Brenda 3rd At The Abbot!

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with three flat cards from Ayr, Beverley and Windsor as well as the second day of Cartmel's fantastic jumps fixture.  The stable had one runner yesterday and I thought that Brenda de Ronceray ran a decent race to finish third in the bumper at Newton Abbot.  She made most of the running under Tom Scudamore before plugging on to finish third and the experience of this second start will continue to benefit her.  The stable has no runners this afternoon.

Watching the action from Newton Abbot yesterday there was one horse who looked to be worth keeping on your side and that was former Group 3 winning flat performer Dubai Prince who jumped like an old hand when making a winning chase debut, scoring with plenty in hand.  Only an 8/1 chance to beat Cirrus des Aigles in the Champion Stakes on the flat a couple of years ago, it is hardly surprising that he was winning hurdles from marks in the 130's.  He will surely be stepped up in grade before too long?

I see that former guv'nor Richard Hannon Snr has said that Richard Hughes will make it as a trainer - of course he will, he will have made plenty of contacts during his riding career and will probably start off with the best part of 100 horses.  He even goes as far to say as he might have a couple of horses with him himself (afterall Hughes is his son-in-law) - I wonder what price you would get about him training 50 winners in his first season?

While we are on the subject of Irish jockeys, we met a decent young prospect last week in Jack Kennedy while we were visiting Gordon Elliott's stable last week.  Gordon tells me that he is a good'un so keep an eye out for his name at the Galway Festival that starts in week's time.

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England suffered an Ashes hangover in the second Test.  Having surprisingly won the first match in the series they were totally outclassed in the second.  On one of the flattest pitches you will ever see, England were bowled out for 103 in their second innings to fall to a 405 run defeat.  The big mystery is how did England win the first Test?  I expect the Aussies were still jet lagged!  This is one of the worst England sides I have ever seen - they have lost all of the basics of batting and staying at the crease...I sound like Geoffrey Boycott.

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Andy Murray single-handedly beat France in their Davies Cup match at the weekend - I was going to say Great Britain, but it was really Scotland...that will please Sean!  We are in the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time in 34 years so that is a great achievement.  Before the LTA go giving themselves a big pat on the back though, they must remember that without Murray they would be nowhere - the system clearly isn't working as there is no new talent coming through at all as far as I can see.

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I bet Liverpool are relieved to be rid of Raheem Sterling- Manchester City signed him for a record £49 million and I'm not sure that it is money well-spent.  Somebody really needs to get hold of him and tell him how he should behave, he and his management team clearly do not have a clue.  If he is not very careful he will get a reputation for being locker room cancer, although I don't suppose that he will really care as on his current wages he is set for life.

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I participated in a theatrical performance about puns at the weekend...it was a play on words!  Have a nice day...

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