A Great National!

What an eventful weekend!  The Grand National was a fantastic spectacle with plenty of action and drama as well as an unlikely winner in the shape of Pineau de Re, formerly retired jockey Leighton Aspell and general practitioner Dr Richard Newland who trained him.  Swing Bill (pictured above with owner and big race sponsor Judy Halewood) once again ran a mighty race to finish ninth, jumping around safely in the hands of Conor O'Farrell for the third successive year, while The Package finished twelfth having looked a major player for much of the race.  Our Father was unseated at the eighth.

Once again, there was another false start - it happens every year.  I know there are forty horses, but even so, why is it so difficult for them to start first time?  People tune in from all over the world to see this race and to see the farce at the start every year is just so unprofessional.  You knew that there was a pretty good chance that Battle Group would not line up and personally I would look into making a new condition for the race whereby if any horse has refused to jump off more than once in the past, they would be refused entry into the race.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day I thought that Dell' Arca ran another solid race on this step up to Grade One company when third in the novices' hurdle on Saturday.  There were plenty of 'faces' about the place including good old Cliff Richard (pictured right)...maybe he was on his Summer Holidays?!

I had a great time up at Aintree, but I must confess I am pleased to be home.  I keep waking up in a cold sweat with The New One on my mind - maybe it is something to do with the 54 times that I had to watch the replay with Gino!  It feels very much like The Old One to me!  Anyway both David and myself should than Gino (or more importantly Jeanette) for their kind hospitality once again, they really looked after us for the duration of the meeting.

We had a couple of runners at Ffos Las yesterday afternoon but neither Thomas Junior or Tullyesker Hill were able to complete.  I don't think I have ever seen ground as heavy as it was there on Sunday and I don' think I have ever seen so many horses pulling up.  You can get some idea about how testing the conditions were when you consider that every race was slower than the standard time by over a minute!

There are three meetings to look forward to this afternoon with action on the flat from Windsor and Redcar and a jumps card taking place at Kelso.  The stable has no runners today.

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I had a nice little Merseyside double over the weekend with both Everton and Liverpool winning.  Arsenal need a player like Adams or Viera as they just don't look streetwise enough for the Premiership, while Liverpool beat West Ham 2-1.  I thought the referee had a terrible game - West Ham's goal looked to be a fould on the keeper, while Liverpool's second penalty shouldn't have been a penalty!  As far as I am we should be utilising the techology available to review these decisions.

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There was another Chinese takeaway when snooker player Ding Junhui won his fifth ranking tournament of the season.  That equals Stephen Hendry's record and there is still the World Championship to come, although anyone betting against The Rocket must be off their trolley!

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The boat race was a bit one-sided yesterday as the bookies predicted.  Oxford beat Cambridge by eleven lengths, making it the widest winning margin since 1973.  Just think though, the entire width of the Thames and yet they still manage to collide!

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