Amazing AP Does It Again!

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with flat cards from Thirsk, Brighton and Kempton as well as a jumps card from Worcester.  There are no runners from the stable today although David Noonan heads to Worcester for an outside ride.

What about A P McCoy taking to the saddle once again to compete in the Pat Smullen charity race at the Curragh yesterday?  He had to lose quite a bit of weight to get fit to ride in the race, although Chanelle was still finding chocolate wrappers in his car.  Even so, he looked every bit as good as ever in beating old rival Ruby Walsh in a driving finish.  He now has a total of 4,359 winners, although the flying dismount he performed afterwards was not exactly Dettori-esque.  That is the second time he has come out of retirement to compete in these Legends races and he has won them both...it is almost unfair on the others competing.  The race was a great spectacle and helped to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research.

I did say that I was going to follow Ryan Moore at the Curragh and I was glad that I did after 6/1 and 12/1 winners at the track.  Meanwhile, there was a mighty performance from Godolphin juvenile Pinatubo to land the Group One National Stakes by nine lengths.  In so doing he has been allotted a rating superior to that of the mighty Frankel as a juvenile.  It will be interesting to see if he continues to progress.

I see that it is former trainer Rod Simpson's 74th birthday today.  Rod once told me to keep stepping on and off the mat the stewards used to have in their room.  He said that it would annoy them massively and he was absolutely right.  Rod was a really colourful character and dressed accordingly...we could do with a few more like him in the sport.  Many happy returns Rod.

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There was a great weekend of sport for England with a cricketing test match success as well as victory for Europe in the Solheim Cup golf.  Meanwhile, Norwich pulled off a massive upset by beating Manchester City in the Premier League.  I am glad I am not in the office this morning as head lad Oliver Defew is the other Norwich fan!  My beloved Hammers take on Aston Villa tonight on Sky Sports...all of my phones will be switched off at 8pm.  The Hammers are 163/100 - very strange odds.

There was a great finish to Solheim Cup at Gleneagles with Europe winning a thriller.  Then supermum Suzann Pettersen announced her retirement.  She had just sunk the most important putt of her career - a 6 footer at the last to settle the match...she is only 38 years old.

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Quote for the day, "I don't know what to say to him, he is much more intelligent than me!"  Tommy Stack referring to Grand National hero Red Rum.

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