It was a pity rain ruled out the final Doncaster meeting of the season and with it the November Handicap. It will always be the Manchester November Handicap to me, ever since Operatic Society dislodged Ken Gethin at the start, … Read More »

Hi there! Champ won what I think we can all agree was the best beginners’ chase of the season so far when beating the talented Dashel Drasher by three and a half lengths at Newbury this afternoon. His jumping was … Read More »

I suppose there has to come a time, maybe at 70 or possibly 71, when you wonder what you’re doing. After all, the game was on television, the rain fell steadily, then furiously as the nine goals went in and … Read More »

Hi there If I were Sheikh Mohammed there would have been a lot of things I would have done differently. One thing would have been to delegate more and not interfere. Without trust you cannot delegate wholly and in my … Read More »

My good friend George Materna  – successful businessman, great Goodwood supporter and joint-owner of Open Wide, who finished runner-up in the Stewards’ Cup this year  –  was recently in hospital to have a new hip fitted. I have been through … Read More »

Hi there I was very taken with the attitude Thyme Hill displayed in his three runs last season, as much in defeat as in victory, and it was that tenacity that stood him in good stead on his hurdling debut … Read More »

Hi there It’s Arc weekend and plenty has been written about Enable, with the Racing Post’s well-respected judge Paul Kealy putting forward some sound reasons why the favourite “won’t be beaten.” If that were the case, with his assertion that … Read More »

‘Oh the Woolston Ferry, it doesn’t travel very fast. It was never built for comfort, it was built to last’. Which it did, for 141 years, and Lowry painted it, but then they built the Itchen Bridge and that was … Read More »

I suppose we’ve all been in the game too long and love it too much to take all that much satisfaction from leaving certain races alone. On the other hand, it’s quite a while since I attempted to unravel the … Read More »

Another Carnaby seller has come and gone and it takes a while to get back into any sort of groove. This is a strange thing to admit, I suppose, because the race itself is hardly likely to linger in anyone’s … Read More »

Hi there! I have said before that to succeed at racing, be it as a trainer, jockey or punter, you need to be focused to an almost obsessional degree. To use contemporary jargon there has to be almost an OCD … Read More »

I suppose this will be the last racing week I attend for a while. When work comes to an end, as it surely must at 70, the thought occurs that there will need to be quite a lot of winners … Read More »