SEPTEMBER 2014
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Tuesday 30 September 2014 |
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Here are today’s results from Chepstow: Primo Capitano (Martin
Keighley/Ian Popham) finished 2nd in the Maiden
Hurdle (14 ran). Always Bold (Martin Keighley/Christopher Ward) finished
3rd in the Handicap Hurdle [3 miles] (14 ran). Creepy (Martin
Keighley/Richard Johnson) won the Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase in style (6
ran); Well done to the team, their 6th
winner of the
season. Midnight Thomas (Martin Keighley/Ian Popham) finished 5th in the Handicap Chase [2 miles &
˝ furlong] (6 ran). Right On Roy (Martin Keighley/Tom Bellamy) finished
11th in the Standard Open NH Flat Race (for Conditional & Amateur
Jockeys) (12 ran). There’s no
National Hunt racing tomorrow. Oh well,
that’s September done and dusted ... hopefully by the end of next month there
will be some upbeat news regarding Choc’s
return. |
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Monday 29 September 2014 |
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There were two runners of interest at Newton Abbot today and
this is how they fared: Laser Blazer (Alan
King/Richard Johnson) won and Classic Colori
(Martin Keighley/Killian Moore) finished 4th in the Novices’ Handicap Hurdle
[2 miles 1 furlong] (7 ran). Here is an overview of the day’s racing at the
Devon course, with talented Court Minstrel notably winning over the larger
obstacles at his first attempt. More There’s National Hunt racing at Sedgefield and Chepstow tomorrow with
a boxful of runners of interest at the latter: 14:00 Primo Capitano
(Martin Keighley/Ian Popham) – Maiden Hurdle 14:30 Always Bold (Martin Keighley/Christopher
Ward) – Handicap Hurdle [3 miles] 15:40 Creepy (Martin Keighley/Richard Johnson) –
Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase 17:20 Midnight Thomas (Martin Keighley/Ian Popham) – Handicap Chase [2 miles & ˝ furlong] 17:55 Right On Roy (Martin Keighley/Tom Bellamy)
– Standard Open NH Flat Race (for Conditional & Amateur Jockeys) I had a
flu jab today, my first ever, and that should protect me from any flu viruses
which I might come into contact with this winter season. Mum was looking after me when I caught flu
back in February and she’s had a flu jab for many years and has not succumbed
to any strains of the virus since 1984.
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Sunday 28 September 2014 |
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Oh dear ... there is not good news for Choc, who
found out last Wednesday that his T1 vertebra just below his neck hasn’t
completely fused yet. L As a
result he’s had to stop riding out and won’t be back on the track for another
month. He is due to revisit his
consultant neurosurgeon, Peter Hamlyn, on 25 October. However, Wayne Hutchinson is more fortunate and
has been cleared to return to race-riding at Warwick next Thursday. So I guess I’m now 50/50 for Cheltenham Showcase
Saturday, as I’d arranged to go with my friend Lesley and her friend
Chris. But I may just go anyway, as
I’m suffering National Hunt racing withdrawal symptoms at the present
time! But Kempton Park Jumping Sunday
will now be a no-show for me. There are two runners of interest tomorrow, at Newton Abbot: 15:30 Laser Blazer (Alan King/Richard Johnson)
& Classic Colori (Martin Keighley/Killian
Moore) – Novices’ Handicap Hurdle [2 miles 1 furlong] I went for a walk this morning ... or should that
be route march? The back pain I’d been
experiencing whilst walking disappeared last Wednesday, so I’m now up to
speed once more. I probably did around
3.5 miles in total, as it took me one hour and ten minutes. Having returned home, I tuned into Racing UK to
watch Lydia Hislop’s film about racecourse-based
veterinarian care for racehorses, featuring Sandown Park as the example. It was very interesting and gave me an
additional insight into what goes on behind the scenes on a race-day and the
detailed care given to these beautiful animals. After the horrific photographs of poor Wigmore Hall being despatched following serious injury
published last weekend by that disgusting left-wing rag the Daily Mirror, it
set the story straight about the excellent veterinary care racehorses receive
during the course of their working life.
