Super Sona Follows Up!

          
                   Sona Sasta follows-up at Newbury under Danny Cook

Sona Sasta made all to win by seven lengths with quite a bit in hand yesterday afternoon at Newbury under Danny Cook.  It will certainly be interesting to see what the handicapper makes of the performance as following a 20lbs rise for his chase debut success at Taunton, he was theoretically 13lbs "well-in" here.  It was a good bit of placing by David and the question has to be asked, would he have won with another 13lbs on his back?  I don't know, but things would certainly have been a lot tighter - even so, I don't envisage the official assessor taking any chances and I suppose another hike up the weights will be forthcoming.

I thought that our bumper horse Glassawine also ran a nice race to finish fourth and he looks more than capable of winning when David decides to put him over hurdles.  Also on the card, Gary Moore enjoyed a 50/1 winner of the handicap chase with Peplum - he won with a bit in hand and there didn't seem to be any fluke about the result so he could be worth looking out for next time (although I don't suppose you will get the same fancy odds!).

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Looking back at the King George VI Chase last weekend, I was somewhat surprised by some of the comments that have emerged.  I don't care if Richard Dunwoody, Peter Scudamore, John Francome or even Frankie Dettori was aboard Kauto Star, he would not have won.  To suggest that A P McCoy is not the right man for the horse seems a little bit far-fetched - if the horse was good enough, A P is more than good enough and in fairness Paul Nicholls acknowledged as much yesterday on Racing UK.  It is worth remembering that horses are not machines and do not always perform to their best, fortunately for connections, they have had more good days than bad with Kauto Star.

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It is nine times champion Irish jump jockey Charlie Swan's 43rd birthday today.  He was a great jockey and one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.  Charlie rode quite a few winners for Martin and would spend quite a bit of time here.  I will always remember when he met one of Martin's friends, Richard Lewis - Charlie could not make head nor tail of Richard...having said that not a lot of people can!  Many happy returns Charlie.