Girls Day At Cheltenham!

There are no runner from the stable today but there is the second day of Cheltenham’s April meeting to look forward to this afternoon.  It is a card for the girls with every race for the mares and fillies with some girl power in action!  There is some good prize money on offer today and there are plenty of runners and competitive racing throughout. Panic Attack did have an entry but we decided against running her in the end and she is now off on her summer holidays. 

David is heading to Cheltenham today for the sales that are taking place after racing at 5.30pm.  72 lots are catalogued for sale and David and Leanne have been through the catalogue and there are horses to suit all budgets.  They are going up to inspect the horses at lunchtime and if anyone has any interest in finding out any more information please do get in touch!

There is the Craven Stakes taking place at Newmarket today at 3.35pm, a Group 3 contest over a mile at 3.35pm.  Mysterious Night for the Charlie Appleby team heads the market but I do see there has been money for a few of the other horses so it could be an interesting race.  They also race on the flat at Ripon and Chelmsford and in Ireland they have two fixtures, a jumps card at Kilbeggan and they race on the flat at Tipperary.

Gwencily ran ok at Cheltenham yesterday, put on the better ground. He got a little out paced at a crucial time and staying on well to be a creditable seventh. 

On Tuesday, Leanne went to see an old Pond House favourite and her personal favourite horse of former years, Lough Derg.  It was his 23^rd birthday yesterday and she went to visit him just outside Swindon.  He looked in excellent health with just a few more grey hairs, like us all!  Leanne looked after him while he was at Pond House before he retired in 2011 and he has been enjoying an active retirement ever since.  I remember many years ago when he was still in training, Leanne and I took Lough Derg on a local fun ride which was great fun for us all!  Lough Derg or “Douglas” as he is known was famed for his great never say die attitude and toughness, often winning when it did not look likely.  He won 12 races in his career and over £374,000 in prize money.  Rated 163 at best, his career victories included the Grade 1 Long Walk hurdle at Ascot, the Grade 2 National Spirit hurdle at Fontwell twice, The Holloways Hurdle at Ascot twice and The Relkeel hurdle at Cheltenham to name just a few.  He captured the public’s imagination as he just never gave up and he even made Tom Scu cry after winning the second of his National Spirit hurdles!  Commentators loved him and used lines such as “no tougher horse in training” and “made of granite” when he was winning.  It is definitely worth typing his name into Youtube and watching a few of his races that are there to bring back fond memories. 

Last night in the football Man City drew with Bayern Munich 1-1. Tonight Manchester United travel to Spain to play their second leg quarter final match against Sevilla.  They let a 2-0 lead slip at home last week to draw 2-2 ahead and they have put themselves in a tricky situation.  They were so dominant against this team in the first half of the first leg and they need to produce this performance again to win and go through to the semi-finals.  I think it will be tough but hopefully they should win. 

How did Mary and Joseph know that Jesus was 8lb 2oz when he was born?  They had a weigh in a manger!  Have a great day.