Weekend Jottings!

After all of the excitement of the last week, it seems a bit of a subdued day with only a couple of meetings at Carlisle over the sticks and Lingfield on the all-weather to keep us entertained.  A word of caution - if you are going to have a wager on any of the runners at Carlisle, do make sure that you back horses with guaranteed stamina.  I once walked up the last three furlongs of the home straight and I would liken it more to the north face of the Eiger (not than I have ever climbed the north face of the Eiger, but you know what I mean!).  I can understand why they sometimes say that horses walk from the last there...I was almost crawling!

Our marquee facility at the Cheltenham Festival once again went down a storm - it was completely booked up everyday and I had many people asking me how they get in.  The thing is, it is an invitation event and some people have even already enquired about next year.  I guess as Fred Pontin used to say...book early!

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I see that West Ham's Karen Brady found a bird in the boardroom cupboard at Chelsea last time she was there.  She should have taken it back to Upton Park to help hold the Hammers up!  Speaking of the Brady's, we used to train for Karen's father Terry.  His horse Mou-Dafa won nine races while it was here, including when racking up a six-timer.

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Apparently Danni Minogue wants to have more children.  The trouble is she says she will need to find a bloke first...form an orderly queue behind me please gentlemen!

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My contacts tell me that Richard Hannon could have a serious Derby contender in Tornado this year.  I believe he is currently trading at odds of around 16/1 and could be worth an interest.  In recent years it strikes me that most of the Hannon horses run over distances shy of twelve furlongs, so it will be interesting to see how this one gets on...you heard it here first!