Three Meetings Today

Well, our recent dry spell looks as though it has come to an end...it is proper miserable here this morning following four millimeters of rain overnight.  I know, it doesn't sound like very much but it is enough to make everything damp and the sky looks full of more of the wet stuff!  There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with two flat cards at Pontefract and Southwell as well as a jumps fixture at Carlisle.  The stable has no runners today.

I see that trainer Paul Nicholls has conceded the championship to Nicky Henderson with little over two weeks of the season remaining.  He said, "People say I must be gutted, but I am not".  If you believe that you will believe anything - can you imagine Sir Alex Ferguson saying something like that?  Of course you can't - every trainer or manager wants to be champion...if you don't want to be the best at what you do, then what is the point in competing?  Just ask A P McCoy!

One of our former owners, footballer Robbie Fowler is 38 today.  He and old team-mate Steve McManaman had a number of good horses here a few years ago including Seebald and Auetaler.  The only trouble was that every time Robbie went near a horse he would come out in red spots!  I just see red spots in front of my eyes sometimes!  Anyway, many happy returns Robbie.

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Tony Lomas and our head lad Eddie will no doubt have long faces this morning after Manchester United lost AGAIN!  This time they lost to local rivals Manchester City 2-1, leaving United a mere 12 points ahead in the Premiership!  There was an interesting sign in the crowd saying "Fergie Picks Trophies - Tevez Picks Rubbish!"...mind you, Tevez had the last laugh last night.

I think if I were England manager Roy Hodgson, I would be concerned about the form of goalkeeper Joe Hart.  He was nowhere near Robin Van Persie's free kick which led to an equaliser last night.

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Unsurprisingly the papers are full of the news of the death of Margaret Thatcher - she certainly had a profound influence on this country and I think it will be a while before we have another revered world leader like her.  I once met Prime Minister Ted Heath when I visited Downing Street with the Chinese Table Tennis team.  I picked up one of the Prime Minister's big sailing cups and he rushed over to tell me that he had won them all in one season....Tidy place, 10 Downing Street!