Off to Wincanton

It is the first meeting of the season at Wincanton today and David saddles four runners.  Tigger kicks off the afternoon in the opening race and although he has been very consistent he has not managed ot get his head in front.  It is hoped the fittng on the blinkers this afternoon can bring about that extra bit of improvement.  Surfboard was a little disappointing at Exeter over fences last week but the drop back in trip might help this afternoon with Tom Scu in the saddle.  Two of our amateur's also get another chance this afternoon with Tom Bellamy and Mikey Ennis having there second rides for the yard.  Both have ridden plenty of point to point winners however and both claim a very valuable seven pounds.  They are riding Bathwick Scanno (3.20pm race) and Rainy Champion (4.50pm race) respectively.  It is quite foggy back at the yard today but below is a photo of Peut Etre Sivola and Sure Josie Sure on the gallops which I took recently when we could see a bit more!

           Peut Etre Sivola & Sure Josie Sure

Nine jockeys were banned at Wetherby yesterday after a race was made void because the jockeys did not pull up when the groundstaff were waving the yellow flag.  Jockeys including AP, Brian Hughes, Graham Lee, Paddy Brennan, Denis O'Regan and Danny Cook failed to follow the rules.  Apprantly there is a sign on the weighing room wall that states "If at any stage during a race you seen an official waving a yellow flag, this signals to immediately pull up".  They each received a ten day ban but can we afford to lose those jockeys for that amount of time, including top man and sportsman of the year AP McCoy?  With the new whip rules causing lots of the wrong headlines for our sport already, can racing really afford this sort of publicity?  This sort of thing seems to happen too often.  In this day and age can we not find something other than a piece of stick with a bit of material on the end to stop a race?  Surely there must be a better way to stop a race and prevent this sort of thing from happening again.

Talking about the whip rule.  As you may know in Ireland the new rule, does not count, or you don't have to count!  Irish jockey Davey Condon would have receibved a 11 day ban for a ride he gave Face Value yesterday.  It was actually a superb winning ride but over here he would have been banned and lost riding fees and his percentage of the prize money.  It will be interesting to see what will happen when the Irish lads come over here to ride in England.  I don't mean jockeys like Ruby Walsh who rides regularly over here but I am talking about the jockeys that only come over occasionally and especially at the big meetings.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  

Yesterdays action.  I thought Eshtibaak won very impressively at Nottingham.  The three year old won with a bit in hand and he should be one to follow up.  Also a quick, get well soon to Cathy Gannon who broke her leg in a fall on the way to the start at Nottingham yesterday.  Cathy is a great rider who has ridden 56 winners this season.  We wish you a speedy recovery Cathy!