A Good Couple Of Days At The Aintree Office

Fair play - Microsoft Copilot did do a decent job in yesterday's post when I instructed it to select five horses to back in the Grand National.

As I pointed out, the AI assistant chose one 'main pick', two selections it regarded as strong backups' and a couple of 'long range threats'.

The main selection - I Am Maximus - won the race. 

But, that's not all. 

Iroko, who was categorised as a 'long range threat', finished in second place.

Incredible.

All in all, it was a brilliant week of betting for yours truly.

I was given a £2 free bet to wager on any of the races on Friday's card. I decided to use it on a double with names that stood out to me.

The horses I ended up going for were 'Jet To Vegas' because WrestleMania is in Las Vegas next weekend and 'Indiana Jones'. I chose the latter mainly because it's the nickname of the Indianapolis Colts' quarterback, Daniel Jones. I don't know if I would have selected it for the obvious reason of it being the name of the movie character had it not been for the Colts.

The first horse was 25/1 while Indy was 150/1. I didn't expect anything. I thought it would just be a laugh to have selected those two names. 

I happened to be in the living room following the second race and noticed Indiana Jones had placed. I opened my phone to check my betting account and there was £185 waiting for me.

Amazing result. I genuinely didn't think the bet had a chance. I only chose the names for fun.

Microsoft Copilot Goes To The Races: Grand National 2026 Edition

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I've decided to do what I did over the Cheltenham Festival and have Microsoft Copilot select my Grand National horses.

I asked the AI servant to come up with five horses using a series of methods it came up with itself. It suggested making the five picks in the following way - one main pick, two 'strong backup' horses and a couple of 'long range threats'. 

The five runners it came up with are:

Main Pick: I Am Maximus 8/1

Strong Backup 1: Haiti Couleurs 22/1

Strong Backup 2: Jagwar 15/2

Long Range Threat 1: Panic Attack 15/2

Long Range Threat 2: Iroko 14/1

I have made these each-way bets fully aware that Copilot went from great to terrible across Cheltenham week. 

We'll find out how it fares from 4PM today.

Pringles Mingles In The USA

I am aware of a couple of new Pringles flavours that are currently doing the rounds, so went on the potato snack's website to find out more.

My search led me to the US version of the Pringles website. Oh boy. What a find.

I came across some Pringles products other than the ones that are available here in the UK.

Take a look at these.

These 'light, airy crispy puffs' are shaped like Mr. Pringle's bowtie and come in some zany flavours. It was seeing these combinations of flavourings which made me realise I wasn't on the UK version of the Pringles website.

They have:

- Sharp white cheddar and ranch
- Cheddar and sour cream
- Dill pickle and ranch
- BBQ and pizza
- Jalepeno and queso 
- Cinnamon and sugar

They're called 'Pringles Mingles'. I guess the 'Mingle' notion comes from the two flavours mixing together.

Of the six varieties, I'd definitely pass on jalepeno and queso. I would also contemplate skipping cinnamon and sugar. With that said, I had tried a cinnamon-flavoured Pringles during Christmas 2013.

I'll keep an eye out for these products on my visits to the websites that import foods from the USA.

As for the UK products I am after - the snack food brand currently has a collaboration with Burger King. There are two limited edition flavours soon to be on store shelves (or already on store shelves, if you're lucky). One is 'Bacon Double Cheese XL' and the other is 'Chicken Royale'.

My mission is to find them. You'll be one of the first to know if I do.

A Plan For Saturday

I might have another go at getting Copilot to pick some horses for me. 

After the high (singular!) and lows (plural!) from using AI with my Cheltenham Festival picks, I am contemplating having it select a few horses for this Saturday's Grand National.

I'm actually more than contemplating it when you consider I'm actually writing this very post. Now that it's out there, I have kind of backed myself into a corner. 

So, yes, on Saturday, I am going to have a few punts using Microsoft Copilot.

If it's as good as Cheltenham Tuesday, I'll be happy. If it replicates the three days that followed, well - there could be another disaster on my hands.

