Mancero Worcester Winner

          Mancero Winner at Worcester

The good run of form for the yard continued yesterday with Mancero getting off the mark for the first time in Britain at Worcester and this was our sixth winner from our last eight runners!  It was Sean Bowen's first ride for us and he gave our four year old a lovely ride and was very strong in the saddle up the home straight.  He did however pull clear of his rivals on the run in and won going away at the line, suggesting he may even appreciate a bit further in trip at some point.  It was great for his owners who have been very patient in the last year but in fairness to the horse he has done nothing but improve in recent months.  He appears to have taken a while to acclimatize to racing over here but he is only young and we have got there now and I am sure this win will have done his confidence the world of good.  He likes this better ground and will be kept on the go for now and I hope he can now continue to progress.

There is no jumps racing today, but there are four flat meetings at Carlisle, Chepstow, Brighton and Wolverhampton.  In Ireland they have a meeting under each code, they race on the flat at Down Royal and over jumps at Tramore this evening.  It is good to be back racing at Brighton today, their first meeting of the year.  Earlier meetings had to be moved elsewhere after troubles caused by wildlife infestations.

Ombudsman was a nice winner at Sandown last night for the Godolphin team and he now looks set for Royal Ascot, as does Talk of New York who was also an impressive winner for the boys in blue at the track.  Tom Marquand was both lucky and unlucky wearing those silks at Yarmouth yesterday.  He was in front and likely to win when the horse jinked badly and he came off mid race.  These falls are at high speed and can be horrible but thankfully he walked away relatively unscathed.  He said he was glad he wouldn't be joining wife Hollie Doyle in a hospital bed at least! As we know, these jockeys are made of strong stuff!  

The men's draw at the French Open looks wide open now after number one seed, Jannik Sinner lost yesterday in Paris.  He reportedly was not feeling well before the match and then the heat did not help his cause although he was not really using that as an excuse.  Could this now leave the door open for Novak Djokovic to claim his 25th career Grand Slam trophy?  He is in action today.  There are no Britons left in the draw after Katie Boulter lost yesterday while there were no problems for world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the women's draw.  

Somerset are in Vitality Blast action this evening, away at Glamorgan, 6.30pm start while there is a good local derby in the rugby between Bristol Bears and Bath tonight.

What did one wall say to the other wall?

I'll meet you at the corner!

Have a good day and happy birthday to Mr Pipe today!