Good/Firm At Perth!

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon - two on the flat at Goodwood and Kempton as well as a jumps card in Scotland at Perth.  With all of the rain that has affected the north of the country, it is incredible that Perth has managed to avoid most of the rain and the official going is currently given as good/firm.  Our stable jockey Tom Scudamore is riding at Perth this afternoon and has three rides for Lucinda Russell - his best chance would appear to be Kai Broon in the two mile handicap chase...I would imagine that he will need a winner just to pay the expenses of going up there.

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon - two on the flat at Goodwood and Kempton as well as a jumps card in Scotland at Perth.  With all of the rain that has affected the north of the country, it is incredible that Perth has managed to avoid most of the rain and the official going is currently given as good/firm.  Our stable jockey Tom Scudamore is riding at Perth this afternoon and has three rides for Lucinda Russell - his best chance would appear to be Kai Broon in the two mile handicap chase...I would imagine that he will need a winner just to pay the expenses of going up there.

The ground at Newton Abbot yesterday was soft after plenty of rain at the weekend - it was the first time in ages that I can remember us not having a runner at the Devon track.  I thought that A P McCoy gave Tenby Jewel a great ride to win the novices' hurdle and was amused to hear why he had been so effective.  The champ claimed that he only won because he is scared of trainer Keith Goldsworthy - I can see his point as he looks like someone out of The Sweeney, and I don't mean on the side of the law!

*****

I thought that we had had it bad with the rain, but I really do feel for those people that have been affected by flooding further up the country.  The trainers up there say that they have not witnessed such awful conditions in two decades and worse still, apparently this could go on for another couple of days.  It must be heart-breaking if you see your worldly possessions floating off down the road.

As you can see from the pictures from the gallops yesterday, we were spared the rain for a couple of hours and I managed to get some nice shots of the horses on the gallops.  The first is of Bladoun, a handsome grey who was placed in three bumpers last season, while the other is of recent recruit Royal Mile who should soon be making his debut for the yard - he holds an entry at Newton Abbot next Monday.

  
Above left: Bladoun and right: Royal Mile on the Pond House gallops during a rare dry spell!

*****

As predicted, there were some strange results in the Cup matches last night.  Manchester City lost 4-2 at home to Aston Villa and Everton were beaten 2-1 by lower divisino Leeds.  I am sure that if these matches had been in the FA Cup, the results would have been very different.  The big match tonight is between Manchester United and Newcastle and with Vidic out for a couple of months United's defense could be upt against it, especially in the League.