I am not at all a natural backer of horses, the risk factor always fills me with disquiet but, every so often the old genetics kick in (I come from a long line of gamblers) and I cannot resist placing a bet.

My brother Ted is in Cheltenham for the races this week and I got a sackcloth and ashes text from him last night as he had done the unforgivable and forgotten my birthday.

For reparation I have commissioned him to back a horse at the festival for me and to this end have just spent the last half hour studying the names of the Gold Cup runners.

It is bizarre but two of them immediatly connect with me.
Mon Mome and I already share a marvellous history as anyone who has read my blog for the last year will know.
My only other brief successful excursion into betting was when I got a tip from the horses mouth, also in the Gold Cup many years ago, for a horse called Imperial Call.
With that success also in my mind I had to instruct Ted to put a tenner on Mon Mome (of course –and he is 150 to 1, my kind of odds ) but then I noticed that there is another horse, at much lower odds, called Imperial Commander, surely a relative of Imperial Call, so I got greedy and asked Ted to back them both.
I suppose a dead heat and a pay-out on both is unlikely ?