Right, today was one of those days – had to check the results for Ascot. It’s become a bit of a habit, you know, not that I’m a big-time gambler or anything, just like to see what’s what.
So, I got myself settled, cup of tea in hand, and decided to dive in. First thing I did was grab my tablet. Figured the usual sports websites would have it all laid out, nice and simple. That was my first mistake, wasn’t it?
The first site I went to, well, it loaded eventually. After I waded through about three pop-up ads. Honestly, sometimes I think these sites are more ads than actual content. I was looking for a straightforward list – Race 1 winner, Race 2 winner, you get the picture. No chance. It was all articles about the fashion and who was there.
Okay, plan B. I thought, “I’ll just search for ‘Ascot results today’ directly.” That brought up a few more options. Clicked on one that looked official enough. Still, not as easy as you’d think.
Getting the actual results took a bit of digging.
I had to navigate through a couple of different pages, then scroll down past a load of blurb. It’s like they hide the info on purpose sometimes. I just wanted the winners, the placed horses. Simple stuff.
- The first race, found it after a bit of clicking. My horse wasn’t anywhere, naturally.
- The second, that was buried even deeper. Same story with my pick.
- Took me a good while to piece together all the results, race by race.
Eventually, I got them all down. But it felt like I’d run a race myself. Why do they make it so complicated these days?
I actually started following Ascot by pure chance, many years back. I was a young lad, staying with my grandad. He was a proper racing fan, always had it on the telly. I wasn’t much interested, to be honest. Then one day, he told me to pick a horse in the big race, just for fun. Gave me 50p to “put on it” – which meant he just remembered my pick.
The horse had a daft name, something I picked ’cause it sounded funny. And stone me, it only went and won! Must have been 20/1 or something. Grandad gave me a fiver. I felt like a king! Been a soft spot for Ascot ever since. Not really for the betting, more the tradition and the excitement of checking.
That’s probably why I still go through this rigmarole every year. My little routine of hunting down the results. It’s a bit of a carry-on, especially when the websites are designed to make you click a million times. I miss the days you could just open the newspaper, and there it was. Or Teletext! Page 300-and-something, all the results, no fuss.
So, that was my practice for getting the Ascot results today. A bit of a palaver, but I got there. My main fancy for the day? Trailed in fourth. Ah well, that’s how it goes, isn’t it? There’s always the next time.
