News Round Up

Today there is just the one jumps meeting at Haydock which is the card moved from Cheltenham.  There are some good races, not lots of runners but some quality horses although I am sure there would have been more runners should the ground have been a bit softer.  The stable does not have any runners but Rian Corcoran is in action with two rides that have chances and Jack Tudor may be in action there as well but I am guessing he will once again be seeing how he feels this morning.  He did not ride again at Newton Abbot yesterday following falls at the weekend and I believe he is just taking one day at a time.  White Noise is favourite for the mares novices listed hurdle at 2.05pm, she of course won at the Cheltenham Festival last month and has form with our own Kingston Queen.  She is 4/6 favourite for todays contest at 2.05pm and while I think she will win, today's race is over 2m5f.  Speaking with jockey Tom Bellamy recently he thought two miles was her ideal trip but I guess around this track on forecast quicker ground she might well be okay.

Today's flat racing is headed by Newmarket which has two Group races, one for the boys, the Earl of Sefton stakes at 3.00pm and one for the girls, the Nell Gwyn stakes at 3.35pm.   Boiling Point is second favourite in the Earl of Sefton for Karl Burke and Clifford Lee and I think will run well in this having won the Cambridgeshire last season.  The Nell Gwyn looks a little more open but Act of Kindness is favourite for the Godolphin team and this very expensive filly is probably the one they all have to beat.  They also race at Beverley and Southwell on the flat today while in Ireland there is a flat card at Leopardstown.

News broke yesterday, though not a surprise, that Aintree winner Laafi has been disqualified and the race awarded to runner up Melon.  Laafi won the conditional and amateur jockeys handicap hurdle under Patrick O'Brien who is a five pound claimer but he was found to have used his whip 11 times, four times over the permitted level of seven.  The BHA rule is that any jockey who uses his whip four times or more over the permitted level means automatic disqualification.  The jockey also received a 28 day ban and it means connections will not be seeing any of the £25,720 in winning prize money.  Laafi is the first winning horse to have fallen foul of this rule in ten months, with flat horse My Dream World the last horse to have been in this situation last summer.  While thankfully it does not happen often, I do feel for the owner and the trainer in this situation and I am not sure losing the race a few days after the event is good for anyone.  Surely this could be sorted out on the day?  The rule is black and white, let the owners of the second horse have their moment in the limelight on the day?  The jockey must be feeling pretty terrible as well after what has been a terrific season for him, he has ridden 21 winners which has included a Cheltenham Festival winner last month.  

Today a few of our staff members are off to the funeral of Sam Lee, a young amateur jockey who took his own life at the age of 27 last month.  Sam had ridden four winners under rules and plenty point to pointing and spent last summer out in New Zealand with our own Ashley Dascombe and they became quite close.  It will be a tough day for them and we shall be thinking of them all.

I watched the second half of Liverpool's Champions League match last night and while they gave it a good go, they could not score and Paris St Germain then went down the other end to score and snuff out any hopes of Liverpool getting back into the match.  The final score was 2-0 to the visitors and they won 4-0 on aggregate.  Atletico Madrid lost 2-1 at home to Barcelona but go through to the semi-finals having won 3-2 on aggregate.  Arsenal are in action this evening at home against Sporting Lisbon and have a 1-0 advantage from the first leg.  Bayern Munich are home against Real Madrid and also have a 2-1 advantage from the first leg.

Someone ripped the 5th month out of my new calendar.

I'm dismayed!

Have a good day.