Wet!

***Sandown's meeting for Saturday
abandoned due to waterlogging*** 

This afternoon there are three meetings taking place - a jumps card at Musselburgh and two all-weather flat meetings at Southwell and Wolverhampton.  The stable has no runners today.  Considering the amount of rain that has been falling it is amazing that there is any racing on at all.  There are plenty of rivers that have burst their banks down here in the west country and I really do feel sorry for those poor people who keep getting flooded out of their homes.  I am lucky to live on top of a hill, so If I ever get flooded Brixham will be under ten feet of water!  Our biggest problem is the high spring tides but I would be surprised if there were this much water about then.

Sadly, the headline says it all...following more heavy showers and even a hail storm this morning, Sandown has abandoned their meeting ahead of tomorrow's fixture.  It is a great pity as it featured the Grade One Tolworth Hurdle in which David had exciting novice The Liquidator.  While clerk of the course Andrew Cooper should be comended for not letting things drag out, it is a shame to lose a quality fixture like this.

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Many happy returns to Robert Bellamy who is 47 today.  Robert used to work in our yard (and I use the term 'work' loosely!) and even rode a few winners for MCP.  He is now clerk of the course at Towcester and I bet there are more places to hide there!  Of course, I am only joking - we hope you have a great day Robert.

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It was a good day for the English jockeys yesterday as they rode five winners on the card at Meydan.  Young Willie Twiston-Davies rode his first winner at the track and I can only imagine that it was a little more pleasant than riding up father Nigel's gallops on a cold, wet morning in Blighty!

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It is reassuring to know that some things remain consistent...just look at the England cricket team.  They had the Australians at 97-5, yet in the end the Aussies managed to score 326.  In reply England have already lost a wicket and are on 8-1.  We are somehow managing to make their fast bowler Mitchel Johnson look like the best seamer ever (and I assure you, he is not), although in fairness he is fairly brisk at 93mph and is managing to swing the ball as well.  The England management team are just lucky that they don't play football for a living - they would have all been sacked by now!

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If you privatise anything, the shareholders want to see profits.  So why is it that everyone is suprised to see the railway operators putting their prices up?  The quickest way to ensure a profit is to extort as much as possible from the customer.  A number of us recently went up to London via train - we paid a small fortune for our seats and then on the way back we were late for our original train so had to fork out an extra £60 per person to change onto another train that was half empty!  I don't think I will be travelling by train again.