Plenty of craic with the visitors today

“What is now proved was once only imagined.”
William Blake.

Like Clockwork (Robbie) leading Old Boy Ted (John)

An overcast start to the day and we have had a few short spells of drizzle, but very little, and the ground is starting to dry up really well. Everything has been out and had a good canter and things continue in the right vein. We have had plenty of visitors to the yard this morning which is always good fun as plenty of craic is had, and everybody thoroughly enjoyed the morning.

Astrosapphire brings up Silk Scarf and Likelikelikelikeit

We have one runner today at Doncaster – Locum  runs in the apprentice race over a mile and a half at 6:10. He has come back into training this year looking better than ever, and did a good final piece of work on the Al Bahathri this week. If the boy can get him in the right place he can run a very sound race tonight. However these kinds of races can be quite rough with a mixture of top apprentices and those, like ours, who have not ridden a winner yet. The old horse knows more about it than the jockey and should run well tonight.

The string returning past The Guv'nor

Both of our runners yesterday delighted me, although both should have come closer to winning. Toptempo got no sort of run at all and finished with a flourish. The first two are very highly thought of and I am sure we would have been right on top of them if we had got any sort of luck in running. Rayvin Black loved York, and if he hadn’t come up the inside on the slower ground would have gone very close. He will stay farther and there is plenty of improvement in him yet.

The Guv'nor talking to Sir Mark this morning

There is plenty of racing to savour today, none more so than the reappearance of Frankel at Newbury in the Lockinge. He has his old rival Excelebration to beat - he has now joined Aidan O’Brien in Ireland - but I see him cantering on the Heath nearly every day and he appears to be in great shape. Let’s hope he can continue his winning run.

The Guv'nor and Jenko with syndicate members Mike and Shirley

Click on the picture above to see the newly added syndicate horses

What a great finish to the football season today with the final of the Champions League, the Scottish Cup Final and the Championship play-off at Wembley. I think one of the best matches will be at Hampden Park where Hibs take on Hearts - an Edinburgh derby. What are the odds of finishing 9-a-side in that! I hope that West Ham can win and go up to the Premiership, but Blackpool are a determined side and the manager is inspirational, so anything can happen. As for Chelsea in Germany, it’s a miracle that they have got to the final at all. Their stand-in manager has done a fantastic job and may yet have his name written in the stars. Wouldn’t it be ironic if he wins the Champions League and loses his job.

           Locum on the way to Doncaster                           Likelikelikelikeit (Jordan)