Desperate For Dore!

There was a winner for the yard at Worcester yesterday when American Art landed the claiming hurdle by five lengths under Conor O'Farrell at odds of 3/1.  He kept on well after the last to score by five lengths from Monroe Park and he looks well upto scoring in this grade again as he was trying to concede 10lbs to the runner-up.  I particularly liked owner Brian Kilpatrick's instructions to the young jockey, "ride him like Tony McCoy did last time and go one better"...not a lot to ask then Brian!  Anyway, I was pleased to see the Irishman take his advice.

American Art returns to the winners' enclosure after success at Worcester yesterday

There was a winner for the yard at Worcester yesterday when American Art landed the claiming hurdle by five lengths under Conor O'Farrell at odds of 3/1.  He kept on well after the last to score by five lengths from Monroe Park and he looks well upto scoring in this grade again as he was trying to concede 10lbs to the runner-up.  I particularly liked owner Brian Kilpatrick's instructions to the young jockey, "ride him like Tony McCoy did last time and go one better"...not a lot to ask then Brian!  Anyway, I was pleased to see the Irishman take his advice.

Vertige Dore put up a decent performance when "winning" the novices' chase on his fencing debut.  Unfortunately he hung badly right, impeding the second horse Mad Moose and the stewards decided to amend the result.  Personally, I think it was a shocking decision - while there was only a short head between the two, Mad Moose was no nearer winning the race than he was at the start of the straight.  Timmy Murphy did everything in his power to keep the horse straight at the final two fences, and you could visibly see that the horse was idling badly in front - I think they could have gone around again and you would have still had the same result!  Anyway, it was a promising first effort over fences and he is quite literally, a winner waiting to happen.

*****

It is the Shergar Cup this afternoon at Ascot and I was amused to read Team Ireland Captain, Richard Hughes' summing up of Doug Whyte, who rides for The Rest Of The World tram.  He says that "he is the richest man in the world after spending ten years in Hong Kong at Sha Tin and Happy Valley".  I wonder if he means in terms of prize money won?

*****

There was a good win for Blackpool last night as they beat Hull 1-0 on the opening night of the football season.  They sealed victory with a goal in the 81st minute.  I love their manager - he seems to come out with some of the best quotes in the world and must be an absolute dream assignment for any of the scribes.