ago I bought him for the princely sum of £100 plus VAT (which, at the time, was only 15% — as if he wasn’t bargain enough already).
