Notus' Chasing Debut

Don't forget to pick up your copy of the Racing Post tomorrow as it will feature David's stable tour.  David spoke with Peter Thomas about the horses at Pond House and his hopes for the coming season as well as maybe a few "dark ones" to follow.  The feature will also include tours of Gordon Elliott, Gary Moore, Lucinda Russell and Paul Webber's yards.  I always enjoy reading them and seeing who the trainers think will be their stable stars for the future.

Don't forget to pick up your copy of the Racing Post tomorrow as it will feature David's stable tour.  David spoke with Peter Thomas about the horses at Pond House and his hopes for the coming season as well as maybe a few "dark ones" to follow.  The feature will also include tours of Gordon Elliott, Gary Moore, Lucinda Russell and Paul Webber's yards.  I always enjoy reading them and seeing who the trainers think will be their stable stars for the future.

We have one runner this afternoon and travel all the way up to Carlisle with chasing debutant Notus de la Tour (pictured right) who will be ridden by Tom Scudamore.  Notus was a very good hurdler, finishing runner-up in the 2010 Fred Winter at the Cheltenham Festival as a novice, and he went on to be a close third in the Totesport Trophy at Newbury last season.  He has schooled nicely at home and looks certain to make up into a quality novice chaser this season - hopefully he can make a winning start this afternoon.

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Let's hope that Lingfield take notice of the jockey's and replace their surface as quickly as possible.  Ian Mongan says that the kickback is getting terrible and that he can see a horse losing an eye.  The track say that the work will be done by this time next year at a cost of between £1-2 million.  The way the jockeys are talking it sounds as though it ought to be done before then...come on Arena, our sport doesn't need any more negative publicity.

Talking of welfare issues, I was interested to hear former National Hunt jockey Jamie Osborne's views on the whip on yesterday's Morning Line.  He disagrees with John Francome and cannot believe (like myself) that he is in favour of a complete whip ban.  Personally, I cannot see what is wrong with the old ruling...if a jockey hit a horse too often he was banned - the implication here is that the stewards are not capable of seeing when a horse is being abused.