Weekend Jottings!

This Thursday sees the Dante Stakes take place at York...it is the single most important trial ahead of the Epsom Derby and has been won by some very good horses on their way day Derby success.  It will be fascinating to see how Henry Cecil's "second-string" and current Derby favourite World Domination fares (now that Frankel has been confirmed a Derby non-runner), or the The Queen's horse, Charlton House.  My connections are screaming about Charlton House, and I must admit to having had a little ante-post interest for Epsom at odds of 6/1.  There is still plenty of 11/2 available, but I don't expect that to last long if he wins the Dante!

Whatever happens, Henry Cecil doesn't look too bothered about it - there is a great picture of him in the Racing Post, laying out at Warren Place.  I would definitely say that Henry is one of the most relaxed people I have ever met.  It is reflected in his dress sense too, as he can often be quite casual - I still remember some of the comics taking the mickey back when they used to do the stage shows in Yarmouth.

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I see that Wincanton have taken the unusual step of abandoning their chase races ahead of their meeting on Wednesday.  This seems quite a drastic measure when you consider that we had 1/2 inch of rain last night, with more forecast over the coming days - apparently their water reservoir is running dry, so that showers should help that at the very least.  There will be an all hurdle meeting taking place instead.  I never thought I would be saying this, but where is the rain?  Personally I don't think we should be jump racing at this time of year - it would be an ideal time to give the horses, jockeys and courses time to recover.