I'm not going to ask it to pick anything now. I'll wait until Saturday morning.

You can see how my gambling on Cheltenham 2026 went by following THIS LINK.

I Try Poutine Box's Cream Egg Sando

I fancied something from one of my favourite takeaways in Cardiff - Poutine Box - last night, so hopped onto UberEats to see what the company had to offer.

When I last checked in with the business, I came away with possibly the best poutine dish they had ever served. It was a Christmas special which had battered stuffing balls, camembert and other trimming to go with the regular components of poutine. 

The Easter special is made with minted lamb. I ordered one of those, but then came across another new item for this holiday season.

For £6.85, Cardiff's Poutine Box has something called a 'Cream Egg Sando'. They write that the product is 'no joke!' and that it consists of 'grilled waffles drenched in maple syrup, chicken tenders and cream egg'.

Yes, you read that right.

I'm sure you know what I decided to do upon seeing such a thing on the menu.

I ADDED IT!

However, I did so with the plan of having it for this morning's breakfast.

You can see Oreo's legs photobombing this photo. Speaking of Oreo, you can also buy battered Oreo cookies from Poutine Box!

It was gigantic.

I've eaten chicken and waffles before, but this had the added treat of a Cadbury's Creme Egg melted in-between part of the waffle and chicken.

It was so nice. I didn't expect to dislike it, though. It was a crazy concoction I knew would work as soon as I saw the item on the menu.

By the end of the breakfast, I had eaten all of the chicken, so was left with a bit of the waffle with the chocolate treat on top. That was just as nice, to be fair.

This isn't something I would go out of my way to have all the time. And I'm sure, seeing as it's only on the Easter menu, it isn't something Poutine Box expects people to want all the time.

Another brilliant, and unique at that, idea from Poutine Box.

As for last night's dinner - I thought the minted lamb poutine was only okay. I thought the slow cooked lamb was lovely, but found the meal as a whole to be somewhat average. I state that fully aware it had a huge challenge to overcome the magnificent dish from Christmas 2025.

I'll finish off today's post with a final look at the Cream Egg Sando. Here's a snap from inside the waffle sandwich.

Watching Artemis II Break The Record

I have been passively following NASA's Artemis II project, but made sure to watch the most important part of the mission: when the crew broke the record set for the farthest humans have travelled away from Earth.

The previous record of 248,566 miles was held by the infamous Apollo 13 mission from 1970, which was aborted a couple of days on the way to the moon after an oxygen tank exploded on the spaceship.

Everybody here at my home watched NASA's live stream on the living room TV. I made a point of reminding my nephew that one day in the future - when he's really old - he'll be able to recount the moment to the younger generation.

With that said, I believe future missions might, if you pardon the pun, eclipse what we witnessed yesterday.

But, that's a story for another time.

An Easter Visit In The Mid-80s

I am kicking myself for forgetting something I had wanted to write for yesterday's post.

A few weeks ago, I reminded myself of an Easter Sunday when I was visited by the Easter Bunny himself and thought I'd recount it this year.

It must have been either '85 or '86. If I had to bet, I'd gamble on the former. I was in bed in the early hours of Easter Sunday morning and there was an alarm going off in the street behind my bedroom. The noise was keeping me awake. It actually gave me a headache which lasted for the rest of the day, but that's beside the point. As I laid there, I looked at the wall in front of me and I could swear there was a light green shadow standing there looking at me.

It obviously must have been the streetlights making the shadow. Little old me didn't use that reason back then, however. I was sure the Easter Bunny was there making sure I was asleep before they dropped off my eggs.

I had even tricked myself into thinking it was breathing as well. A wheezy sound. It could have been the some echo or affect from the alarm going off in the background. 

It was an experience which lasted with me ever since. 

A few years after that, the cartoon - Bucky O'Hare - about a space rabbit (I didn't watch it) would be on Children's BBC. Whenever I recall that 'visit', I think back to the ghostly green colour and imagine that's how the Easter Bunny looked.