Vif Argent 3rd At Auteuil

I thought that Vif Argent (pictured above winning at Ffos Las earlier in the season) ran another solid race at Auteuil yesterday to finish third in the AQPS chase for five year olds over 2m5 1/2f under young French amateur jockey Thomas Viel.  He held every chance until weakening approaching the last but still picked up well in excess of £6,000 in prize money for finishing third - more than he earned for finishing first and second on his last two runs in this country combined!  Given the money on offer, I wouldn't be surprised to see David having a few more runners overseas in the not too distant future.

It is a busy day with six meetings taking place this afternoon - five on the level at Goodwood, Haydock, Yarmouth, Pontefract and Musselburgh as well as a jumps card from Towcester.  The National Hunt card is offering just £26,000 in prize money for it's entire seven race card.

I was pleased to see that our stable sponsors Wayne and Sarah Clifford enjoyed a nice winner at Goodwood yesterday when their three year old Solo Hunter won over 1m1f - could he be a hurdler of the future?

It is sad news to hear that one of Martin's great stars Blowing Wind was put down yesterday at the age of 21.  He did the Imperial Cup, County Hurdle double in 1998, was a dual Cheltenham Festival hero and was also placed in two Grand Nationals - he was a great horse and they do not come along like him very often.

We have also heard this morning that another great former Pond House inmate has sadly passed away.  Prolific winning hurdler and chaser Seebald (pictured right) has died at the age of 19.  A winner of fifteen of his starts, including three Grade 2 chases, Seebald competed in many of the top races for his owners, fomer Liverpool and England football stars Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman.  He achieved a rating of 162 having finished second in the 2002 Arkle Chase behind the great Moscow Flyer and was still in with every chance when capsizing at the penultimate fence in the following year's Champion Chase.  He was second in two runnings of the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter and also finished a narrow second to triple Gold Cup winner Best Mate in a thrilling race at the same track.  He was a fantastic servant, running in all of the big races during a golden era for two mile chasers.

Upon his retirement from racing under rules in 2006, he embarked on a brief stint point-to-pointing before fully retiring with the Scudamore's and then spending his final years with a charitable trust dedicated to ex-racehorses.  Tom Scu recalled him fondly, saying "He was very straight forward in his races proving very enthusiastic.  He loved his jumping and he was very neat on his feet, able to get in close to a fence and be very quick over it, as well as being very brave and bold when you needed him to be."

*****

David claimed an interesting one from the seller at Wetherby yesterday.  We used to claim horses from selling and claiming races quite a lot in the past...mind you, they would normally finish in the first three!  I wonder what David has spotted in former hurdle/chase winner Houston Dynimo?  I would imagine that we will be seeing him over the coming weeks.  Speaking of which, I see that David is featured in the summer jumps stable tours in today's Racing Post - he mentions the likes of Barton Stacey, Broadway Buffalo, Guess Again, Purple 'N Gold, Top Wood and Western Diva among his summer string.  I particularly like the look of Top Wood among those selections, he looked a most promising recruit to fences with his success at Towcester earlier this week and should be capable of winning again under a penalty.

*****

The shock news is that the England cricket team have managed to win a match.  They posted a total of 247 runs in 39 overs, while the Sri Lankans replied with 144 in 27 overs - officials used the Duckworth/Lewis method to calculate the result and decided that England were the victors.  I suppose it has the name Duckworth because of the wet weather!

*****

In golf, Rory McIlroy shot a four under par round at Wentworth yesterday - that puts him six shots behind leader Thomas Bjorn.  With all of his problems about the wedding on his mind, that 68 was a great knock...all we need now is Caroline Wozniacki to win a tennis tournament and it will be a happy ending all round!

?