Relations

There is one jumps meeting today, a twilight fixture at Hereford but the stable does not have any runners.  The first race is at 4.22pm and Rian Corcoran is in action in the lucky last and while Jack Tudor was back riding yesterday which was good to see, he does not have any booked rides today.  On the flat we have the third day of Newmarket's Craven meeting and a fixture at Ripon while in Ireland there is a jumps racing at Limerick.  A couple of horses caught my eye in Ireland, more so because of their breeding than anything else.  In the opening mares maiden hurdle on the card, the favourite is a horse called Babyburn, a half sister to the stables mighty Ballyburn.  She was too keen and disappointed in a bumper on her only start to date but she obviously shows ability as home as she is fancied to run well at home on her switch to hurdling if she settles better.  

The Limerick card concludes with a Bumper at 5.05pm and the favourite for that race is another Willie Mullins trained runner, Sparkling Whit.  He is full brother to Gold Cup winner Gaelic Warrior and has a lot to live up to!  Obviously when you are buying horses, especially young horses, you do look at their pedigree but being relations does not always work out.  We have had various full and half siblings over the years and some turn out to be good, some not so!  You do tend to find as well that good mares do quite often produce a good family and when you look at some mares stud record they are really quite impressive with several winners under their name.  We are constantly being contacted by breeders of certain horses asking how they are going and offering us relations to them!

There are two Group races at Newmarket this afternoon, with the Craven off at 3.35pm.  The mile races for colts and geldings has a field of six high class horses and the favourite is Hawk Mountain of the Aidan O'Brien Ballydoyle team.  On ratings he stands out as being ahead of the field on ratings but there has been strong support for the second favourite for Godolphin, Hidden Force.  He is unbeaten in two starts to date and is obviously held in high regard so it should be a fascinating race.  

David is off to Cheltenham sales this afternoon which get underway at 1pm.  He went up to look at all 52 lots yesterday and has a shortlist of a few who we will have a strong interest in today.  There is quite a mixture of horses available today, a lot of Irish and English point to pointers and some bumper performers as well.  There will be some expensive ones on offer but there will be some value as well and fingers crossed we might be lucky in our quest.  If you have any interest in becoming and owner and finding out more about todays sales or any others coming up please do get in touch as we would be delighted to hear from you.

Last night, Arsenal held on for a 0-0 draw at home to Sporting Lisbon which means they progress to the semi-finals of the Champions League and will play Atletico Madrid in a couple of weeks time.  There were plenty of goals in Germany as Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid 4-3 and they will face Paris St Germain next.  Tonight, attention turns to the Europa League and quarter final action.  Aston Villa have a nice two goal advantage after their first leg and are at home so are in a good position while Nottingham Forrest are also at home and have a 1-1 draw from the first leg.  Crystal Palace are also in pole position after a 3-0 win in their first leg.  

I'm having a garage sale this weekend!

Please don't come if I have ever borrowed anything from you!

Have a good day.