The stable had just one runner last night; Massannie who was making her chasing debut at Bangor.  Unfortunately she proved very disappointing, finishing last of three in the 2m 4 1/2f novices' chase - her hurdling form gave her a favourite's chance if translating that ability to fences, but having travelled very keenly through the early stages she stopped very quickly and is clearly better than the bare form suggests.  There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with four on the level from Catterick, Lingfield, Sandown and Leicester as well as a jumps card from Worcester.  Much as you would expect, there is a meeting at Naas in Ireland offering £125,000 in prize money - that's four times as much as Worcester or Lingfield!

tomscumar29imgTom Scudamore (pictured right) appeared on Attheraces yesterday to answer his critics following his error of judgement at Cartmel the previous day and I have to say that he came across very well.  He made a genuine mistake and has held his hands up and taken full responsibility for it and apologised to both connections of the horse and to those people who backed it.  I know that is scant consolation for some, but it was a honest mistake from a honest guy - a lot of people would have shied away from talking about it on television so fair play to him for that.

Incidentally, Tom took a nasty looking fall from Tempuran at Southwell yesterday.  Even more annoyingly for him, he looked the likeliest winner until coming to grief three out - let's hope that horse and jockey are both okay.  They say that a jump jockey takes a fall on average every seven rides - I don't know who actually says it, but if you are a jockey who has had six clear rounds you will surely be feeling nervous!

I see that the Queen's 2013 Ascot Gold Cup winner Estimate is one of five horses that has tested positive for morphine.  Imagine having to make the phone call to the Palace to explain what has happened.  I could take a guess or an estimate!

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Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse for the England football team, Sven Goran Erikkson says that Wayne Rooney should be the next captain.  Who is going to tell him to make the decision to call heads or tails?!  When Rooney realises that it was Erikkson who suggested the posting, he will be pulling his hair out!

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It is the start of the Senior Open Golf championship and I will be having a few interest bets on Barry Lane at 80/1, Fred Funk at 66/1 and Colin Montgomerie as the shorty at 6/1.  Monty is clearly the man in form having won his previous two tournaments.

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Thought for the day, I have just realised that becoming a vegetarian is just a huge missed steak!

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