Dede Gold not looked back since trading law books for a brush It is still not clear whether it was the arrival of Alan and Anne Potts as owners or the departure of the good doctor as chief work-rider that saw de Bromhead's career blossom into what it is today. Her grandfather, Anthony Walsh, was also a keen racing man and was once involved in a poker game during Listowel races with, among others, Edward O'Grady's father, Arthur Moore's dad, Timmy Hyde's sire and the great jump jockey Aubrey Brabazon, who won three Cheltenham Gold Cups on Cottage Rake. During the game an American came up and asked if he could join in. They made it clear that the game was full. Half-an-hour later he returned, asked once more and they politely said 'no" again. Half-an-hour later he came back a third time and asked: "Do you guys know who I am? Well I'm the fourth husband of the Hollywood actress Joan Fontaine. Quick as a flash Brabazon replied. "We're a racing crowd," he explained, "and, as far as we're concerned, once you're out of the first three, you don't count." A teetotaller buying a stake (as opposed to a steak) in a pub is a bit like a vegetarian buying an abattoir or a nymphomaniac taking a solemn vow of chastity - it's not really a whole lot of good to you. But Champion jockey A P McCoy, whose lips have never tasted alcohol, has bought a share in a Manton pub called the Outside Chance and, unlike most landlords or indeed unlike any other jockeys, he's taking it with him to Cheltenham this weekend. Situated in the tented village with a capacity for 900, this will be where it's at - apparently - late into the night. Junior Guevarra and X-factor finalist Jamie Bruce will be performing, there is food - another thing McCoy doesn't do - and the great man will be providing tips before racing and DJing afterwards. Jilly Cooper spends so much time going racing and doing her 'research," it's a wonder that she ever gets a book finished but Hot To Trot Racing, a well-organised syndicate of which she is a member, has made her patron, which presumably is further bad news for her publisher. The club, which consists of 100 members paying £1,100 for a share in five Flat horses for 2013, had four winners this past season and did very well with Dream Maker, a two year-old trained by Tom Dascombe that won at Chester and Bath. Next year a half-sister to the smart sprinter Pearl Secret - which is like a Cooper novel in that it looks good on paper - will be running in their colours.