If they sustain an injury which may be treatable, everything is done
to offer pain relief and stabilise the problem to prevent further injury;
they will then be taken back to the veterinary hospital for further
assessment and treatment. It is now
common practice to euthanize a seriously injured horse rather than shoot it,
and will become even more prevalent as more young vets join the ranks of the
profession. One of the vets explained
that shooting a horse also presents additional health and safety risks to the
people involved. This
afternoon I tuned in to watch the end of the Ryder Cup golf; Europe won,
retaining the trophy. Samuel Ryder
funded the tournament at its outset and spent much of his life in St
Albans. More There are plans to create a statue of the
entrepreneur in the city but, due to objections from market traders, it will
not be sited outside the Old Town Hall but placed next door to Ladbrokes half
way up the main shopping street. I
think it’s disgraceful that the planners have let themselves be bullied into
this change of location. More |
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Saturday 27 September 2014 |
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Just one
runner of interest today, at Market Rasen, and this is how he
fared: Pantxoa (Alan King/Richard Johnson)
finished 6th in the Handicap Chase [2 miles 6˝ furlongs] (12 ran). There’s no National Hunt racing tomorrow. Today I
read the recently published ‘If Horses
Could Talk’, the autobiography of ‘horse
whisperer’ Gary Witheford (with assistance from
Brough Scott).
Gary and his horses gave a demonstration at Kempton Park last October,
which I wrote about in my diary of the day.
The book is well worth reading if you get the opportunity. |
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Friday 26 September 2014 |
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Just one
runner of interest tomorrow, at Market Rasen: 14:50 Pantxoa (Alan King/Richard Johnson) – Handicap Chase [2
miles 6˝ furlongs] Trainer Toby
Balding, uncle of Clare and Andrew, and brother of Ian, has passed away aged
78. More Sadly the
retired Wolf Moon, who was trained by Martin Keighley and won five times
including twice at Cheltenham, has been put to sleep having sustained a
broken leg whilst in his field. Martin
describes him as a super looking and very kind horse. RIP Wolf Moon. No plans for the weekend, as usual, although I
look forward to Part II of Strictly Come Dancing tomorrow evening ... and Dr
Who!!! Just three weeks now until the
Cheltenham Showcase/Kempton Park weekend and I’m hopeful that Choc may be
back in action by then. |
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Wednesday 24
September 2014 |
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I received
a hard copy of the Injured Jockeys Fund annual newsletter a few days ago and
there’s an article about Choc and Wayne using the facilities at Oaksey House to recover from their current injuries. I’ve found a link on their website to the
electronic version, my favourite jockey features on page 5, but please read
the entire newsletter as it’s very interesting. http://www.injuredjockeys.co.uk/annual-newsletter.asp I confess to being very angry today. We had a Head Office meeting this morning
and, as part of the presentation, commendations which had been received from
the people we work for were read out.
Who should get a commendation but the other member of my team who does
exactly the same job as I do and when referring to working unpaid hours
recently told someone “you’ve got to be
kidding, if I can’t get it done within normal office hours it doesn’t get
done”. How can we ever work as a
team with attitudes like that? Yours
truly got no mention whatsoever despite the fact I work my bl**dy socks off, working for
up to 10 hours unpaid each week. Talk
about being kicked in the teeth. Nice
to know that all my hard work is very much appreciated NOT. More fool me to think that is was. |
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Tuesday 23
September 2014 |
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It’s still
very quiet on the National Hunt front; but news from the flat racing sphere
that Kingman has been retired. Just in
case you missed it, I did, Celestial Halo has also been retired: Steve
Ayres has tweeted a photo of himself with Balder Success: https://twitter.com/orse_racing_lad/status/514386723359694848/photo/1 I’ve purchased my ticket for Newbury’s Hennessy
Gold Cup day on 29 November. That
leaves just my Cheltenham Festival advance tickets to buy now and I’ve got
until 13 December when the discount period ends. Club tickets for the first three days cost
Ł65 each, and Gold Cup Day Ł79, plus parking and postage. |
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Sunday 21
September 2014 |
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Here are
the results for my ‘runners of
interest’ at Plumpton today: My Lad
Percy (Martin Keighley/Richard Johnson) was a non-runner in the Handicap Hurdle
[3 miles 2 furlongs] Fighter
Jet (Alan King/Aidan Coleman) finished 2nd in the Handicap Hurdle [3 miles 1˝
furlong] (6 ran). Prettyasapicture (Alan King/Aidan
Coleman) finished 2nd in the Handicap Hurdle [2 miles] (8 ran). There’s
now no National Hunt racing until Perth on Wednesday. My niece Kim will be celebrating her 22nd
birthday on Thursday with a trip to Newmarket races with her boyfriend Sean
and her brother, my nephew, James. I seem to have run out of things to do at the
weekend at present; but I am on standby to go racing when Choc returns to
racecourse action. My fingers are
crossed that he’ll be back in time for the weekend of Cheltenham’s Showcase
fixture and Kempton Park’s first jumps meeting of the season in October. But I did go for a walk today; a fairly
brisk walk at that, of at least two miles. STOP PRESS – A quote from Alan King
published on his website today: "Both
Choc Thornton and Wayne Hutchinson, who missed the summer months through
injury, are back riding out again, and I would like to think that they would
be passed fit to resume riding on the racecourse in early October. |
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Saturday 20
September 2014 |
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There’s
National Hunt racing at Uttoxeter and Plumpton tomorrow, with three runners of interest at the
latter: 15:30 My
Lad Percy (Martin Keighley/Richard Johnson) – Handicap Hurdle [3 miles 2
furlongs] 16:30
Fighter Jet (Alan King/Aidan Coleman) – Handicap Hurdle [3 miles 1˝ furlong] 17:30 Prettyasapicture (Alan King/Aidan Coleman) – Handicap
Hurdle [2 miles] I always
think that these particular Plumpton/Uttoxeter Sunday fixtures mark the start of the main
National Hunt season, as autumn has now arrived. Although, of course, it cranks into top
gear at Chepstow on the second Saturday of October. Returning
from injury, Jason Maguire had two rides at Newton Abbot yesterday and won on
the first of them, finishing third of three on the other. I
understand Choc has been working out at Oaksey
House to get fit for his return.
