Friday March 25th 2022

Aggagio won 4/11

There's a horse running in the Brocklesby tomorrow called Knowwhatimeanharry. OK. I accept that it has passed into the language from Frank Bruno's catchphrase, but I think it's too soon to allow this, albeit slightly differently spelled from Harry Fry's redoubtable stayer Unowhatimeanharry, whose exploits are still so fresh in the memory. It just seems a bit - hmm, what's the word, impertinent?

Cowboy Soldier 8.15

Gris Majeur romps home at 10/1.

The Go North Series is a great innovation for northern racing and the finals have been well supported by trainers from all over the country. I like the way some wonderful northern-trained horses are being commemorated in the race names: Sea Pigeon, Lady Buttons, Brindisi Breeze and The Grey Bomber. The last two were great talents who lost their lives in freak accidents at home and were unable to fulfil their immense potential. I have particularly fond memories of The Grey Bomber who was one of the horses whose excellence and consistency stood out for me in the early eighties. Trained by that astute dual-purpose trainer Denys Smith, the Bomber was unbeaten in five juvenile hurdle races in 1982, including the Triumph Hurdle Trial at Cheltenham, ridden by Chris Grant. He was electrocuted on the way to the gallops when he stepped in a pool of water through which passed a live electric cable that had been brought down in a gale. Strange to think now that with Denys Smith and Arthur Stephenson both training there, Bishop Auckland, in the heart of the Durham coalfield, was one of the true powerhouses of racing in the country back then.

I have said in many times on the pages of Talking Horses, and Dilton alluded to it when he got the grinder out on Rust.

Racing is run in this country for the bookies and their profiteering. I will add, as I have also said before, in Ireland and France horse racing is an industry aligned to the Ministry of Agriculture. Here we are run by self regulated, amateur clubs.

And don’t get me started on the hand wringing so called Gambling Review!

National Lottery scratch-card anyone!

Bolintea 3.0

Cuban Cigar Musselburgh 13.45

I'll go for Collingham - 13.45 Musselburgh

Theres one very good reason why things are where they are in racing today . Nick Rust . His tenure at the BHA was a complete waste of money and time. There were countless representations from senior trainers and major owners warning of what was happening within the game. Yet he did bugger all except look after his former employers interests by increasing the number of meetings made up of low grade racing. So here we are .

He just stood by and watched ,made a series of serious blunders and stupid announcements and then landed us with the invisible woman whose now been outed having proved as hapless and unknowledgeable about the game as he was .

Charlie Mann summed up the BHA perfectly when he jacked in , a bunch of idiots .

Tommaso in the 13:45 at Musselburgh

Mussleborough has a good card today - all 3 meetings have something going for them - but winners look tricky. I'll nap at Hereford Flying Nun 2.45 - must be a Julie Andrews influence there somewhere....

I'll try Collingham in 1.45M

I'm 25 miles from Newton Abbot, and the weather has been lovely this week (we've even had two BBQs!), so I expect the ground has probably dried out to around Good to Soft (given Soft), but beware the distances today as there have been significant rail movements, from Sporting Life:

Newton Abbot was given as soft, good to soft in places ahead of Friday’s meeting, but the meeting was almost abandoned due to waterlogging, and the going stick reading on Wednesday was a stark 3.3, and the hurdle rail has been dolled out by as much as 30 yards in places, which means that appreciably longer distances will be covered in the races over timber, with the 3¼m hurdle will be closer to 3m5f on sticky, cloying ground.