Night at Hereford

       Best Night runs at Hereford Today 

I love working in sport, particularly in racing obviously and you celebrate the wins and enjoy those moments but you also have the downs and frustrations which you have to take on the chin, pick yourself up and go again.  Yesterday was a frustrating day for the team, I thought we had two very good chances of winners and unfortunately both runners were disappointing. Indulto Rouge travelled well in front but as soon as Jack pushed the button to go their was no response in the latter stages.  Initial suggestions are that his wind was once again an issue and if you cannot breathe then you cannot race.  He had a soft palate cautery after his last race and while I haven't heard anything official I am sure we will be looking at this again to see if they is anything more that can be done.  The horse has an engine and goes very well up the gallops but you are not put under pressure like you are in a race.  Time will tell.

Purple Owl was held up and travelled well but once again was beaten from an early stage.  This run was too bad to be true again and it is back to the drawing board.  Both horses are fine this morning which is the main thing and we move onto today.  We have one runner at Hereford, Best Night.  She runs in the 4.00pm handicap hurdle over 2 miles and Jack Tudor rides.  She won at Huntingdon two weeks ago over this trip and appreciated returning to some better ground.  The handicapper put her up four pounds for that win and I think she can cope with that.  She gets the same conditions today and she will like the track and I hope she will prove hard to beat.  My confidence is a bit dented after yesterday but we are in the right race and she seems well and so hopefully she can give our racing club members something to cheer about.

Hereford is one of two jumps meetings today with the other up at Hexham.  There are two all-weather flat cards at Lingfield and Kempton and no racing in Ireland.  All eyes will be on Kempton this evening at 7.30pm as Constitution Hill has his second run on the flat with Ryan Moore taking over on board from the banned Oisin Murphy.  I think he is 1/5 in the betting to win and he will be hard to beat if he performs like he did at Southwell.  Andrew Balding has the second favourite which I am sure has plenty of ability having won his only start but I think he will be just chasing the coat tails of the former champion hurdler.  Kempton Park have reported increased ticket sales compared to a normal fixture because of Constitution Hill so that can only be good for them and he is doing a great job of promoting racing to the wider public at the moment.  There are no certainties in racing but I hope we will see another incredible performance from this public favourite.

I told her every time I bend down I see Mickey  Mouse and every time I stand up I see Donald Duck...

She asks me how long I've been having these Disney Spells.

Have a good day.