Mount! by Jilly Cooper

Author:Jilly Cooper [Cooper, Jilly]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781448170876
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2016-09-07T14:00:00+00:00

50

Cosmo continued his sledging. He and Isa had three horses in the Derby: the perfect gentleman, I Will Repay, black Eumenides, who’d won one of the Derby trials, and Boris Badenough, the dark-brown pacemaker. They were no doubt planning team tactics to hem in Quickly.

Rupert had refused to retaliate or talk to the press except to say that Quickly was very well. As he stalked the course with Eddie, and Meerkat panting to keep up, Eddie grew paler as he appreciated why Epsom’s slopes and cambers made the Derby so demanding.

‘You probably don’t realize it,’ announced Rupert, ‘but during the race, the track rises by a height of nine double-decker buses on top of each other, and then slopes downwards the height of seven more double-decker buses.’

‘Wow!’ said Meerkat.

‘As Quickly’s drawn in the car park, you’ll probably spend most of the race trapped on the rail.’

‘Rupert!’ They’d been ambushed by a hot-eyed, very done-up journalist from the Scorpion called Rhiannon Tate, who was wafting scent and entrapment.

‘Morning, Rupert. You worried Cosmo Rannaldini has three horses running?’

‘Not at all,’ snapped Rupert. ‘If they want to avoid humiliation, I’d advise all three to stay home in their boxes.’

‘Wow!’ Rhiannon was wearing so much mascara, it was hard for her eyes to widen. ‘You so certain Quickly’s going to win?’

‘Of course. Now piss off.’

‘Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck,’ sighed Eddie.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ snarled Rupert.

‘Counting chickens before they’re hatched.’

‘Couldn’t cluck if they hadn’t hatched. Not if you ride that horse as you’ve been told. This is the highest point. Quickly will only cope here if he’s well balanced as you race downwards. And keep the whip in your left hand to stop him running down the cambers or you’ll be done for interference.’

‘Eddie, Eddie!’ Two ravishing blondes had kicked off their stilettos and dived under the rails towards him. ‘Can we have your autograph?’

As he signed their race cards, the first blonde caught sight of Rupert’s steely face. Pretty lush for an older man, she thought. Her forehead wrinkling – he looked familiar. Confident in her beauty, she asked: ‘Can I have yours too? I can’t quite place you.’

‘No, you can’t,’ said Rupert, striding off towards the finishing post.

‘You idiot,’ said the second girl. ‘That’s the King.’

Many, many trainers have been kept going because of betting. Rupert had always bet with Ladbrokes and over the years both sides had made a great deal of money out of the other. Today he had accepted an invitation to lunch in the Ladbrokes box, although with Hell Bent Hal in the Woodcote Stakes and Fleance in the Coronation Cup for four-year-olds and upwards, and Quickly in the Derby, he wouldn’t have time to do more than pop in for a drink from time to time. But it would be nice for Taggie, Etta, Valent and Bao, the latter both potentially powerful customers, and Dora to have a base and enjoy a nice lunch.

Taggie was so relieved. Rupert always wanted her to watch the big races with

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