Three Runners At Chepstow

***Breaking News
My Brother Sylvest a non-runner at Chepstow
owing to the change of going***

We have three runners at Chepstow this afternoon, My Brother Sylvest who is bidding to complete a quick hat-trick, Vincentian a useful bumper horse who makes his Pond House debut this afternoon and Barney Cool who seeks to follow-up his impressive debut bumper success.  Conor O'Farrell will take the ride aboard My Brother Sylvest while Tom Scudamore will be aboard our other runners.  One jockey who will not be at Chepstow however is Ruby Walsh who has decided to give up his six mounts following his suspension at the weekend.  I can't say I blame him - the ride that he was banned for was copybook and yet he will miss some important races because of it...can our sport really afford to be without jockey's of Ruby Walsh's stature?

The thing that puzzles me is why do these committees always think that they are 100% right (or at least 99%)...why can't they just put their hands up and say that they have made a complete horlicks of the whole process before they do irrepairable damage to our sport?  I struggle to understand how a jockey can get banned, lose his percentage of the prize money and yet the horse still keeps the race - what happens if the horses are disqualified?...I guess you will then have more owners walking away from the sport.  Add to that the fact that I keep seeing races where the result would clearly have been different under the old regulations and it is clear that we are in dangerous territory - it is the only sport I can think of where you are not allowed to do everything you can to win!  Sadly the future of British racing looks anything but rosey at present.

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I see that Liverpool footballer Charlie Adam's first venture as an owner ended in disappointment yesterday as his horse could only finish seventh at Southwell yesterday...it is a bit like Liverpool Football Club - things can only get better!

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It wasn't the best match that I have ever seen but I was delighted that West Ham managed to come away with another three points from their match agains Brighton.  Hammers manager Sam Allardyce has managed to fill his team full of players that look like him...big!  I must say that the Brighton stadium looks teriffic - all they need is a team to play in it!