William recently asked him to stop smoking, but Choc is putting it off
until he retires or has at least lost some weight. The older you get the harder it becomes to
shift those pounds ... don’t I know it!
I lost over a stone in 2008 ... without dieting
(!) ... but it’s all gone back on again due to a number of minor health
issues I’ve experienced during the intervening years. I’m again at risk of adding even more
weight due to lack of exercise because of my bad back, although I did go out
for a walk a couple of times this week during my lunch-breaks at work. (Yes,
I actually had time for a lunch-hour!)
And I never do things by halves because I took my usual two mile route
... I just walked it slower than usual!
I walked to work and back every day this week too but, again, at a
slower pace than is normal. |
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Thursday 18
September 2014 |
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National
Hunt’s ever decreasing September break has come and gone and there’s racing
at Worcester and Newton Abbot tomorrow but no runners of interest. However ... Amazingly,
following horrific injuries sustained at Stratford on the eve of last
season’s Cheltenham Festival, Jason Maguire returns to the saddle at Newton
Abbot tomorrow. More TV sports
presenter Jill Douglas has tweeted a photograph of Cheltenham’s ongoing
redevelopment, looking down towards the Parade Ring: https://twitter.com/JillADouglas/status/512166904963014656/photo/1 My back appears to finally be on the mend; I
missed just one day’s work. My
solution was to sleep sitting upright in an armchair, which I did for six
consecutive nights! However, having
returned to my bed last night, once again I experienced mobility problems
this morning, so it may be back to the drawing board once more ... And I’ve completed my diary relating to Martin
Keighley’s Public Open Day too. Click here to read. |
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Thursday 11
September 2014 |
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The Jump Jockeys’
Derby took place at Epsom today; the winning jockey was Andrew Tinkler, the finishing order for the remainder of the
10-runner field was Jamie Moore, Sam Twiston-Davies,
Brendan Powell, Harry Skelton, Dougie Costello,
Nick Scholfield, Richie McLernon,
Tom Cannon and Michael Byrne. Tickets
for Kempton Park’s Winter Festival are now available on their website and
here is the link; I bought mine yesterday: Here is a
link to Dave Crosse’s most recent Love The Races blog. Choc gets a mention and there’s another
opportunity to view footage of the 15 August 2008 haircut which took place at
The Plough in Ford. More And
continuing in the nostalgia vein ... the first of these relates to the above: https://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=A011GB105&p=robert+choc+thornton+haircut+youtube Here is a
link to Eclipse magazine’s interview with Choc which took place at Haydock in 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF20ymPjaSM And the
interview following Lovcen’s win at the Aintree
Festival 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnFmbZ9I-NI I’ve spent the day resting, with regular gentle
exercise, and my bad back seems to have improved somewhat. I didn’t go to work today, as I had a problem
sitting from lying and standing from sitting this morning. And I could barely climb the stairs when I
woke during the night. But hopefully
I’m on the mend now. |
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Wednesday 10
September 2014 |
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Both My
Lad Percy and Bold Tara were non-runners today; the former due to a bruised
foot and the latter didn’t eat up her feed following her self-aborted trip to
Worcester. Martin describes her as ‘grumpy’ by nature; she does bite
too. My back
was too painful for me to walk to work today, so I got a lift to and from the
office. I lasted the day, including
around two hours overtime ... yes, I am crazy! But I have a horrible feeling I will be
cast in my box again tonight! I’ve
resorted to sleeping on the sofa, as I’ve been trapped in bed by pain on three
occasions now. I did some skipping on Friday and Saturday, which
didn’t help, but my back ‘went’ on
Monday evening just before I got into bed.
