All eyes today will be on the 3.10pm race at Newmarket.  The Henry Cecil trained Frankel puts his unbeaten record on the line again this afternoon in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas.  He has won all four starts in good style and even though he seems to be quite keen early in his races he still seems to have the gears to quicken up at the end of the race which is most impressive.  We do need another superstar horse for racing so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he wins this afternoon.  There are 13 runners in the race and they have won 27 races between them.  Fury from the Haggas yard is also unbeaten and so is Pathford coming over from Ireland.  It looks a fantastic race in prospect and I for one will be tuning in to watch it this afternoon!

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The Royal Wedding seems to have taken the world by storm, or at least every television programme!  At 7o'clock this morning I heard a gentleman talking about the dress and how quickly it would be replicated in the shops.  Am I the only one in this country that isn't really interested?!  Even the Racing Post have got in on the act, listing seven horses for coincidence backers...they have come up with Royal Wedding, Royal Hush, Royal And Ancient, Free Verse, Middleton Dene, Princely Hero and Kates Benefit!

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I see that Ascot attracted a crowd of 26,000 people for their free raceday yesterday.  Let's hope that some of those people that wouldn't normally attend enjoyed their day enough to return again and perhaps pay next time.  I bet the bars, restaurants and fast food counters did a great trade - I wonder how much money the team at Ascot lost conducting this experiment?  Regardless, I am sure that with so many people present there would have been a great atmosphere.

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We got off the mark for the season yesterday afternoon at Exeter with Lucy's Perfect.  Sixteen times champion jockey A P McCoy was aboard and he too was enjoying his first winner of the new campaign when making all aboard our five year old mare.  She never looked to be in any danger - she obviously stays very well and looks the type to follow-up while the ground is riding quite quick.  While Lucy's Perfect clearly enjoys the ground, others certainly didn't and consequently there were quite a few non-runners.

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There were great scenes at Fairyhouse yesterday when Nina Carberry won the Irish National aboard Organisedconfusion for her uncle Arthur Moore - talk about keeping it in the family!  She is so good that a lot of people forget that Nina is still an amateur jockey - she also became the fourth Carberry to win the big race following in the footsteps of father Tommy who won it twice aboard Brown Lad, brother Paul aboard Bobbyjo and Philip on Point Barrow - what an amazing family achievement.

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What a great day of racing with no fewer than ten meetings across the Britain and Ireland, plus a big card at Sha Tin.  Talking of Sha TIn, I see that former champion jockey Ryan Moore is over there to ride Presvis for Luca Cumani.  It is a big race with over £1/2 million to the winner and Presvis is likely to start at odds of around 7/4 favourite - it just goes to show what good prize money is on offer if you are willing to travel abroad.  We have a runner in the Irish National, the big race at Fairyhouse this afternoon - Or Noir de Somoza travelled over on Saturday and has settled in well since his arrival.  He will be partnered by our Cheltenham Festival winning conditional jockey Conor O'Farrell who came so close to landing the Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on Saturday aboard Faasel.

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There is a cracking card at Fairyhouse today, the worst prize money is in the first race and that is still 10,000 Euros so it is great prize money in Ireland.  The 16 times Champion jockey AP is over there and has several fancied rides, there is no let up for the jocks! Tomorrow (Monday) will see big crowds at Fairyhouse for the Irish Grand National.  Can anyone remember a very young Adrian Maguire riding Omerta to win this race many years ago?!  I went to the track a few years ago with our runner Rushing Wild and I can tell you the Irish really do look after you.  I do know why our staff are always so keen to go over there, although they assure me it is nothing to do with the guiness!

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