Babe Best At Exeter!

The stable enjoyed a nice winner at Exeter last night (our first domestic winner of the new season) when Weather Babe ran out a ready winner of the 3m handicap hurdle under Conor O'Farrell.  Our mare seemed to win with a bit in hand, while Houston Dynimo was not discredited back over the smaller obstacles in fourth.  The winner is a homebred mare so it was a double celebration for owner Wayne Clifford and breeder Sarah...well done to them!  It is not often the yard has a 12/1 winner and I hope that a few readers of this column were on after a positive mention yesterday.

Richard Johnson has started as he means to go on as he bids for his first jockeys' championship this season.  He is already ridden seven winners and will take plenty of beating in the title race.  Meanwhile, Timmy Murphy takes his first rides today as a fully fledged flat jockey as he has two mounts at Brighton - I think personally I would have chosen a flatter and easier track to start my new career on!

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with flat cards at Chester, Brighton and Chelmsford City as well as two jumps cards from Kelso and Uttoxeter.  The stable has one runner today, Mozo who makes her racecourse debut in the concluding bumper at Uttoxeter this evening.  This will all be totally new to her and whatever the outcome, she will learn for the experience.  With eight of the twelve runners making their debuts it is very difficult to know what you are up against, but she goes okay at home and hopefully she will be able to do herself justice.

It is the start of the Chester Cup meeting this afternoon and is a fixture I always look forward to watching.  The track itself is tiny at a mile in distance and is a very tight circle.  The draw is vitally important as is the start - generally speaking you need a low draw and a prominent position to have any chance of success around there (especially in the sprints).  Plenty of Premier League footballers manage to find their way to the track and all the poseurs go to the bar in the middle of the track where they parade around with a bottle of champagne.  For all that, the track is definitely worth a visit and if you like a wager, the man to follow is Dr Marwan Koukash.  It is unusual to follow an owner rather than a trainer and a jockey, but Koukash does love to have winners around this track.

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I did enjoy watching the snooker last week and I have always found snooker legend Steve Davis' dry wit to be really funny.  He was asked "What's the next best thing to a 147 maximum?"  The nugget replied, "A 146!"...comedy gold.

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I see that Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been handed a four year extension worth £42 million after his side secured the Premier League at the weekend.  It seems like a lot of money, although when you compare it to what the likes of Waye Rooney gets paid, it pales into insignificance.  What is more, Mourinho will win the League for Chelsea again.  It looks as though QPR and Burnley are both going down, while there are only five points between the next five clubs above them - just think how many millions of pounds are on the line for these teams to stay up.

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Finally, did you know that men sweat 40% more than women do?  I would have thought that was obvious as men work harder!  I had better leave it there before I get into serious trouble...

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