Ramses Routs Rivals

The stable continued in good form when Ramses de Teillee ran out a convincing winner of the staying novices' handicap chase at Chepstow yesterday.  He jumped exceptionally well for his first start over fences, barring a slight scare at the third last and he won by 17 lengths despite Tom Scudamore easing him considerably on the run-in.  He handled the heavy ground in great style and certainly looks like an exciting staying chaser in the making.  The Racing Post reporter was also suitably impressed to make him their 'star performer' despite there being some other useful types on the card.

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Market Rasen and Wincanton, while there are also two all-weather flat cards from Newcastle and Chelmsford City.  There are no runners from Pond House today, although both Tom Scudamore and David Noonan have picked up some outside rides at Wincanton and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them among the winners.

I see that colourful bookmaker Gary Wiltshire is of the same opinion as me in that we need to attract more young people to the sport.  Perhaps they should follow the railways who are now offering young persons railcards until they are 30 years of age?  Whenever I go racing, I always see the same old faces and not enough youngsters...that is my serious bit over with!

With regard to the two runner novices' chase at Warwick that I was referring to yesterday, trainer Alan King has said that there is too much racing.  He also stressed the same problem as me - if you have a 125 rated horse, why would you want to run against a 150 rated horse at level weights?  I think he is on to something though, there could be too much racing - not something that is a problem in Ireland.

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Manchester United were beaten 1-0 by Basel last night and could now struggle to get a spot in the last 16 of the Champions League with United, Basel and CSKA potentially all finishing on 12 points.  Meanwhile, Manchester City won 4-0 away from home and I had better mention Celtic who were beaten 7-1 by Paris St Germain (despite Celtic scoring first)!  There are a few Celtic supporters among the staff and ranks of owners so I had better not dwell on it.

Tiger Woods is to attempt another comeback next week when he contests the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.  He says that he is pain free for the first time since 2014...the question is though, do they ever come back?  Unfortunately the glory days are surely gone.

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I've put up a marquee in my garden with lots of flashing lights and loud music...now is the winter of my disco tent!  Keep smiling...

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