Palace's Plumpton Stroll!

Today there are three meetings taking place, two over the sticks at Folkestone and Towcester as well as an all-weather flat card at Wolverhampton.  The stable has one runner this afternoon at Towcester, High Ville who makes his debut for the yard when participating in the bumper.  The six year old finished runner-up in a couple of bumpers for previous connections and he sets a decent standard for the others to aim at.  Conor O'Farrell takes the ride.  Hopefully he will be able to carry on the good form of the yard after Kings Palace's success in the bumper at Plumpton yesterday (pictured above).

The four year old son of Kings Theatre was extremely impressive on his racecourse debut, winning by eighteen lengths with any amount in hand under A P McCoy who had trouble pulling him up afterwards.  I would be willing to bet that the champ hasn't ridden many easier winners this term and Kings Palace looks to be another exciting prospect for the yard.

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It is amazing that former jump jockey Graham Lee is on 99 winners for the calendar year since switching his attention to the flat.  A magic ton in his first season would be an incredible feat, having said that I don't really know why I am surprised.  I am sure that Graham will be considerably stronger than most of his flat colleagues and he looks right at home in a driving finish.  Surely it won't be long before one of the big flat stables or owners makes him their retained jockey...I see that he is only 8/1 to be champion jockey next season!

If you are a fan of all-weather flat racing then you might want to think about going on holiday from Thursday!  The track at Lingfield are about to stage eight race days on the trot after Southwell and Wolverhampton are shut for the short-term.  I wonder if Lingfield will be offering any special discounts on an eight day ticket?

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World news...no, not the Royal baby, but The Dandy comic is to be stopped after 75 years of publication.  I still remember Desperate Dan and his cow pies from my younger days.  Apparently the comics will still be available on-line so not all is lost.

I see that Kate Middleton was referred to hospital with severe morning sickness - a number of our staff seem to suffer with that after a Saturday night out!

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There was a good 3-0 success for Newcastle over Wigan last night and that should take some of the pressure off of manager Alan Pardew...at least for now.