Grand National Great

It is a beautiful start to the day here at Pond House, sunny but cold and we had an overnight frost.  I had to scrape the ice off my windscreen this morning.  We had such warm weather last week but that is April weather for you, a mixture of everything which included April showers and a mixture of snow and hail here on Saturday! We start the new week with two jumps meetings at Hexham and Fakenham and two flat meetings at Leicester and Newcastle.  The stable does not have any runners.  Jack Tudor will hopefully be in action at Fakenham but he did stand down from his rides at Ffos Las yesterday as he was feeling quite sore.  He had a fall in the National on Mr Vango and then had a further fall at Ffos Las yesterday.  Hopefully nothing too serious and I haven't heard anything as yet about today about whether he is likely to ride or not but he looks to have a good chance of a winner at Fakenham if he is able to ride.  

River Run Free finished second at Ffos Las yesterday while Vision De Maine pulled up in the same race.  Vision De Maine as returned a bit sore this morning so this might explain his run while River Run Free was a lucky second with some of his rivals departing at the second last fence but at least he picked up some prize money.

I enjoyed watching the Grand National on Saturday and what a win for I am Maximus who cements himself as one of the all-time greats in winning the Grand National for the second time.  It was a fantastic performance, especially carrying top weight and it was a brilliant result for racing.  Owner J P McManus owned the winner, second and fourth places horses and in doing so become the most successful owner in the big race ever.  He puts so much into our sport and I genuinely think that everyone is pleased for his success.  The best result of all is that all horses have returned home safely.  Mr Vango is currently in Liverpool vets hospital following his fall at Becher's Brook but is hoping to be allowed home today.  He has suffered a neck injury but will make a full recovery and should return to action next season following a period of rest.  There was just one jockey injury, Robbie Dunne sustained a broken collarbone in his fall but in jockey terms this is a relatively minor injury!  Bob Hodge was the winner of our Grand National Sweepstake so well done to him.

I am a bit tired today after staying up to watch the Master final round last night.  I did in fact doze off for a bit but woke to Rory McIlroy teeing off on the 18th hole.  He did bogey the last but it was enough to hold onto victory and for him to claim the Green Jacket for the second year in a row.  It was a drama filled weekend for him but he showed resilience to fend off the rest of the field.

Arsenal faltered on Saturday while Man City easily beat Chelsea yesterday so things are looking very interesting at the top of the Premiership.  Same can be said at the other end of the table with another loss for Spurs and they really are in trouble and are facing relegation.  Manchester United are at home to Leeds this evening, 8pm kick-off.

I told my husband, "did you know Old McDonald's farm has been taken over by Artificial Intelligence?"

Him: AI?
Me: AI.
Him: Oh.

Happy Monday!