Tattenham Corner

Turn down the volume, Thommo Derek Thompson's new role as raceday presenter resulted in him bombarding racegoers at Newmarket's July meeting last week, dropping in the occasional less-than-subtle endorsement for his tipping line or the bets of another of his key sponsors, the Tote. Thankfully, somebody at the racecourse had turned his volume down on the public address system by the second day of the meeting. Thompson had been carrying out the same role at Market Rasen's much lower-key fixture on Sunday. Interviewing clerk of the course Sulekha Varma, he embarrassingly quipped: "This is Sulekha, no relation to Jim Laker." Then later on, when a local boutique owner was interviewed and offered a five per cent discount to racegoers, Thompson badgered the flustered lady for 10% until she finally relented to seven and a half. "There you go," said Thompson, turning to the crowd. "Thommo gets you another 2½%. Tell them I sent you." Spencer's frank no Recently separated from his Channel 4 presenter wife Emma, Jamie Spencer had some words of advice for a bride-to-be at York yesterday. Jockeys who had ridden in the first race were returning to the weighing room only to be approached by a hen party, asking for 'a kiss for the bride'. Eventually Robert Winston was brave enough to oblige, but Spencer could manage only a smile with the comment: "Don't do it, just don't do it," as he walked away. Black makes another winning move Andrew Black really does seem to have the magic touch with his investments. As co-founder of Betfair, Black made millions and has invested in his own breeding operation and teamed up with Michael Owen and Tom Dascombe at Manor House Stables in Cheshire. Black's success has now spread to tennis as he has sponsored young British player Oliver Golding for several years and had his patience rewarded when the youngster reached the boys' singles semi-final at Wimbledon last week. No secret agents are hardly popular Two-year-old racehorse Only Ten Per Cent, in training with Stan Moore, may not be cheered home by every football fan in the country. As its name suggests, the colt is owned by football agents Barry Silkman and Willie McKay. Silkman was famously secretly recorded by the News of the World describing how he'd told the late Sir Bobby Robson that he hoped his cancer "spreads all over your face and that you live a fucking long, long, long life because the longer you live the more you will fucking suffer". McKay, who received the trophy from the Queen when his horse Les Arcs won the Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2006, was last year cleared of allegations of conspiracy to defraud after being arrested by City of London police as part of their inquiry into alleged corruption in football. Standards are dropping at York There was excitement at York racecourse yesterday when the management – who famously closely police the track's dress code – reacted to the sweltering conditions by allowing men to remove their jackets in the premier enclosure. A shirt and tie must, of course, still be worn. It is a far cry from years gone by when, as customers nearly suffocated in boiling heat, announcements were made reminding them to keep their jackets on. What's In A Name? Harris Tweed produced a highly respectable effort when second to Corsica at Newmarket this week in the famous white colours of Brian Haggas, whose Yeast was a splendid handicapper in the mid-1990s. Yorkshireman Haggas, father of trainer William, perhaps could have changed his silks to Harris Tweed, as he owns the majority of the cloth's production mills around the Outer Hebrides. Haggas has caused controversy in the industry in recent years for reducing the numbers of designs available with resulting redundancies.