Disney Writes New Chapter!

What a performance from Rathlin Rose and the amazing Captain Guy Disney to land the Royal Artillery Gold Cup at Sandown for a second successive year.  I thought Guy gave him an absolutely perfectly timed ride - he still had plenty to do at the bottom of the hill but he made relentless progress between the last two and joining issue at the last fence, he was well on top at the line.  Guy came into our Cheltenham Festival marquee after last season's heroics and received a tremendous reception and I have never seen anyone so pleased that David had given him a ride...perhaps this year he will buy me a drink?  Only joking!  It is all good publicity for our stable sponsors W&S too with their logos featuring heavily in all the publicity, including on Racing UK yesterday (pictured above).  Anyway, it would be no surprise to see Guy attempt an unbelievable double double aboard Rathlin Rose with the Grand Military back at Sandown next month the obvious target.

Back to today and there are five meetings taking place with jumps action from Ascot, Haydock and Wincanton as well as all-weather flat cards from Lingfield and Kempton.  David runs Warthog, Vieux Lion Rouge, Friday Night Light and Three Star General at Ascot, while over at Wincanton we run Timeforben.

Warthog contests the 2m3½f novices' hurdle at 1.15pm and although there are only five runners it looks like a tricky contest and our gelding would need to improve on what he has shown so far under rules.  Vieux Lion Rouge runs in the 3m handicap chase at 2.25pm.  It is a Listed contest with £75,000 up for grabs so it is a decent race, although it has been made somewhat easier by the defection of likely favourite Gold Present.  Vieux Lion Rouge is a class act on his day and a repeat of his best form would see him in with a shout.

Improving novice hurdler Friday Night Light runs in the 2m3½f handicap hurdle at 3.00pm.  He has shown consistent form this term and should go well again, with probably Dieg Man the one to beat.  Three Star General is our final runner at Ascot and he probably needs to improve on recent form to figure in the 2m7½f handicap hurdle.  Tom Scu is aboard all of our Ascot runners today.

Over at Wincanton, Timeforben contests the 2m5½f handicap hurdle at 1.40pm.  An Irish point-to-point winner, she has shown flashes of promise under rules, but would probably need to improve to win this competitive 18 runner affair.  David Noonan is aboard today.

The big race of the day is the Haydock Grand National Trial at 3.15pm, the race in which Vieux Lion Rouge beat Blacklion last year.  Vieux Lion Rouge goes elsewhere today leaving Blacklion favourite, but it is going to be no easy task conceding lumps of weight away all round.  They were comparing him with Red Rum earlier in the week, although that may be a little optimistic given his record in five Grand Nationals!  Anyway, I wonder if my old mate Gino managed to get much sleep last night?!

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My football double came to fruition last night so at least we can afford to eat this weekend.  I may reinvest a bit of that on Brighton and Manchester United, although the other matches look too tricky to bother with.

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Thought for the day...Violence is never the answer (unless the question is, what is an anagram of NOEL VICE?)

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