I've got a bad case of the Tommie bug - and I expect you'll all soon have it too

Seeing Tommie Beau's name among the declarations for Saturday takes me back to the tricky question of fandom in racing. Of course, it's a great thing when people form emotional ties to certain horses, but some self-awareness and restraint is going to be needed if those people also like a bet.

Perhaps you think this is an obvious point and I'm guilty of teaching my granny to suck eggs. I should come clean and admit that my main intended audience, on any occasion when it appears I'm offering gambling advice, is me. So please bear with me while I attempt to din important lessons into my own skull.

If you haven't warmed to Tommie Beau yet, I can only presume jump racing is not for you and you're currently subsisting on a thin diet of all-weather action, counting down the days until the Craven meeting. Good luck to you, if so. It's too ascetic a life for me, savouring overly of the hair shirt and the leather flail, but I can respect self-discipline in others.