Another big problem has been the need to bend over the work
photocopier to un-jam paper in the bottom tray for the past two or three
months; it happens every few minutes when printing single-sided copies and we
print a hell of a lot. Our Systems
department refuse to get someone in to service the machine. Added to that is the necessity to carry
heavy boxes of printed paper ready for despatch every few days too. I’m getting far too old for this game,
especially with the spectre of possible osteoporosis on the horizon. |
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Tuesday 09
September 2014 |
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Here are
the results for my ‘runners of
interest’ at Worcester today, and more ‘seconditis’
unfortunately: Bold Tara
(Martin Keighley/Conor Smith) refused to race in
the ‘Hands and Heels’ Handicap
Chase (Conditionals/Amateurs). Kyles Faith (Martin
Keighley/Ian Popham) finished 2nd in the Handicap
Chase [2 miles 4 furlongs] (5 ran). The Kvilleken (Martin Keighley/Ian Popham)
finished 2nd in the Handicap Hurdle [2 miles] (10 ran). For the
record, Bless The Wings finished 3rd of 7 at Perth. There are
two runners of interest tomorrow, at Uttoxeter: 15:15 My Lad
Percy (Martin Keighley/Richard Johnson) – Beginners’ Chase 16:25 Bold
Tara (Martin Keighley/Killian Moore) – Handicap Hurdle [3 miles] Choc has
agreed to take part in the Pogo Pandemonium to be held in aid of the NSIF on
Saturday 24 January 2015 at Newbury racecourse. https://twitter.com/claire80lomas/status/508715775772094464/photo/1 And here
is the link to the website mentioned in the tweet: http://www.claireschallenge.co.uk/#!pogo-pandemonium/c17aj Well I was going to start my Open Day diary but,
in the event, I’ve had backache all day ... followed by a severe and
extremely painful muscle spasm earlier this evening which resulted in me
getting stuck on my bed for a while!
It was not a great idea to lie down for a rest ... |
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Monday 08
September 2014 |
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Here are
my ‘runners of interest’ tomorrow,
at Worcester: 14:40 Bold
Tara (Martin Keighley/Conor Smith) – ‘Hands and Heels’ Handicap Chase
(Conditionals/Amateurs) 15:10 Kyles Faith (Martin Keighley/Ian Popham)
– Handicap Chase [2 miles 4 furlongs] 16:10 The Kvilleken (Martin Keighley/Ian Popham)
– Handicap Hurdle [2 miles] Bless The
Wings, now trained by Gordon Elliott, runs in the 19:00 at Perth. News today
that Frankie Dettori has lost the ride aboard star
French filly Treve. More As promised, I’ve uploaded the photographs I took
at Martin Keighley’s Open Day yesterday: Click here to view Part I Click here to view Part II Tomorrow I shall begin drafting my diary of
yesterday’s events. |
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Sunday 07
September 2014 |
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Thomas |
Dinky |
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I spent
much of today in the Cotswolds, at Martin Keighley’s Public Open Day, followed
by a visit to The Plough in Ford.
Strangely enough, the pub has a table-tennis table in their garden ...
