IT’S been another gruelling week for Game Group, the embattled computer games retailer. There was, however, some welcome respite for Chris Bell, the chairman.
He is one of more than two dozen members of the syndicate behind racehorse Vendor, which raced to third place in the 4.40 last Wednesday at the annual racing jamboree that is the Cheltenham Festival.
Bell, 54, is in good company owning a stake in the nag, which had started the race as the bookies’ favourite.
His fellow syndicate members include Sir Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways; Neil Goulden, former boss of Gala Coral, the gaming group; and Jeff Randall, the Sky News business presenter.
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Although Vendor narrowly failed to win, the Thurloe 52 syndicate members could console themselves that their four-year-old horse was beaten by Une Artiste, one of many Nicky Henderson-trained rides to have triumphed at the Festival.
Game Group is in turmoil, racing to find fresh funding, but Bell, a former boss of Ladbrokes bookmakers, still found time to get to Cheltenham for the afternoon.
Prufrock is told, however, that he missed out on seeing Vendor’s moment in the sun — he was tied up on his mobile phone dealing with the computer games crisis.
The bookies are having a ball
CHELTENHAM is one of the highlights of the racing year. Fans attending last week included the Duchess of Cornwall and Zara Phillips, as well as Rich Ricci, the Barclays Capital boss who had plenty of gambling dough — he has just cashed in shares worth £10m.
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The bookies fight like tigers to lay their hands on punters’ cash, whether through offers of free bets or the best corporate boxes. Betfair had a giant marquee complete with mezzanine floor where guests could place bets on computers without having to find anything so crude as a turf accountant.
Not every idea sees the light of day. Sporting Index, the spread-betting firm, tried to place an advertisement in the press borrowing an idea from Paddy Power. The Irish bookie’s recent campaign added a jockey to the famous Uffington White Horse. Sporting Index’s version gave the Cerne Abbas Giant a ball to go with his large club. Sadly, it was rejected by the papers. Nice try, guys.
Pâté has got FT boss’s name on it
STAFF at the Financial Times may be in open revolt, but every Thursday at 4pm a trolley trundles through the newsroom where hungry journalists — who have started striking over pay — can console themselves with a cup of tea and something sweet. Is it a management ploy to let them eat cake?
In less need of nourishment is John Ridding, 46, the Pink Guardian’s £928,000-a-year chief executive. He’s a regular diner at Wright Brothers Oyster & Porter House in nearby Borough Market. They’ve even named a starter after him: the Ridding Smoked Mackerel Pâté. Let them eat pâté, John!
McDonald’s chickens out of imports
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McDONALD’s is the official food sponsor of the 2012 Olympics — it will build the world’s biggest hamburger joint onsite. So the company was red-faced when it emerged that 90% of the chicken served at the games was to be imported.
Jenny Jones, a Green party member of the London Assembly, branded the fast-food chain a “disgrace” and attacked its “dismal failure” to support British farmers.
With chickengate threatening to snowball, the powers that be did a quick u-turn. McDonald’s has now decided all chicken served at its four outlets at Olympic sites will be British. Do you want fries with that, Jenny?
Brits are champers champions
CHAMPAGNE is more often associated with the yuppie 1980s than austerity Britain, but you wouldn’t know it from official figures published last week.
This country remains the world’s biggest importer of fizz, with consumption starting to return to pre-credit crunch levels. In 2011, Brits drank 35m bottles, nearly twice as many as America, the next biggest market. The Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics could help 2012 set a new record for British bubbly quaffing.
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The French are returning the compliment. Bollinger has become a sponsor of that most British of institutions, the Oxford-Cambridge university boat race.