Purple Strikes Gold!

There was another good winner for the stable yesterday when Purple 'N Gold prevailed in a close finish to land the very competitive handicap hurdle under conditional jockey Kieron Edgar.  Owners Lynne and Keith Webb have been supporters of the stable since Martin's early years as a trainer so it was good to see their colours in the winners' enclosure again.  His was the best time of the day, although hopefully the handicapper won't be too hard as he only won by a head!  He has been a model of consistency since we bought him cheaply from a claimer, running on sixteen occasions over hurdles, winning three times and only finishing out of the frame on two occasions - I am sure David would like a few more like him!

Today there are four meetings taking place with jumps cards from Ludlow and Chepstow as well as all-weather flat meetings from Chelmsford and Wolverhampton.  The stable has one runner this afternoon; Susie Sheep who participates in the 2.00pm at Chepstow.  She was an easy winner of a point-to-point so clearly possesses ability although she will need to improve on her two efforts under rules to figure here.  In her favour, she should handle the ground and is partnered by the red-hot Tom Scudamore who is now three ahead of Richard Johnson on 134 winners for the season.

There is a great piece in today's Racing Post about The Package and his scintillating victory at last week's Cheltenham Festival.  What a star he has been and he reduced me to tears when winning the Kim Muir Chase in David Johnson's colours (pictured above).  I can see DJ smiling, telling me that he should have had more on!  David was a great chap and a fanatical West Ham supporter - I am sure he would have loved seeing The Package win at his sixth crack at the Festival.

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It was the budget yesterday and the good news is that you can now buy beer 1p a pint cheaper - that's a great deal with beer at around £3 a pint!  Meanwhile the Racing Post went up by another 10p, so I need to save another 7p somewhere other than alcohol!

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There was a good (albeit low scoring) match last night between Manchester City and Barcelona. City lost 1-0 but goalkeeper Joe Hart was their best player by a mile - but for him it could have been six or seven goals to Barcelona.  There is no way the Premier League is the best in the world - there are no teams left in the Champion's League.

I was surprised to learn that AZ Alkmaar have appointed baseball star Billy Beane as the club's official advisor.  How can a baseball player advise a football team?  It all sounds double Dutch to me.

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A 50 year old Bosnian jobless immigrant won £3.5million on a scratchcard in Varese, Italy...immigrateful!

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