In The Frame!

The stable's four runners all reached the frame yesterday afternoon, but none of them could quite manage to get their heads in front.  Battle Group finished second in the beginners' chase at Newton Abbot and it seems that he doesn't much like the small fields.  He ran great races to finish in the frame in big handicap chases at the Cheltenham Festival and Aintree Festivals so it was perhaps a little disappointing that he couldn't land this, even so, there are plenty more races to be won with him.  Woodlark Island also filled the runner-up position under Kieron Edgar, while Conor O'Farrell had a couple of thirds up at Sedgefield aboard Dukes Art and Party Girls.

There is some good action at Sandown on the level this evening with a couple of Group 3 races and a Listed contest on the menu.  Carlton House makes his seasonal reappearance at the track and it would be great for his owner The Queen if he could win ahead of the Diamond Jubilee.  He was beaten favourite for the Derby last season, although he ran very well to finish a close third behind Pour Moi.

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It's amazing how quickly things can change in the racing world.  One minute Lucy Alexander is the public's favourite jockey and cannot stop riding winner, and now this morning I notice that she is on the cold jockey's list having gone 30 days and 51 rides without a winner.  It's a funny old game but it is only a matter of time before she is back in the winners' enclosure.

Another jockey that has impressed me lately is young Adam Wedge.  He has ridden 5 winners from his last 14 rides at a strike rate of 36% - he also sounded like a sensible lad in an interview conducted at Newton Abbot.

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I see that there was a 550lbs shark caught off of the coast of Cornwall yesterday - the anglers estimate that it was over 10 feet long!  After 90 minutes they eventually managed to land the Porbeagle, and then released it!...I don't think I will be going paddling again anytime soon.  We often see very large basking sharks off of Torquay - they swim with their mouths open which makes them look a little bit like Matt Chapman (except their mouths aren't quite as big as the orange one)!