Racing Royalty

There is a fascinating article in the Racing Post today all about the Piggott family.  It's like the bloodline of who's who in racing that goes right back to John Day in 1767 - there are great jockeys and trainers right the way through the generations.  It is quite clear that Lester was born to be a jockey, speaking of which, did you know that he rode a Triumph Hurdle winner at the Cheltenham Festival in 1954 aboard Prince Charlemagne.  He had the best record of any of the National Hunt jockeys before it was realised that he was far too valuable to risk over hurdles and instead started competing on the flat where he was to land eleven championships and countless Classics.  It is well worth picking up a copy of today's paper just for this article alone.

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Should Andy Gray have been sacked for a comment which was supposed to have been made in private?  The trouble is that you cannot say what he did about assistant referee Sian Massey - you can think it, just don't say it.  Personally I think that she had a good match...she was spot-on with on offside decision (I thought she had it wrong at first until seeing the action replay) and I would give her Andy Gray's old job - I am sure that she would do it better!

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I see that it is Sandy May's birthday today.  He is a real Westcountry man who rode quite a few winners for MCP, in fact he rode a winner for me called Manrico.  Manrico was bred to win a Classic on the flat, but instead finished up gaining his hour of glory in a seller at Hereford!  Sandy is 60 today.