Allez Grands Crus!

It's French Champion Hurdle day over at Auteuil and it is amazing that David and Willie Mullins are responsible for nearly half the field with four of the ten runners.  It's the richest hurdle race run in France with total prize money of €370,000 and we are represented by flying grey Grands Crus who is to be ridden by A P McCoy.  He must run a big race and hopefully pick up a large share of the pot.  We also have Or Noir de Somoza running in one of the supporting races, the Prix des Drags Steeplechase (a race that he has finished runner-up in in the past) and he is to be ridden by Regis Schmidlin who schooled both of our runners yesterday.  The Prix des Drags is worth a not insignificant €240,000 and I am sure that if our runners perform creditably there will be further raids planned in the future.

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I saw a nasty incident at Musselburgh yesterday.  Paul Mulrennan's mount Sound Advice has just landed a tidy gamble but rather than pulling-up after the line, he carried on through the rails breaking the jockey's leg.  The pilot had been in good form, recording a treble at York only a week ago and once again illustrates the dangers facing these jockeys on a daily basis.  This certainly is a game of ups and downs.

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I see that it is Brod Munro-Wilson's 66th birthday today.  I still remember Brod flapping about aboard The Drunken Duck...the way he used to ride, it was difficult to tell which one was drunk!  Brod is a great character and drops into our marquee at the Cheltenham Festival every year.  Many happy returns!

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What an amazing performance from Rory McIlroy in the US Masters Golf.  His two round total is the lowest since the tournament started in 1800!  Despite dropping into the water on the final hole, the young Irishman is still an incredible six shots clear.  Having said all that, there are still two rounds to go and plenty of time for things to go wrong - let's just hope that he keeps it all together...you golfers out there know how easy it is to drop shots.