Shot at Plumpton

       Shot Boii runs at Plumpton Today

Today we have one runner at Plumpton, Shot Boii ridden by Fergus Gillard.  He runs in the 4.30pm handicap hurdle over three miles and is looking to bounce back after a rare below par effort last time at Newbury.  That was run on really testing ground and he was in trouble from an early stage so I hope we can just put a line through that and he will show his true colours this afternoon.  He has run well at the track before and this race represents a drop in grade from last time.  He is about 7/1 third best in the betting and I think he has a good chance in the colours of William Frewen. Our six year old has won four of his thirteen career starts which is a pretty good record and I hope he can enhance his strike rate today.

Yesterday at Newbury Myristica ran a lovely race on stable debut to be fourth over 1m2f.  She travelled well in behind the leaders and kept on well to the line when asked.  Jockey Oisin Murphy felt the ground probably was just against her on this occasion (softer than ideal) but was very happy with our mare.  It was a great start to her Pond House career and I think she will give owner Professor Caroline Tisdall a lot of fun on the flat and over hurdles this summer.

I was busy running the point to point I help to organise yesterday at Holnicote, near Minehead and so didn’t get to see much racing but I was delighted to hear Jack Tudor won the Scottish National aboard Kitty’s Delight  I did say I thought he might win, but I also tipped a couple of Rod Millman’s horses at Nottingham last night and they didn’t win so I won’t say too much!  The point to point went well, we had some nice runners, a good crowd and the day went without incident so that is always a good thing!  Our amateur Martin McIntyre rode a winner aboard a horse called Dr Rhythm so very well done to him, he is having a very good point to point season.

Today, alongside Plumpton there is also jumping action at Stratford while there is no flat racing in Britain and absolutely no racing in Ireland!

Yesterday Manchester City beat Sheffield United 3-0 at Wembley to reach the FA Cup final while their opposition will be decided this afternoon.  Manchester United play Brighton in the second semi-final at Wembley kicking off at 4.30pm.  I think this may be a tough game for United.  They have to bounce back from a terrible midweek performance in Europe and Brighton have been playing well of late.  I hope the final will be an all Manchester affair but I am not so sure…fingers crossed! There are also two Premier League matches this afternoon with Bournemouth against West Ham and Newcastle against Spurs all kicking off at 2pm.

My Sunday consists of playing in a golf tournament, maybe going point to pointing and trying to watch the FA Cup semi-final as well.  I hope you have a good Sunday whatever you may be up to!

I saw a man going up a hill with a trolley full of horseshoes, four-leaf clovers and rabbits feet.  I thought: “wow, he’s pushing his luck!”