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Captain's Blog - 11th April 2011

I stayed up to watch the Masters Golf last night which at times resembled car crash TV. I refer of course to Rory McIlroy's capitulation under the pressure of leading the biggest Golf Tournament in the world.

Going into the final round he led by four shots, but in the end he finished ten shots behind the winner after falling apart over the last nine holes. In golf it is always harder to make all the running than to close off the pace but in this case McCilroy made it look impossible. He totally lost his nerve and bottled it in my opinion and the mental scars from Augusta 2011 will be a long time healing. The question is will he ever be able to win a Major when the pressure is on or is he simply a very good player who cannot cut it under pressure? Some people will argue that the experience will do him good, that he will learn from it and that he is young enough to put the whole thing behind him. I am sure he will be able to move on but I am not a believer in experience giving you greater bottle and whilst he will always be good enough to put himself in contention in Majors he may never have the mental strength to get the job done. I fear he will never wear a green jacket unless of course he can find one in his local Tesco's.

I have a day off today and will be taking it easy after spending much of the last week in the booth indeed it is good to see the light of day once again, knowing my luck it will rain! I am planning on spending most of the day with my daughter and also need to water the garden after this dry spell. The going in the McNae back garden is good to firm all over but slightly easier where the moss has killed the grass! I may get the mower out, but that is probably a job for tomorrow.

Dubawi Gold won for us on Saturday to keep the decent run going. I am glad I did not make a selection in the Grand National because I would have been pin sticking and would have lost. The race was as thrilling as ever and I must congratulate the McCain family. They really know how to get horses ready for the World's Greatest Steeplechase and they also do great oven chips!

Evening racing at Windsor starts today, time is flying by and before we know it the 2000 Guineas will be upon us but before then we have the Craven meeting from Newmarket on this week. Join us for that on Wednesday and Thursday and for some French jumping action today.

All the best.

Today's Selection

5:30 Windsor - Lord of the Shadows (SP)