9 Runners At 4 Meetings!

There is an exciting days' racing in prospect with four meetings taking place, including three jumps cards from Ascot, Haydock and Wincanton as well as an all-weather fixture from Lingfield.  There are plenty of runners from the stable this afternoon with Serienschock, My Brother Sylvest, Courtlands Prince and Alezanna representing us at Wincanton, while we run Ainsi Fideles and Unique de Cotte at Ascot and Broadway Buffalo and Bygones Sovereign at Haydock.  Not satisfied with having jumpers at every meeting, David also sends Softsong to run at Lingfield on the all-weather - it is going to be a busy day with a total of nine runners, the planning involved in getting horses to each meeting along with oranising staff and jockeys is immense.

I will be going to Wincanton today along with Martin to oversee our runners there and I am looking forward to it.  Not only is there some good racing to look forward to, our stable sponsors Bathwick Tyres have their own box there.  Not only do Bathwick Tyres do the best tyres, they also do the best cottage pie...don't eat it all before I get there Wayne!

I see that the Racing Post are tipping up Broadway Buffalo at Haydock and Unique de Cotte (pictured above) at Ascot and I could certainly see Unique run a big race under Tom Scudamore.  Meanwhile, up at Haydock I am not sure the jockeys will let Michael Heard have as much rope aboard Bygones Sovereign as he did a week ago when bolting up at Newbury.  There is a small matter of a 13lbs rise in the weights to deal with as well.

There was another nice winner for the stable yesterday at Sandown when Bidourey bolted up in the novices' hurdle under a double penalty.  He has now won all five of his career starts and is clearly a nice prospect - he is only four years of age and already looks like a chaser in the making so I am sure David will be thrilled to have enjoyed such success with him already.  He obviously likes a bit of cut in the ground and already has a hurdle mark of 137 - while it is difficult to know what he has achieved so far, you can do no more than beat what is put in front of you.  Cheltenham is by no means a certainty and it will be interesting what David decides to do with him next.

It is owner Allan Stennett's birthday today.  Allan has had some very good horses at Pond House down the years, most recently the likes of Cheltenham Festival winners Salut Flo and Ballynagour - many happy returns to him.

It is not very often that the bookies give anything away, although Boylesports are doing their best to dispel that myth by offering £100 to the Irish Injured Jockeys Fund for every winner A P McCoy rides from today until the end of the season.  I don't know why some of the English firms don't do the same thing.

There are stacks of stable staff jobs advertised in today's Racing Post.  If only I was three stone lighter and ten years younger...I have undersold one of those qualifications!

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Why on earth can the England cricketers not catch the ball or throw it for run-outs?  Their fielding was terrible against Australia and we face an uphill struggle in the forthcoming World Cup.

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It is the fifth round of the FA Cup today and I will be having a little tickle on Arsenal at 40/85, Manchester United at 40/85 and Liverpool at 11/10.  I have often wondered why bookmakers have such strange prices - 40/85 twice makes my winnings so much more difficult to work out!

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Finally, unless you want to spend the night in the dog house, men don't forget that it is Valentines' Day today.  I feel sorry for my postman - he is sure to have a bad back after carrying my sack full of cards today!