Extrovert Ricci won’t be left at the starting gate

BUSINESS may be slow in the City of London right now, but there is absolutely no shortage of excitement for Rich Ricci.

The self-titled ‘maddest f***er on the planet’ is in Australia ahead of Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup – which has been dubbed ‘the race that stops a nation’.

The former co-chief executive of Barclays Corporate and Investment Bank, who now runs broker Panmure Gordon and is known for his tweed suits and trilby hats, will no doubt have a few bob on his horse Vauban.

The five-year-old gelding is a former Triumph Hurdle winner at Cheltenham who romped home in this year’s Copper Horse Handicap at Royal Ascot.

The fabulously rich Ricci – who named one of his racehorses Fatcatinthehat – may be a little bit disappointed by the odds as Vauban is currently set to start as the favourite.

But the colossal £2.3million first place prize – one of the biggest in racing – is not to be sniffed at.

■ APPLAUSE all round for Julia Hoggett, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, who was given the Freedom of the City of London last week.

Bestowed by the lord mayor, it is one of the Square Mile’s ancient traditions, and sees Hoggett join the likes of Sir Winston Churchill and Stephen Hawking.

She is a natural recipient of the honour, having been a financier and a regulator. And her role as chairman of a taskforce looking at how to make London more competitive could leave a strong legacy.

But the gong’s timing may have raised eyebrows. After all, under her watch, the City has this year grappled with an alarming exodus of firms turning their backs on the LSE for the US. Awkward.