Bumper Bank Holiday

What a great day of racing with no fewer than ten meetings across the Britain and Ireland, plus a big card at Sha Tin.  Talking of Sha TIn, I see that former champion jockey Ryan Moore is over there to ride Presvis for Luca Cumani.  It is a big race with over £1/2 million to the winner and Presvis is likely to start at odds of around 7/4 favourite - it just goes to show what good prize money is on offer if you are willing to travel abroad.  We have a runner in the Irish National, the big race at Fairyhouse this afternoon - Or Noir de Somoza travelled over on Saturday and has settled in well since his arrival.  He will be partnered by our Cheltenham Festival winning conditional jockey Conor O'Farrell who came so close to landing the Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on Saturday aboard Faasel.

Talking of the Bet365, it was a very nice win for David Johnson whose Poker de Sivola came from the clouds to head Faasel close home.  It was a finely judged ride from Timmy Murphy and the winner now heads for a crack at the Grand Steeplechase de Paris (the French equivalent of our Gold Cup).  Apparently Timmy is going to school over the French style fences and it will be interesting to see how they get on.

*****

I see that the subject of giving the jump jockeys a break has reared it's head again.  It is something that we used to do years ago and I think that it is something that should be explored again.  I still remember the days when the season kicked off with Newton Abbot in August - it gave both the jockeys and horses a nice rest...it is something that will never happen again (the bookies won't allow it), but we can but dream!