Dettori The Olympic Star!

There are five meetings on today with four of them on the flat at Yarmouth, Catterick, Lingfield and Kempton but by far the most interesting could be the jumps card at Worcester.  The Racing Post are reporting that there could be a boycott of the final race on the card in a protest against prize money levels - the race in question falls £900 short of the tarriff recommended by the Horsemen's Group.

It is a sad day when such action becomes a reality, but if it is the only way to sort out prize money levels in this country then so be it.  I am sure if the tracks had no runners they would soon find the extra prize money.  As a racehorse owner you do not expect to make money out of the sport - however, if it is costing more and more each year and you are competing for less and less, it won't be long before they start leaving the sport in droves, especially when you consider the far superior prize money on offer in France and Ireland.

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I see that Frankie Dettori had a turn with the Olympic torch during the relay yesterday.  Frankie, mounted aboard former Cheltenham Festival winner Monsignor carried the torch all the way down the Ascot straight in front of 10,000 people...that is some turnout - most racecourses would be delighted with that sort of attendance (and there wasn't even any racing on)!

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There are a couple of birthdays that I should make reference to today.  Frank Farrant, who had some very good horses with Martin down the years (including the likes of Valfinet, Tamarpour and Heros Fatal) is a very young looking 65 today.  It must be his wife Alison who keeps him looking so young!

It is also former travelling head lad David Richmond's birthday.  I don't know what David is doing nowadays, but I will always remember being stood in front of the stewards at Haydock with him after one of his mounts had performed below expectations.  David told the stewards that the horse had made a noise unlike anything he had heard before - I wanted to laugh.  Then they asked me if I had ever ridden the horse at home at which point I said "I have not ridden this one", then David wanted to laugh.  Everyone knew that I had only ever ridden one horse at home and fell off it, breaking my wrist.  Happy days!  Many happy returns to both of you.