Passing Of Velvet Star Taylor

I didn't realise that John Gosden trained horses for Liz Taylor, the superstar actress who sadly passed away yesterday.  Apparently she had horses in training with John when he trained in Los Angeles and he said, "She loved her horses and was the perfect owner, Elizabeth liked nothing better than coming to the stables to feed the horses carrotts and sugar lumps, if she could have run a petting zoo for horses, that would have been perfect for her".  The film that everyone remembers of course is National Velvet, where she won the Grand National and was then disqualified when they fond out that she was a girl - I bet that film will be on the televsion again shortly, especially with Aintree only a fortnight away.

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It's good to see these old campaigners running in hunter chases.  Yesterday at Hereford My Way de Solzen won in a canter - he is eleven years old now but such was his enthusiasm he looked more like a six year old.  Remember he won the 2006 World Hurdle and the 2007 Arkle Chase and he could yet enjoy further big race success in the Foxhunters at Aintree.

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Racing issues aside...has the world gone completely mad?  I was reading through the rags this morning and couldn't help but notice that owing to some strange legislative act, a seven year old has been granted a shotgun licence.  Who in their right mind would allow such a thing?  I must be missing something - let's just hope the child does!