Donkey Vote

Touts reckon that the going will be good to soft for a couple of old nags who look favourites to get first and second spot in tomorrow’s running of the Swansea Lord Mayoral Stakes. Both have previously been fallers in the final stretch and punters are even now placing bets that at least one will fail to get past starters orders.

The muddy course favours Sticky Dick Lewis, who was disqualified in 2003 after a stewards’ enquiry found he had offended some diplomatic dude and then used the mayoral crest for party political ends (plus the odd discount curry, we hear).

The Gower councillor has largely kept himself out of trouble since, if you don’t count his ‘non-involvement’ in an abandoned scheme to build a modestly sized mansion on his patch and even joined the Lib Dems for added insurance. But no-one is taking any chances - hence another item on the same agenda which proposes a new protocol prohibiting the personal use of the mayoral crest & headed notepaper by an incumbent.

But there could be a potential handicap for almost-deputy-elect Ioan Richard who was pulled just before the post in 2007 after some ‘unfortunate’ emails written by the Mawr Mouth conveniently sufficiently enraged opposition members who voted him down. For reasons that defy logic, the same detractors, purportedly led by the man that Ioan once described in another e-mail as “Dai Dicky-Bow Phillips” feel that payback should go on a bit longer.

Current odds however suggest that both candidates will go through – making the main opposition gesture not just pointless but politically self-defeating. Cue donkey noises.