First Day Of The Open!

What an exciting day of racing with the first day of Cheltenham's Paddy Power meeting to look forward to.  There are three other meetings taking place as well at Newcastle over the stickas and two all-weather flat fitures at Lingfield and Wolverhampton.  The stable has three runners at Cheltenham - Standing Ovation (pictured above), Consigliere and Top Gamble.  Standing Ovation takes in the amateur riders' handicap chase (a race that we have won for the past two years with Swing BIll) and Steven Clements is in the saddle.  He has now won four of his last six races and was most impressive when landing the Listed Badger Ales Chase at Wincanton last weekend.  He is 6lbs ahead of the handicapper and looks most progressive.  Top Gamble is another nice young horse to look forward to this winter - he was a winner of his last two starts last season, so let's hope he can extend that to three under Conor O'Farrell.

The stable had another nice winner yesterday when Weather Babe continued the fine recent form of stable sponsors' Bathwick Tyres horses.  Our five year old mare displayed a really good attitude in staying on well to win by 1 1/2 lengths - and she looks like the type that could win again.

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I was listening to former Channel 4 racing pundit John McCririck on the radio yesterday and despite losing his case against his former employers, he is still convinced that it is because of his age that he lost his job.  When a new football manager comes in, does he not change some of his backroom staff and players?  I don't see why it would be any different in the television business.  Having said all of that, it cannot be disputed that viewing figures have dropped - I think they need the likes of Francome and McCririck back to add a bit of colour to an otherwise very 'magnolia' cast.  The new team seem devoid of character and do not appeal to the general public - that's what Mrs Barnes say anyway, and for once I have to agree with her!

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It is the friendly match between England and Chile this evening live on ITV at 8pm.  You can get 21-20 about England with a certain leading bookmaker and while they will be fielding a few of their younger players with some of the regulars, I would be surprised if they were not still good enough to get a result.

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I'm looking forward to a day's racing at Cheltenham this afternoon for the first time since the Cheltenham Festival in March - I will be seeing my old mate Gino who just so happens to have a runner at the meeting.

Finally, below is your last chance to catch the pearls of wisdom from Craig Wylie - it doesn't happen very often, so make the most of it!