Qalinas Fourth At Cartmel

Our runner at Cartmel yesterday afternooon Qalinas finished fourth in the conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle under Conor O'Farrell.  He travelled well for much of the journey and looked to be travelling better than the winner at one point but he was headed between the last two flights and wasrun out of second place close home.  I see that the winner, Jolly Roger is in again at Newton Abbot on Monday and as he escapes a penalty for this success (with it being a boys' race) I would be amazed if he didn't turn up there.

Our runner at Cartmel yesterday afternooon Qalinas finished fourth in the conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle under Conor O'Farrell.  He travelled well for much of the journey and looked to be travelling better than the winner at one point but he was headed between the last two flights and wasrun out of second place close home.  I see that the winner, Jolly Roger is in again at Newton Abbot on Monday and as he escapes a penalty for this success (with it being a boys' race) I would be amazed if he didn't turn up there.

Above:  A picturesque scene (from the last time we had a bit of sunshine!)
of the horses enjoying a pick of grass

The yard doesn't have any runners this afternoon although there is jump racing from Wetherby and Uttoxeter, as well as four flat meetings from Hamilton, Lingfield, Sandown and Wolverhampton.  Looking at Wetherby's jumps card, I see that they have seven races on the menu and five of them are worth less than £2,000 and one is worth a paltry £1,505.68!  There is an Irish trainer coming over (I can't think why!) and I would love to know what his expenses are - luckily his wife owns the horses, so I can only imagine that he will be picking up the tab himself!  Surely the prize money in Ireland cannot be that bad that he needs to travel across and compete for peanuts?  He has six runners on the card (all owned by his wife), so let's hope for his sake that he can get a winner otherwise it could be a rough crossing back across the Irish Sea!

There is an interesting article in the Racing Post today regarding training fees.  The report suggests that Newmarket trainers are far more expensive than anywhere else in the country, while you will get much better value for money in the Westcountry.  David charges a very competitive all-inclusive fee, so if you have a horse in need of a top trainer, you know where to come.

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It's raining again - that can only mean a couple of things...there is Test Match cricket on and Wimbledon is just around the corner!  Let's hope that Sir Cliff Richard is not there too often - I don't know which is worse, Sir Cliff doing a turn on the mic or old lady tennis players?  I would love to know what the Lawn Tennis Association do with all of their money!

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I see that the Racing Post's editor Bruce Millington is talking about table tennis in the Olympics in today's paper.  He says that it is a blend of speed, reflexes, agility, cunning and stamina (and it also makes a nice sound) - I don't know if anyone ever described my game like that?!  Obviously if Bruce had seen me play, he would also have included the words grace and finesse!