Richard Hoiles' top tips for Tuesday: Sun can shine at Wolverhampton

A week away with the family provided a chance to reflect on my two sons, Jack 11 and Tom 7’s growing love of sport. We pore over their Fantasy Premier League side’s each week in search of the bargain buys and they devour the multitude of football programmes now available on satellite TV.

In my day the only domestic game that was really shown for a full 90 minutes was the FA Cup Final and it seems bizarre to them that their Dad was parked in front of the TV watching the teams leave their hotels, walk around the pitch in bizarre suits a good few hours before kick off.

Nowadays during the football season there are very few days when some sort of match isn’t televised and the major players are all household names.

When it actually comes to them attending sport whilst they appreciate the atmosphere of major events there has been little doubt that their actual enjoyment has been directly related to their accessibility to the action and the players.

So far this season we have been to Basketball, the Muller Games at the Olympic Stadium, a couple of T20 games, a Women’s Super League football match, three rounds of the Carabao Cup and without doubt what should be their highlight a first visit to my beloved Crewe Alexandra.

This coincided with one of those rare occasions last Saturday where the stars all aligned, and I got the opportunity to realise a personal ambition and commentate with local radio legend Graham McGarry who managed to nurse his novice through 90 minutes and a Crewe victory for one of my own personal lifetime sporting highlights.

What has struck me is how much more the boys remember and talk about the days when they actually got to meet the players.

Tom’s most prized photos are with a random Bristol Flyers Basketball player and a super few minutes spent with Eoin Morgan at Richmond. For Jack running around the boundary edge to amass autographs on the scorecard, and having his photo taken with Tom Ingram in front of his car at a British Touring Car event at Rockingham remain indelibly printed on his brain several years on and we still cheer for Tom at every race during the summer.

It struck me as we gathered round the I-Pad to watch Winx early on Saturday morning that Racing has the ability to do the same but still hasn’t quite tapped into it fully.

The streams of people parading past Winx in the build up to the race in Australia contrasted again markedly with how difficult it can be to see horses in the preliminaries here and hence how much harder it is to gain that sort of rapport. Jockeys are often really good with their time and pose for photos and sign autographs on the way to the paddock.

If my kids experience of sport is anything to go by it is time massively well spent.

A varied selection today starting with:

Mr Macho looks a throwback to the days of the slow developing store horses and is having only his third career run despite already being six years old.

Both runs to date have shown he has the ability and he will continue to progress as he channels it more effectively.

Before Midnight will clearly take plenty of beating but Mr Macho is open to the greater improvement.

Generally consistent, he has clearly had issues along the way and is not always the most straight forward beforehand but has won fresh in the past and is reasonably treated on the form that saw him finish a good second at Doncaster in a race that worked out particularly well.

No surprise he is turned out quickly after an improved effort at Kempton last time.

I am a big fan of his trainer Charlie Fellowes and as long as Stevie Donohoe can avoid getting posted wide at the first bend then Buckland Boy should be able to get off the mark before the handicapper exacts his revenge.

Won at Newcastle last time after having a wind operation and this will be only her third career start.

She is nicely drawn to get a good trail into the race and can add to her tally at the main expense of recent course and distance winner Get Back Get Back.