1,000 Up!

It was a good weekend for the yard with Purple 'N Gold (pictured above) scoring at Haydock in the 2m3f handicap chase.  It was certainly a good effort under top weight from a mark of 130 and furthermore he was David's 1000th winner under rules.  Congratulations on a great achievement.  Dell' Arca also ran a good race earlier in the day, finishing fourth in the long distance handicap hurdle from a mark of 135 - this was his best effort in a while and he should be capable of winning from this sort of rating.

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with flat action from Musselburgh, Brighton, Wolverhampton and Windsor, while there is a jumps card from Towcester.  The stable runs Perspicace and Brook at Towcester and Tom Scudamore is aboard them both.  Perspicace finished runner-up last time out and he wouldn't have to improve a great deal on that to figure once again.  Meanwhile, Brook has strung three decent efforts together and is another one with a chance.

What about young Joey Haynes on Saturday?  He had five rides at three different meetings; Haydock, Nottingham and Thirsk...a 536 mile round trek.  Most of the jockeys now have a driver although Joey said, "I'm far too tight to get a driver!".  I am sure it will not be long before the BHA bring out a rule that prohibits jockeys from travelling to more than two meetings in a day.

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It is former world champion boxer Terry Downs 80th birthday today.  It shows how old I am as I remember going to some of his fights - proper frightening stuff!

Just think, if West Ham lose to Manchester United it means that Manchester City will not qualify for Europe and the way the Hammers lost to Swansea at the weekend, there is every chance that United will beat them as well.  It is the last ever game at Upton Park so it will be a bit emotional for me - I remember spending every Saturday there with my dad back in the 60's - happy days indeed.

I watched the Amir Khan fight at the weekend and wish I hadn't bothered.  It is never a good idea to go up by two weights - he was absolutely pole axed.  He has a glass chin and should stick to fighting people who don't throw big punches.

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I was amazed to see that the best feature at the BAFTA's was won by a cooking programme.  I can't say that it makes me want to go out to the kitchen and rustle up a masterpiece.  There is obviously a lot of dough in cooking.

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Thought for the day...what is horse sense?  Just stable thinking!

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