Rose Wins At Taunton

The stable enjoyed another nice winner yesterday when Rathlin Rose landed the 3m maiden hurdle at Taunton in good style by six lengths.  Our gelding jumped and travelled well and soon had his rivals in trouble and seemed only to be idling in front until joined by the loose horse - he picked up again well and looks like a nice staying prospect in the making - he could pick up a similar contest under a penalty.  Bladoun didn't build on his reappearance success from a 13lbs higher mark, although he was still there two out, he jumped markedly to the left and we could be seeing him run the other way around next time.

What a horrible morning!  It hasn't stopped raining in the west country and it is still pitch black outside - some parts of the M5 have loads of surface water, so if you are travelling please do take care.  There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with two jumps cards from Catterick and Leicester as well as all-weather flat meetings from Southwell and Wolverhampton - if the jumps tracks have had the same amount of rain as we have, I can see the ground coming up very heavy.  The stable has one runner today, Bidourey who competes in the 1.00pm race at Leicester.  Our four year old is unbeaten in three starts (two bumpers and a hurdle).  His win in France was on very soft ground so the rain-softened going should not bother him, while a drop of two furlongs in trip should not inconvenience either.  He looks to be a nice prospect and has sound claims of extending his winning sequence under stable jockey Tom Scudamore this afternoon.

I see that champion jockey A P McCoy is off to Catterick today to ride one for John Ferguson - it was rated 106 on the flat so you would be upset if he didn't win today.  The trainer is certainly very fortunate to have this type of horse from his Sheikh connections - a horse of that sort of ability on the level would cost around £500,000 at the sales.

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I have to say that I agree with 'arrers legend Eric Bristow, the BDO is so poor it doesn't deserve to be called the world championships.  You simply cannot have two world championships - I haven't even heard of many of the players in the BDO...common sense dictates that they have to join together.

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I haven't upset my old mate Tony for a while, so here goes...Manchester United's best player this season has undoubtedly been their goalkeeper De Gea, but they still feel the need to sign Barcelona legend Victor Valdes on an eighteen month deal.  It's not another goalie they need, it is three top class defenders!

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Apparently thieves stole 18,000 cream cakes deemed unfit to eat from a waste tip in Kragujevac, Serbia.  Who on earth would want those?  They must be sick clots!