Clarkson On His Travels

There are three meetings this afternoon with jumps cards from Hexham and Southwell as well as an all-weather flat card from Wolverhampton.  There isn't a great deal of prize money around with only £102,000 spread between all three meetings.  David has no runners today although the lorry will be leaving this morning with Mr Clarkson who goes for the handicap hurdle final at Sedgefield on Wednesday - I understand there will be a few more owners there than when successful in the qualifier there last month(pictured above)!  Meanwhile, stable jockey Tom Scudamore has picked up a couple of outside rides at Southwell this afternoon for his brother Michael.

I see that the official going at Plumpton yesterday afternoon was given as good/firm and I am sure that is the reason for the raft of non-runners at the meeting.  I still struggle to believe that the description was correct though with one of the races 51 seconds slower than the standard time, another was slow by 38 seconds and two more slow by over 20 seconds, indeed there was not a race near the standard time all day.  Either the description is wrong or there were some very moderate horses in action...or maybe it is a combination of the two?!

It is Rory MacNeice's 49th birthday today.  Rory used to ride as a conditional jockey for MCP and he is now the man to go if you get into trouble as he is a successful solicitor.  Fortunately for Rory he is a better solicitor than jockey!  I saw him at Cheltenham with his lovely wife Martha and I must say that he was in good form, which is more than I can say for 'Leg Lock' Luke Harvey who is 51 today!  Luke looks like the oldest 51 year old in the world and he has possibly the biggest parting in the world...of course, I am only joking - Luke is a great character who is not afraid to poke fun at himself and he has really come into his own since landing the job with ITV racing.  Many happy returns to Rory and Luke.

I see that there is no 12/1 left about Vieux Lion Rouge for the Grand National in less than a fortnight's time.  You can still get a bit of 10's but he seems to be the one the public have latched onto at this stage.

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Ireland take on Iceland in a football friendly this evening at 7.45pm.  I know England managed to lose to the supermarket chain, but let's hope that was just a fluke and the Irish can come out on top.  At odds of 6/5 I will be having a little wager on Ireland and if they lose they will be getting the cold shoulder!

Meanwhile, England's under 21 side beat Denmark 4-0 - it seems they are a bit like some two year old racehorses...they don't all seem to train on!

Manchester City have been fined £35,000 for the bad behaviour of their players.  How on earth is that going to have any effect?  The only way to hurt these players is through their pockets and given how much they are paid, the fine should have been nearer £3.5million...even then that is just a drop in the ocean to these overpaid playboys.

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My tortoise wrote a book - it is a hardback!  Keep smiling...

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