Weather Playing its Part

Today there are two jumps meetings at Huntingdon and Lingfield but the stable does not have any runners.  There are also two meetings on the all-weather at Newcastle and Wolverhampton.  There was due to be jumps racing in Ireland over jumps at Fairyhouse but that has been abandoned and the weather continues to play its part with Bangor already abandoned for tomorrow.  We did have Bumpy Johnson and Eden Du Houx declared to run there but that was called off after an inspection yesterday afternoon.

Catching up on a bit of racing news from yesterday, it was revealed that Auguste Rodin will stay in training next year as a four year old to which trainer Aidan O’Brien said it was “hugely exciting”. The three year old had a fantastic year, wining the English and Irish Derbies and culminating in a Breeders Cup win at Santa Anita on his last start.  It was widely thought he would be retired to stud now but his stallion duties have been put on hold for another year.  It is great for racing fans that we will get to see him on the track again and he will no doubt contest a lot of the major races from 1m2f to 1m4f next season.

The weather continues to be stormy but it was the one named Storm Babet that did most harm to Southwell racecourse on 21^st October.  The track was under water when the river Greet burst its banks and all of its fixtures up until 24^th November have been transferred elsewhere.  There is light however at the end of the tunnel as the track is now raceable and the track is planning a staged return to action with the racing likely to return without the public, possibly until the New Year with some of the buildings still out of action.  The track itself has recovered surprisingly well considering it was under a foot of water and incredibly the surface did not was away because of the way it is bound.  The jumps track is also said to be doing well but the lower floor buildings are not in such a good way.  The track is in the process of building a temporary weighing room, with showers and medical facilities etc which will be completed in the next few days.  Twice in the last 16 years has the track been flooded but it seems to be bouncing back well and fingers crossed they will be back racing again there very soon.

Jockey Harry Bentley has been riding in Hong Kong of late and been doing well but he has now found himself in hot water.  The 31 year old has been banned from riding for two months and fined £32,000 having been found guilty of passing on information about horses for financial reward.  He pleaded guilty to the charges with an un-named individual providing the jockey with a phone to pass on the information gained from track work, barrier trials and races.  Bentley had made a strong start to the Hong Kong season riding seven winners and earning just short of £1 million in prize money.  He is however the third rider to receive a significant suspension for similar offences in Hong Kong which include Silvestre De Sousa who was banned for 10 months.

Premier League football action is taking a break due to International matches which start for England on Friday. 

What did the surgeon say to the patient who insisted on closing his own incision?  Suture self. Have a great day!