Winner for Jack

    Little Chiefy & Jack Winners at Bangor

The weekend has come and gone in a flash and I hope you have all had a good one!  I set off with Jack Pipe and his pony at 6am on Saturday morning and what a day it was with him winning at Bangor!  A memorable but tiring day I am not sure Jack has stopped smiling since!  This was Jack's first racecourse ride and while everything didn't go smoothly at the start he rode a lovely race and got the better of the favourite in the final strides after a prolonged battle inside the last two furlongs.  Little Chiefy is a talented pony but has his quirks but at home and on the racecourse.  He is not the easiest of rides but Jack and some of the lads at home who help Jack out by riding him while he is at school do a very good job.

Not only can he be quite keen but he does like to stop and plant himself on occasions.  He did this on Saturday at the start but thankfully will some help from the assistant starter he did get away okay if a few lengths detached in last.  Jack kept to the inside and soon got a good position in behind the leaders and knowing that his pony stays well, he kicked for home as they rounded the final bend.  The race developed into a match between himself and what they say is the best pony in the country, who won the series final last year.  The rival looked to be travelling much the best initially but the one thing we have learnt from our point to point exploits is that Little Chiefy stays well and really tries.  Jack pushed him out really well and just did enough close to the line to win.  It was a tremendous day and it is fair to say we have all watched the race replay a few times!  I shall try and share the race video on David's Blog later this afternoon.  This was a great start to racing on the proper racecourse and while life will be tougher as he will have to carry a penalty now, Chepstow is the next stop on Friday 29th May.

I did not get much chance to watch the racing over the weekend but the new week starts with five flat meetings an no jumps racing this Monday.  The racing comes from Carlisle, Redcar, Lingfield, Windsor and Wolverhampton while in Ireland they also race on the flat at Roscommon.

Manchester City won the FA Cup by beating Chelsea 1-0 on Saturday at Wembley while in the Premiership, West Ham lost away to Newcastle yesterday and it means they are now likely to be related barring a miracle.  Spurs have benefited most from this result without even playing and are in action on Tuesday evening, they are now two points ahead of the Hammers with a game in hand.  Tonight, Arsenal are at home to Burnley at 8pm and a win would virtually win them the title.

Well done to golfer Aaron Rai who won the US PGA golf yesterday, becoming the first Englishman to win this Major in 107 years.  He was by far the best player yesterday and it was a deserved victory as he remained very calm under pressure on a course the professionals found very difficult but I enjoyed watching it!

Why couldn't the bad sailor learn the alphabet?

Because he always got lost at "C"!

Have a great Monday!