Home Win At Exeter!

There was another winner yesterday; Closer To Home - no, that is the name of the horse!  He was successful yesterday in the handicap hurdle under an excellent ride from a persistent Michael Heard - I did say that I thought the better ground may help him and so it proved.  Sometimes I wish that I listened to what I say!  He looks as though he may get further and he could follow-up under a penalty while the ground is still a bit livelier - he has a couple of other entries coming up so it would be no surprise to see him turned out again.  Once again, Michael Heard looked well worth his 5lbs claim and he really should be getting more outside rides.

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Haydock and Warwick as well as all-weather flat cards from Southwell and Kempton.  The prize money is typically poor at Southwell with just £33,000 spread across their seven race fixture, while Kempton fare little better with £36,000 on offer across their eight race card.  David has a runner at each of the two jumps meetings; Epic Warrior goes in the 3.15pm race at Warwick, while Impulsive American contests the 5.00pm at Haydock.

Epic Warrior has been disappointing on his last couple of starts but perhaps the re-application of blinkers will help to sharpen him up - Conor O'Farrell is in the saddle and his form from earlier in the season at Newbury would give him a chance.  Meanwhile Impulsive American is a progressive individual and is second favourite according to the Racing Post.  He will be partnered by another of our very promising conditional jockeys; David Noonan who also claims a very handy 5lbs allowance.

I love the headlines in today's paper "BHA apologises over botched handling of investigations and calls for urgent review into it's own disciplinary procedures"  Seriously?  Who will investigate them?  Are they going to investigate themselves?

It looks like this year's Grand National fixture at Aintree is going to be the best for years and it looks like it is going to be the deciding factor in this year's trainers' championship.  Nicholls is 4/6 to retain his title while Mullins is a 6/4 chance although if either of them were to win the Grand National it would be all over.

Talking of the Grand National it is hard to believe that last year's winning trainer Oliver Sherwood is only 61 years old - he seems to have been around for ever!  I can remember Sherwood when he was at school, in fact thinking about it, it could have been Robin Hood!

Martin went to a gathering in London on Monday with a few faces you may recognise - you may have heard of one or two of them!  Anyway, I am sure you will be hearing more about this over the coming weeks so keep your eyes peeled...

MCP, Sir Anthony McCoy, Davy Russell, Katie Walsh, Oliver Sherwood, Paul Nicholls

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With all of the tragic events in Brussels it does make me wonder if we can take the risk and let our teams play football matches in Europe.  It is difficult to control big crowds of people in a confined space.  Speaking of foreign football, I was having lunch with Harry Redknapp a few weeks ago when he was approached by an Egyptian football team who were trying to sign him as manager.  Now I see that he is going to manage Jordan - that is the side rather than the model!  It's a funny old world.

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My wife will buy anything that is marked down...last year she bought an escalator!  Have a nice day...

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