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Captain's Blog - 28th September 2010

I am up with the lark this morning, not just to wage war on the local cats that seem to think our garden is their toilet but also to prepare for a busy day at Newbury. There are eight races to look at and I also need to look ahead to the action this weekend on that we will be previewing today. I have structured my morning to hopefully ensure that I get enough work done to make sure we have a smooth and enjoyable show this afternoon. Of course with Eddie Freemantle as my guest the whole thing is hardly destined for failure but its a team game and I need to pull my weight, which takes some doing! There are three maidens at the beginning of the card for which we will try and get you some paddock shots, thereafter there is plenty of form to go on and by the time we get to the last race at 6.00pm we will feel like we have siad enough and you will probably feel the same.

I am very much looking forward tot he Ryder Cup that starts on Friday and have been following all of the build up with a keen eye. It is Colin Montgomerie that interests me because I believe the Europeans can win however I think that depends very much on Monty and his approach to the whole thing. I thought it was a little strange that he said yesterday that he wanted to play in the team at the next Ryder Cup. He has absolutely no chance of making the team again in my opinion and to be so unrealistic about his own abilities makes me wonder whether he is in a position to assess anybody else which is worrying when you are captain of a team. I would have been a lot happier if he had shown some humility and said that my Ryder Cup playing days are over. I am also a little concerned that during his playing career he was always on a short fuse, in the highly charged atmosphere of this competition, he could just implode. These concerns are not enough for me to want to back the Americans because we can still win even if the Molinari ice cream sellers are playing. It all starts on Friday and I cannot wait.

The Casela Park case has been concluded and Eamon Tyrrell and Jason Behan have been found guilty of ensuring that the horse did not win a Newcastle handicap in August. They now face being warned off for a considerable period of time. It is reported in today’s trade paper that there is some Irish anger at the decision. There may well be, but let's not turn the whole thing into English BHA viictimises Irish connections. That is clearly not he case. Anybody who saw the race and has their NVQ level 1 in race reading would have seen that there was something wrong with the way the horse was ridden at Newcastle. I do think there are times when the BHA show a lack of understanding of how hard some horses are to ride and how awkward they can be and they have in my opinion failed to note that this horse has been a diificult ride in the past and has failed to find much under pressure but the right decision has been made in the end and I am afraid that the connections will have to stand up and take their forthcoming punishments with grace and realise this is whole thing is nothing to do with the fact that the horse was trained and ridden by Irishmen.

Right enough is enough because I have got some serious work to do for today. See you tomorrow and take plenty of water with it!

Todays Selections

4.55 Newbury – Sohraab – (each way 6/1 Paddy Power )

2.00 Newbury – Chockurei (each way SP)