- Monday, 29 August 2011 07:33
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
A group of us have just returned from the north of France. We were staying in Deauville and I have to say that it is a beautiful place, although you would probably have to win the lottery to afford to live there - I think that it is the most expensive place that I have ever visited in the world! One thing that struck me was how clean the place was - the binmen would come around everyday...where I live, we're lucky if the binmen come once a fortnight! I couldn't even afford to get drunk - beer was €9 a pint in one bar, while langoustines were €24 per kilo - on my return, I couldn't help but notice that my local Morrisons were knocking them out at £10 per kilo...I sound like I am doing one of those price check adverts. By the way, at the local market I noticed that jumpers were €150 each...I rest my case!
- Sunday, 28 August 2011 00:00
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
For those of you who have been reading my blog over the last few days you will have seen a few pictures I have been taking on Pond House gallops. Well today, rather than ramble on with my usual stories I have just decided to put a few of my photos of the horses on the gallops for you all to have a look at! The majority of horses have been in from grass for a little while now and are doing some steady cantering in preparation to be ready for action when the season starts getting going properly in October. Make sure you click on the read more to see some of the horses in action!
- Saturday, 27 August 2011 07:12
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
I don't know if anybody saw yesterday's racing at Newmarket but it was quite remarkable that all six of jockey Jim Crowley's intended mounts were declared non-runners. There were plenty of non-runners throughout the day at both Newmarket and Brighton but it is quite unlucky to be expecting a full book of rides and end up with none! Racing was quite hid quite hard yesterday, with several fields depleted as there were 73 non runners across the six meetings, mostly due to the rain affected ground. Brighton was worst affected with 23 withdrawals. Jim Crowley's six non-runners made up hald of all the non-runners at Newmarket so that is bad luck!
- Friday, 26 August 2011 08:07
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
The flat jockey's championship seems to be warming up with six times former champion jockey Kieren Fallon breaking through the one hundred winner barrier for the season. He is currently one winner ahead of Nelson de Sousa, although he still trails current champion Paul Hanagan by eleven winners. Fallon certainly seems to have built up some momentum and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him still challenging hard for the title come November when things will be decided.
- Thursday, 25 August 2011 08:08
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
The Racing Post continues their series about young racing fanatics and today's featured student, sixteen year old William Kedjanyi is another that speaks plenty of sense. He talks of reducing the fixture list in order to increase field sizes and promote better prize-money, while on a local level he talks of cutting the price of admission and food at racecourses to bring racing more into line with other sports such as football and rugby...why is it that the youngsters can see what needs doing? Perhaps we should be recruiting these guys to the Racing For Change think tank as I haven't seen many worthwhile changes so far!
William is obviously a man of impeccable taste too - he lists his favourite horse as Old Vic "a complete legend", his favourite jumps trainer as David Pipe and his favourite racing moment as when Our Vic got the better of Kauto Star in that thrilling Betfair Bowl at Aintree...good man - keep following the team! You can find out more about William by visiting his blog: www.keejayov.blogspot.com
- Wednesday, 24 August 2011 07:57
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
I am thoroughly enjoying my trip to France and just as predicted, there is some big money being thrown around at the Arqana sales. The lots are averaging over €100,000, with the top lot - a yearling fetching €1.7million...handsome is as handsome does, and to me that seems like an awful lot of money to throw at a completely untried youngster. I have seen plenty of familiar faces from the flat, all looking to strengthen their teams and uncover a star of tomorrow - Mark Johnston, Ed Dunlop and Paul Cole are all in attendance to name but a few.
- Tuesday, 23 August 2011 07:46
- Written by Chelsea Eggleton
Our French trip has proved to be something of an eye-opener. Yesterday we attended the reception at Deauville's Hotel Royal Barriere and before we even set foot inside the hotel, you could see what type of event it was going to be...parked outside was a brand new Ferrari, and what seemed like a fleet of Aston Martin's. Inside there was a guest list that comprised just about anyone you could ever think of from the world of racing, including my great hero Lester Piggott. This was of course a prelude to the Arqana August Yearling Sales, and I am sure that there is going to be some serious money changing hands over the coming days.
