2 Runners At Stratford

I am thrilled that we are back with some National Hunt racing this afternoon for the first time in over a week - there are two jumps fixtures at Worcester and Stratford and the stable is represented by two runners (Basil Fawlty and Royal Peak) at Stratford.  Royal Peak (pictured above) was an impressive winner here twelve days ago and the handicapper has reacted by putting the gelding up by a whopping 15lbs which seems a little harsh to me.  Theoretically it is the handicapper's job to try to get the runners to all finish in a line although that sort of rise looks like overkill to me.  The two meetings on the flat take place at Carlisle and Nottingham.

Purple 'N Gold was our only runner at Windsor with Togiak a late defection and he performed creditably enough in finishing fourth in the 1m2f handicap.  He did best of those from off the pace in a race where it paid to be on the front end.  He stayed on well in the closing stages but a mark of 76 looks like he is a couple of pounds to high - I hope the handicapper is reading this...if he comes down a bit he can be properly competitive again!

I see that it is work rider Richard Dennis' 49th birthday today.  'Dickie' has worked in the yard for many years and is well known for guarding his copy of the Racing Post like a savage rabid rotweiller - I'm not quite sure why he is so worried about people seeing it...I managed to sneak a glance many years ago and you would need a Phd in hieroglyphics to understand what any of his scribblings mean!  In a former incarnation Richard rode a quite a few winners as a jump jockey, forming a particularly successful relationship with a decent horse called Migrator.  Anyway, many happy returns Richard!

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I see that flat jockey Martin Dwyer has learned a valuable lesson - if you get banned in India, do not appeal against the decision.  Dwyer was originally banned for fifty-six days but after appealing against the decision, his ban was extended to eight months!  Richard Hughes had to serve a month long ban at the start of last flat season for an infringement commited over there.  I'm sure it will put plenty of jockeys off from competing over there in future.

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It was an exciting finish to the fourth Ashes Test match at Durham yesterday with England securing a 74 run victory.  The Aussies lookes like they were well on their way to victory at 120-1 (needing 299 to win) but they had no answer to Stuart Broad who took six wickets in what is one of the best spells of fast bowling that I have seen in many years.  England now lead the series 3-0 with only one match left to play and you wouldn't be at all surprised if they were able to make it four in the final match at The Oval.

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Apparently Tiger Woods $35 million house is subsiding.  I wouldn't like to be near him when he tells his builders, especially after his performance in the USPGA.  I wonder if he will ever win another major?  He seems to have a bit of a mindset problem at the moment.