Peterborough Card Abandoned

Some things in racing never seem to change...and so it was yesterday as Huntingdon abandoned their card at 10.30am.  I am sure that most of the intended runners were already on the road by this point.  Personally, if I was a trainer I would be inclined to send the course a bill for my raceday expenses.  I know that having gone to the trouble of rescheduling the meeting from Friday they would want to give the course every chance of racing, but I am told that there was very little chance of the meeting ever getting the go-ahead, so why was there the need for three inspections?

*****

I was watching the X Factor over the weekend and congratulations to Matt Cardle for winning.  I have to honest though, my favourite was Rebecca who finished runner-up - I don't think she would be out of place topping the bill in Vegas.  She looks to be a real star with an amazing voice, indeed she sings like I would like to hear Cheryl Cole or Dannii Minogue sing live.

*****

Seven times champion jockey John Francome is 58 years old today.  One of the reasons why I like Francome is that he always says things as he sees them.  He rode a few winners for MCP, and he was never afraid to voice his opinions back then either - he would always give an honest appraisal of a horses ability, even if it wasn't as complimentary as the owners of trainers would have liked!  I remember him winning a Fontwell seller for us years ago and he told us to get rid of it at the subsequent auction - we followed his advice and of course he was right, the horse never won again.

*****

What a terrific filly Snow Fairy is.  Ed Dunlop is obviously very good with the ladies(!), afterall it wasn't so long ago that he had another superstar filly in Ouija Board.  Snow Fairy landed the Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin under Ryan Moore and in the process won connections just shy of £907,000 - not bad for two minutes and three seconds work!  Obviously there is plenty more work that goes into keeping a horse at the top of it's game, but she has proved a real money-spinner having also won the English and Irish Oaks - well done to all!