Back Again!

I spent the last seven days in Bergerac in the west of France near Bordeaux with Leanne, her parents and the children and while we had a lovely time, there is only so much overindulging on fine wine and food I can manage before I need to get back to the grind.  I was never too far away from the action though with required bedtime reading being the upcoming Derby and Arqana sales catalogues.

Indeed, I have been going through the form books and pedigrees meticulously with a view to finding some potential future star quality to join the team at Pond House.  The Derby Sale in Co. Meath commences tomorrow in Ireland and is full of well-bred youngsters and store horses, while the Arqana sales from Deauville in France start next week and has a good selection of stores as well as horses with form in the book.  I will be attending both sales and head out to Ireland tomorrow afternoon.  I always look forward to my visits to the Emerald Isle as there is nobody quite like the Irish when it comes to offering a warm welcome.

There has been plenty going on in my absence and while this year is the first in many that I haven’t attended the Royal meeting at Ascot, I was able to keep up to date as we access to some of the British television channels in our accommodation.  As you can see from the picture above, my father was in attendance to see the great spectacle on day one and like him I couldn’t help but be impressed by the performance of Kingman in the St James’ Palace Stakes on the opening day as he annihilated his opponents (including his 2,000 Guineas conqueror Night Of Thunder) – the acceleration he showed as he quickened past his field off of a steady pace was world class and must surely end the debate about which is the best three year old miler.

There was also another fantastic training performance later in the week from Aidan O’Brien as he collected a record sixth Ascot Gold Cup (following the wins of Yeats and Fame And Glory) with a hard fought success with Leading Light.  It was a thrilling finish (and probably not the most popular!) as Joseph O’Brien’s mount edged out the Queen’s mare Estimate, but he gave the four year old a fine tactical ride and it would be no surprise to see Leading Light endeavour to emulate the feats of former Ballydoyle inmate Yeats by following-up in twelve months.  Congratulations to the whole team on another monumental achievement.

There is a distinct lack of jumping action this week with only meetings at Newton Abbot tomorrow (Tuesday) and Worcester on Wednesday to keep us occupied before Uttoxeter’s Sunday meeting.  At Newton we will have a couple of runners; Red Seventy who competes in the 2m handicap hurdle and Top Wood in the novices’ chase.  The trip combined with the tight nature of the track and faster ground should suit Red Seventy so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a decent performance from him, while Top Wood looks like a quality novice for this time of year.  Tom Scudamore will be aboard them both.

Dan Breen tackles a new trip on Wednesday as he competes in the 2m7f handicap hurdle at Worcester.  He has been a cracking good horse down the years winning in bumpers, hurdles and chases, while also finishing placed in a number of red-hot handicaps.  He was a little disappointing on his latest outing at Newton Abbot when I thought he would go well and is certainly worth a try over this longer distance.

The only other jumps card of the week takes place on Sunday and I have made entries for our Perth Gold Cup winner Guess Again, as well as Azza, No Secrets, Vif Argent and Famousandfearless.  For all the latest plans for them keep up to date with Chester’s Daily Chat.

Unfortunately England have already been eliminated from the World Cup football.  They just weren’t good enough on the big days although there were plenty of contributing factors that need to be addressed before we see changes that will benefit the side in years to come.  I have been listening to Alan Brazil on Talksport radio for the duration of the tournament so far – he is always great entertainment and speaks a lot of sense.  At least there is Wimbledon to look forward to for the next fortnight!