THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL BRING SUNSHINE

Robert Cooper, Sky Sports Racing’s roving reporter, remember an exotic outing to Hipodromo de Gavea in Rio de Janiero

- Robert Cooper

I think Sir Robert Cooper is the most irritating man in racing. How’s that for a biographical nutshell? Unlike many, I am not one to enter my name in a search engine to seek approval (in this case disdain) from the cyber world. I learned my lesson when chat rooms and forums were in their infancy. You soon discover a barrage of rotten eggs accompanies each compliment.

I have a Twitter account but have tweeted just three times (1. It’s a man actually Derek; 2. The Raw Egg challenge during the spring lockdown and 3. Auctioning an autographed race card for charity) and every now and again I have posted a photo of a tree or a sunset on Instagram.

That’s about it; my ‘X’ is firmly in the square for ‘No Publicity.’ By the way I am not a knight of the realm, and am never likely to be. No Buckingham Palace garden party for me, although I would accept a Victoria Cross for ‘bravery in the face of being rebuffed in the field of battle by Ryan Moore’.

The honorary title of ‘Sir Bob’ was started way back by top commentator Ian Bartlett, formerly a colleague back in the day when we shared an airtight voice-over booth (perish the thought these days) regurgitating betting shows and greyhound commentaries to betting shops around the nation, but I have no idea how the token title emerged.