The first day of the Goodwood Festival last month, one of the UK?s most important horse-racing events and a highlight of the summer season for over 200 years, was indeed memorable. ?Glorious Goodwood?, dubbed the most beautiful racecourse in the world, lived up to its reputation. A number of ABN Amro?s senior debt and equity capital markets bankers and an assortment of journalists basked in sunshine, enjoying the scene. The only trouble was picking the right horses. Nearly everyone went for Pango, the winner in the last race, shunning another horse called Freeloader, even though it seemed to be running in ABN Amro colours.
The only other high point was the second race, where a number of the ABN party got lucky with their selection of Go for Gold, the 25-1 mount of star jockey Kieren Fallon, which came second. Justin May, global head of corporate debt capital markets, and Julien Garren, head of European equity strategy, were among the winning punters.
And what was the name of the race in question? The 2.40pm ABN Amro Stakes, of course.