I remember back when I was a kid, which by the way wasn’t so long ago if you look at it from my perspective, I’d rush home from school, swap my uniform for a pair of sports shorts and tee-shirt, and shoot off to play hockey if it was early in the year, or football if it was the second half. Cricket was reserved for the weekends as we needed a lot more time on our hands to go through two complete innings.

Fast forward to today and while I’m not doing much of the playing, I’m still hooked on anything you can term as a sport.

At work, our Sports Desk has its own dedicated television set which is virtually switched on 24/7. If it’s the morning we’re catching up with replays of the previous night’s football matches, or anything that happened late. By lunchtime we’re flicking channels to catch the Ashes live or alternate to gawk at those intrepid cyclists punishing themselves in the Tour de France.

In-between I switch channels to catch the action on the flat at Sandown, York, Newbury or Newmarket.

As you can see we’re a pretty busy section and I rejoice in the memory, and the satisfaction, of being both a serious sports enthusiast and an even more staunch sports writer. Occasionally there would be a request for the channel to be changed, leaving you perhaps feeling a little betrayed or perhaps even abandoned. Why get emotional when you’re not the one getting paid to play the sport?

But a sports buff has a distinct personality and he’s entitled to show some passion.

Frankly speaking, I like all sport, although I admit to having preferences. I can sit glued to the TV to watch a replay of the Thrilla in Manila (aka Mohammad Ali vs Joe Frazier III), the 1975 blockbuster which Time magazine lists as the greatest ever fight, or to watch the 1970 ‘World Cup final that never’ was between England and Brazil, or to wonder at Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal’s spectacular 2012 showdown at the Australian Open.

However, one sports that I currently watch more than any other is flat racing.

As a racing writer I aspire to follow all the action on the flat, be it Great Britain, France or North America. I try not to miss any big race, or major festival.

Having said that, I’m really looking forward to the second half of this month’s racing calendar which culminates at the world’s most spectacularly beautiful racecourse – Goodwood. I should have been there again this year, but I’d rather not discuss that now.

At this stage we’re waiting to see who the potential runners are at five-day meeting, but we can be sure that a high calibre field of horses from the far corners of the country are heading in the direction of Sussex.

I’m booking my TV time from the final Tuesday in July when the opening after of this superb fixture takes place with the highlight being the Lennox Stakes, which could include the classy Aljamaaheer, who was a noteworthy runner-up to Declaration Of War in the Group One Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and Godolphin’s Fulbright, who won the Mile at this course when previously trained by Mark Johnston.

So there’s a lot to look forward to this month.