Beattie Best At Stratford!

The yard enjoyed a winner with our only runner at Stratford yesterday afternoon when Beattie Green (pictured above) made virtually all the running to land the selling hurdle under a good ride from young Conor O'Farrell.  The drying good ground seemed to suit her well and I would imagine that she will be kept on the go while such conditions prevail.

We have one runner this afternoon, Katchmore, who bids to extend his unbeaten run for the stable to three at Newton Abbot.  Things will be tougher from a 21lbs higher mark, but he still has further scope for improvement and young Tom Bellamy is good value for his 7lbs claim.  Newton Abbot hosts the only jumps card of the day, although there are four other meetings taking place on the level with Redcar, Windsor, Leicester and Wolverhampton.

Above: Beattie Green is successful at Stratford on Sunday under Conor O'Farrell

The yard enjoyed a winner with our only runner at Stratford yesterday afternoon when Beattie Green (pictured above) made virtually all the running to land the selling hurdle under a good ride from young Conor O'Farrell.  The drying good ground seemed to suit her well and I would imagine that she will be kept on the go while such conditions prevail.

We have one runner this afternoon, Katchmore, who bids to extend his unbeaten run for the stable to three at Newton Abbot.  Things will be tougher from a 21lbs higher mark, but he still has further scope for improvement and young Tom Bellamy is good value for his 7lbs claim.  Newton Abbot hosts the only jumps card of the day, although there are four other meetings taking place on the level with Redcar, Windsor, Leicester and Wolverhampton.

What an amazing sporting weekend and one of the highlights was most definitely Frankel's electrifying reappearance in the Lockinge at Newbury on Saturday.  He is now a perfect ten from ten for Sir Henry Cecil and he managed to extend his superiority over Excelebration to five lengths with the minimum of fuss.  There is nothing in the one mile division that can hold a candle to him and it will be fascinating to see what happens when connections step him up in trip later in the season...could it be that the extra distance will bring about further improvement?  Now there's a scary thought!

*****

I thought that Chelsea were fantastic in winning the Champion's League Final on Saturday night.  They beat Bayern Munich (who remember were playing in their home stadium) in a penalty shoot out.  Bayern had the most chances and looked like the better team for much of the match but Chelsea dug deep to stay in the game and proved that the best side does not always win.  Petr Cech was heroic in goal for Chelsea, saving a penalty in regular time before saving a couple more in the shoot-out, while Drogba surely deserves the two year contract that he wants.  And what more does manager Roberto di Matteo have to do to land the managers job?  Personally I would give them both what they want in the interest of the club's future.

Talking of football, I thought that Blackpool looked unlucky against West Ham in the play-off final.  They were also the better team for much of the match but ended up losing 2-1.  I did have a few quid on the Hammers at even money, but I would have happily taken my bet off at just about any point in the game!  It will be great to see my beloved West Ham back in the Premiership next season.

*****

Amazingly, it looks as though we could have a genuine heavyweight boxing title challenger.  Scouser John Price won the British title in good style at the weekend and he looks to be in really good shape for a heavyweight - he could well turn out to be the best since Lennox Lewis.