PADDY POWER BLOWS £11K DERBY WINNINGS OVER THREE-DAY STAG
THE QUEEN was not amused by her loss at the Investec Derby, for which City A.M. proudly served as the official newspaper. But Paddy Power, the public face of the bookmaker of the same name, was still celebrating on Sunday afternoon after winning £11,000 the previous day.
Power told his wife Jane he would make £200 at the Derby, so he was as surprised as anyone to win five figures thanks to two straight forecasts and a 20/1 stake on Pour Moi in the day’s big race. “My tips are usually terrible,” he told The Capitalist. “I am a worse judge than Pontius Pilate.”
So far, so good – the only problem was that Power was halfway through a three-day stag party for his friend Normski McBrien that started at the Derby on Ladies Day on Friday.
By Sunday afternoon, Power’s entire winnings had been spent on hotels, champagne and a lock-in at O’Neill’s pub in Richmond that lasted until 9am yesterday after the landlord produced a good bottle of whisky.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time but I might regret it in the morning,” said Power of his £11k spending spree. “Easy come, easy go.”
DOWNTIME ABBEY
ALSO at the races were parties hosted by Betfair and Rank Group, while Luberon corporate financier Hugo Nash and John Morton, founder of European Wealth Management Group, cleaned out the bookies from City A.M.’s box thanks to tips from Paddy Power’s head of brand Adam Perrin.
Representing Investec were Bernard Kantor, the specialist bank’s global managing director, alongside global head of property Sam Hackner, joint chief executive David Van Der Walt and head of investment banking David Currie.
Their guests included Downton Abbey actress Michelle Dockery, accompanied by the period drama’s writer Julian Fellowes, who talked plot twists with Jilly Cooper. Expect some even more eye-raising moments when the next instalment returns to our screens later this year.
BANKER BASHING
QUESTIONS will be asked at the Bank of England this morning, after their team failed to score a single goal in yesterday’s Diageo City Challenge football tournament.
The bank limped home in last place, outplayed by rival City institutions such as CNBC and the Times, which dominated the five-a-side tournament from start to finish, beating Reuters five-nil in the final after an unbroken winning run through the group stages.