12th April 2021

Typical routine canters for the horses this morning, Highstakesplayer, Teescomponentslass and Glory and Honour jumped a couple of lines of hurdles.  Glory and Honour heads to Newton Abbott tomorrow Capac Southwell. To read my thoughts click here. This morning, I sent £900 to Katharine House Hospice, thank you again to all those who have stuck with my thoughts. I don’t get it right every time but, by my calculations you should still be in front with the bookies if you have been following the advice. 

The horses have come out of Aintree in great shape. I and many others knew Kimberlite Candy’s fate running to the second fence, it all happened far too quickly for him and he simply needs much slower conditions if he’s ever going to be competitive in a Grand National. Adrimel was taken off his feet, he was always going to be a chaser and we have that to look forward too next winter. Both horses are there for another day and we are jolly lucky to have them. Tea Clipper didn’t get the smoothest of races but the winner won well and we have no excuses as such. JohnBB ran a blinder and I thought he was going to win, again the winner won well and although we got beat JohnBB certainly stepped up. He will hopefully ruin again. Tea Clipper, Adrimel and Kimberlite Candy are most likely finished for the season. I was naturally disappointed to leave Aintree without a winner but the horses getting the conditions they needed ran well. 

Rachel Blackmore stole the show and got racing back on the front pages for the right reason, this gender nonsense is boring, she is simply a great jockey, he tactical awareness of what is going on in a race is second to none. I know many will say she’s often on the best horse but the best horses get beat too. She seems to execute winning as well as anyone else. What she may lack elsewhere she makes up for with the aforementioned. 

It was lovely to see Polydora winning again, if you want to see a horse’s career destroyed by the handicapper look at Polydora, he went up 11lbs, a ridiculous amount, for beating a horse rated 117 by a length and a quarter at Newcastle in 2019. He then found himself in the deep end on only his third run over fences. I still believe it is the worse example of handicapping I’ve seen to date. While on the subject, no doubt JohnBB will get more than he should, every time a horse runs you empty the reserves, they are then expected to run back next time carrying more weight having less in the reserve tank. I think they should stop increasing horse’s marks unless they win, or at least cap the rise at 3lbs for placed horses.  

The Turkish barber in Ledbury had a queue up the high street, I was convinced that having my ears and nose waked would not be as painful as it was first time around. Should you find yourself with the option of ear and nose wax I strongly recommend you decline the offer. En route to the barber I was listening to radio one’s newsbeat, it was lovely to hear that Rachel Blackmore and the Grand National were still making headlines 48 hours after the event.