Winning Gold at Rasen

  Gold in the Rivers Winner at Market Rasen

It was fantastic to get a nice win at Market Rasen yesterday with Gold in the Rivers, his first win for the stable since arriving from Ireland.  He made a good start to his chasing career earlier this season with two placed efforts at Lingfield but did not run very well last time out at Newbury.  We added blinkers that day and we were not sure he 'faced them' despite practicing in them at home.  He didn't jump very well and the writing was on the wall literally from the start that day.  The return to hurdling and with cheek pieces yesterday, he looked a totally different horse and was happy from the outset.  He travelled and jumped well and took up the running as they turned from home.  He was always in control from that point but it is a very long run in at Market Rasen and it felt even longer yesterday with his rivals slowly closing but I think he was just idling in front a little.  Jack Tudor gave him a lovely positive ride and I think this will have given the horse a lot of confidence and hopefully he can build on that going forwards.  He has always worked better at home than he has shown on the racecourse to this point so I hope there is more to come now going forwards.

We have no runners today but for a Monday there is a great day of action to look forward to.  We have two competitive jumps fixtures at Kempton and Southwell but we do of course have Day One of the Dublin Racing Festival to look forward to as well after is was moved from Saturday with the course being un raceable then.  Racing gets underway at 1.15pm at Leopardstown and we have the Irish Arkle Novices chase at 2.55pm.  There may be only three runners but Romeo Coolio takes on Kargese and these are two highly exciting young chasers.  Romeo Coolio has to give seven pounds to the mare but I think he can do this for the Gordon Elliott team.  Willie Mullins dominates the Irish Gold Cup at 3.30pm.  Galopin Des Champs is the favourite with Paul Townend on board but he is just one of eight runners for that team and to be honest, he is quite likely to win it with another of his runners in my opinion! I have huge admiration for Galopin Des Champs and while I would like him to win I think it might go to Gaelic Warrior and Patrick Mullins but whatever the result it should be a fascinating watch.

Jack Tudor is in action at Southwell today while Rian Corcoran has one ride in the last at Kempton.  There is one meeting on the flat at Wolverhampton this evening.

I enjoyed a great sporting day yesterday in between getting a few jobs done!  Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in the final of the Men's Australian tennis in Melbourne to become the youngest ever player and only the ninth ever to complete the Grand Slam of tennis (the four major tournaments)  I thought Djokovic played well but the young Spaniard is just phenomenal and looks set to dominate men's tennis for several years to come.  I enjoyed watching the Dublin Racing Festival (and Market Rasen) and there was some great winners and a few disappointments.  The ground looked very testing and it clearly suited some rather than others.  Brighterdaysahead was impressive in winning the Irish Champion hurdle but I felt Lossiemouth never looked her usual self in that ground and it was only her class that got her into the race as she did.  I think she will be a different horse back at Cheltenham in March. 

I also managed to keep an eye on the football and there was a good win for Manchester United who beat Fulham 3-2.  The main winners of the weekend were Arsenal who won their match on Saturday before seeing their closest title challengers drop points in their matches.  There is one Premier League match this evening as Sunderland are at home to Burnley at 8pm.  Justin Rose won his 13th PGA tour Golf title and Luke Littler won the darts!

Spent my entire life savings on pasta.

Worth every penne.

Happy Monday!