so I was right regarding the recent photo of William playing ping pong having
been taken at The Plough! Above are
pictures of Freddie Keighley’s pony Thomas and Harry Keighley’s pony
Dinky. I will upload photographs of
the horses tomorrow, after which I shall commence writing a diary entry. Here are
this weekend’s results: Saturday –
Stratford: Kuda Huraa
(Alan King/Richard Johnson) finished 4th in the Handicap Hurdle [2 miles
& ˝ furlong] (4 ran). Sunday – Fontwell Park: Gimme Five (Alan King/Paddy
Brennan) finished 2nd in the Juvenile Hurdle (7 ran). Balthazar
King triumphed in France today, winning the Grand
Cross-Country de Craon for the second year
running. More There’s National
Hunt racing from Newton Abbot and Perth tomorrow but no runners of interest. Following tonight’s Strictly Come Dancing ‘introduction’ programme, here is a list of this year’s couples
or, as Tess Daly would say, Cupples! Professional
Dancers – ‘Celebrity’ Aliona Vilani
– Gregg Wallace Iveta Lukosiute
– Thom Evans Janette Manrara – Jake Wood Joanne
Clifton (new 2014) – Scott Mills Karen Hauer – Mark Wright Kristina Rihanoff – Simon Webbe Natalie
Lowe - Tim Wonnacott Ola
Jordan – Steve Backshall Anton du Beke – Judy Murray Brendan
Cole - Sunetra
Sarker Kevin
Clifton – Frankie Bridge Pasha Kovalev – Caroline Flack Tristan
MacManus (new 2014) – Jennifer Gibney Trent Whiddon (new 2014) – Pixie Lott My favourite, Artem Chigvintsev, has defected this season to the American
version of the show ‘Dancing with the
Stars’. |
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Friday 05
September 2014 |
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There are
a couple of runners of interest this weekend: Saturday –
Stratford: 15:55 Kuda Huraa (Alan King/Richard Johnson)
– Handicap Hurdle [2 miles & ˝ furlong] Sunday – Fontwell Park: 14:10 Gimme Five (Alan King/Paddy Brennan) – Juvenile Hurdle The
Newbury redevelopment is fast taking shape: https://twitter.com/johnpottercc/status/507210883354091520/photo/1 It’s going to be a busier weekend than recently
for me, with a planned trip with my friend Lesley to Martin Keighley’s public
open day on Sunday. I love the
Cotswolds, they are beautiful and, of course, the lovely Choc lives there
too! With this in mind, here is a link to Martin’s
column in this week’s Gloucestershire press.
More Next weekend I fancy taking advantage of one of
the free of charge open days in the St Albans area; my choice being a tour of
the tower of St Albans Cathedral. I
don’t like heights, but I was christened in the Cathedral, as were my two
brothers, and my parents were married there too. |
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Thursday 04
September 2014 |
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It’s good
to see Sire De Grugy chilling out following
training: https://twitter.com/SeanPrestonHair/status/507205201347239936/photo/1 News that
the Martin Keighley-trained Typhon De Guye went to Doncaster Sales, but he is reported to have
found a nice home where he will be taking part in ladies point-to-points and
hunter chases. Havingotascoobydo has found a new home
with Helen Diment who worked for the yard and
Spring Moon, who had to retire a while ago due to injury, is now a dressage
horse with a lady named Judy McKinnon. My
immediate manager, Michelle, has recently taken over a share of an
ex-racehorse; the mare is now called Reeva, she
raced just once, and I’m hoping to find out her registered racing name in due
course! Michelle loves mares ... I’m a
little less keen, probably because I used to have an unwelcomingly exciting
time as a child when riding one named Sherbet. She was rather slow and used to drop off
the rear of the column of riding school horses and ponies before setting off
up the lane at the canter to catch them up; she also used to buck if given
half the chance! The riding
school bought Lollipop and chestnut Sherbet at the same time; I loved
Lollipop, he was a bright bay with a pretty face. He did tend to put on weight though, so he
was a little bit ‘Thelwell’. Unfortunately this resulted in him breaking
his knees on a couple of occasions having slipped on the road; on the second
occasion he had to be tethered in his stall to ensure he couldn’t lay down, just
in case he wasn’t able to get to his feet again. But he did
recover, and I was offered a ride on him shortly afterwards. And it turned out to be an exciting ride,
as all the riding school horses and ponies bolted across Harpenden Common
that day! Luckily back in the day the
roads weren’t as busy as they are now, for we traversed a number during the
stampede. But I did manage to pull him
up sooner than some of the others did their mounts, but not before we’d galloped
past the riding school owner’s mother’s house in the posh area of East
Common. I dismounted and walked
Lollipop back; a number of the animals and their riders were found in a field
further on! That was probably the most surreal experience I
ever had during my early riding days!
The most painful was suffering concussion when falling off a horse
named Joe in Knebworth Park many years later. And I’ve had a creaky neck since that day,
now the seat of my cervical spondylitis (arthritis
in the neck). |
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Tuesday 02
September 2014 |
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News that
Peddlers Cross has been retired, having lost his racing sparkle. More Another
retirement, from race-riding, is Paul Nicholls’ 19-year-old nephew Harry Derham; a loss of confidence evidently. More Jockey
Andrew Thornton has taken the ‘ice
bucket challenge’: https://twitter.com/tommoracing/status/506404380627980288/photo/1 This ‘sign’ is brilliant, found via the Barbury Castle Horse Trials twitter feed: https://twitter.com/HolsFarr/status/487543562276732928/photo/1 There’s National Hunt racing at Southwell tomorrow, but no runners of interest. |
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Monday 01 September
2014 |
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It’s very quiet on the racing front,
with no news to impart today ... I’m saving up a few bits and pieces for
tomorrow! |
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