Michael Scudamore Snr

We were all extremely saddened to hear of the passing of the great Michael Scudamore Senior (pictured above right) at the age of 81 yesterday.  When Peter Scu was riding for Martin I would often speak with Michael - he was a true gentleman and I am told that he was a top hard jockey.  He won the Grand National aboard Oxo and the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Linwell.  Our thoughts and sincerest best wishes are with the entire Scudamore family.

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon, three on the level from Pontefract, Lingfield and Brighton as well as a jumps card from Uttoxeter.  The stable has no runners today.  Yesterday's runner Decoy continues to disappoint and he was well beaten in the handicap hurdle at Newton Abbot.  There always seems to be money around for our eight year old, I suppose it is because he is undeniably well-treated on some of his old form.  He isn't the most straight forward and hasn't shown much for a while, but even so I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him pop up at a big price one day when the mood takes him.

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Martin keeps getting strange text messages saying, "I'm getting closer!"  No, he doesn't have some sort of deranged stalker, they are from perennial champion jockey A P McCoy.  AP is bearing down on the total number of career wins (flat and jumps) that Martin achieved during his time as a trainer (4191) and following another double at Newton Abbot yesterday, AP needs only three more winners to equal MCP.  Martin has been teasing AP for years that he would never match his total, but it has always been a bit of harmless fun and it would be another amazing milestone in the career of the greatest jockey.

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It is the semi-finals of the World Cup this evening and it should be a cracking good match between host nation Brazil and Germany.  You can get even money that Brazil go through to the final and even though they will be without Neymar and Silva, surely they are still good enough to get through with the home crowd firmly behind them?

Talking of football, how can Ashley Cole survive on just £37,000 per week at Roma?  He must have had a look at the local talent and decided that the pay-cut was worth it.

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Another cricket test series starts today and England are 11/10 to win the series against India.  I will put my earplugs in just in case former England captain Andrew Strauss is doing any of the commentary!  Mind you, Kevin Pietersen isn't playing ...I wonder who else he doesn't like?

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If you are out and about in Torquay over the next few days I will be in the Palace Hotel golf shop.  My son runs the place but he is always away playing golf...don't let me get lonely, come in and we can chat about table tennis, racing football or even golf!

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