‘Look, I’m sorry, Sid, but I told him if he did that, I would send the video I took of him on Monday evening in my room to the BHA as well.’

So much for my dire warnings, I thought.

‘And I also told him that it wasn’t any good him doing something to me to stop me, because I’ve already told Sid Halley about the video I’d made.’

Oh, great, I thought, thanks a lot.

Marcus had just massively raised the stakes in this dangerous poker game. But who would blink first?

I turned the Discovery into the free public car park at Sedgefield Racecourse at a quarter past twelve.

‘I didn’t realise the prime minister liked racin’,’ Chico said with a grin.

‘Didn’t you know that Tony Blair was the local MP here for over twenty years?’

‘Please don’t tell me we’ve come all the way up here just to see Tony Blair.’

‘No,’ I said, laughing. ‘We haven’t.’

Surprisingly, this was my first ever visit to Sedgefield Racecourse, having never ridden here as a jockey. County Durham had always seemed so far away from my then home in Berkshire, but that was silly, really, as I rode several times in Scotland, including twice at Perth, which is nearly two hundred miles farther north than Sedgefield.

We were quite early as the first race wasn’t until two o’clock, so I parked the Discovery in the largely empty car park, as close as I could to the main entrance to the enclosures, rather than tucking it away in a dark corner where thugs in balaclavas might be waiting for us when we came out later.

Chico and I went in through the turnstiles, buying racecourse entry tickets that included not only a complimentary racecard but also some traditional fish and chips, complete with mushy peas and curry sauce, from the on-site fish-and-chip shop.

We sat on a wooden bench in front of the grandstand, eating our fish lunch in the warm early April sunshine, which had replaced the heavy overnight rain.

‘So, are we here to give Marcus Capes some moral support?’ Chico asked between mouthfuls.

‘Partly, but we were always coming here anyway, even before his phone call.’

‘To see the prime minister?’

‘Exactly so,’ I replied with a smile.

I sat and perused the racecard.

As expected, Jahaz Bar was listed among the seven runners for the second race, with Marcus Capes riding, but there was another horse that I was also interested in: Ricardian, a declared runner in the fifth race, a two-and-a-half-mile handicap hurdle for four-year-olds and older. He was trained by Simon Paulson and was due to be ridden by Jimmy Shilstone.

According to the printed probable starting prices, both horses were expected to start as their race favourite, but would they both be trying to win? That was the big question.