Midweek natterings and thoughts for the weekend

With quite a lot happening this week on the news front I thought I'd do a little round up of the news both on an off the track and give my thoughts on the goings on in the horse racing world. Hopefully I can provide a decent little round up!

Jockey News

Well just as we were welcoming one jockey back into the thick of the action getting the champ AP McCoy back in the saddle at Fontwell on Wednesday, standard AP back with a winner as well, we had to say goodbye to another. Shock news reached us that Grand National winning (a great title no-one can ever take away from him) jockey Ryan Mania was retiring from the saddle, citing weight issues and making the point that he sadly was no longer enjoying the sport. It is a lot harder for the Northern jump jockeys to make the game play with the dominance of Southern tracks so Mania's decision, while a sad one, is hopefully the right one from him and I hope we do not lose him completely from the sport.

Ryan Mania after his Grand National win

Thankfully it looks like we will keep AP McCoy in the game for the foreseeable future, although it was no surprise to hear him can thoughts of 300 winners for the season after his comeback on Wednesday. The man has a ridiculous desire and thirst for winners that keeps him going day in day out, through injuries and illness, and he is really one of the greatest ambassadors a sport could have. While all those pocket talkers on the forums slate McCoy I'd love to see how they would ride having just taken a kicking from 2 horses only 30 minutes earlier!
We also had the ridiculous situation at Sedgefield racecourse on Tuesday where the following scenario occured...

1. It was decided that a fence was to be omitted due to poor visibility. Jockeys would have been aware this was under consideration but not aware of the final decision pre-race.
2. Once the race was underway stewards decided it would be dangerous to jump the fence and sent a flagsman out to alert the jockeys
3. Flagsman shows the WRONG COLOUR OF FLAG!!!! He unintentionally declares the race void rather than fence omitted however jockeys, using common sense and awareness of conditions possibly resulting in skipping of fence, simply skip the fence and continue to race rather than pull up.
4. No horse is disadvantage by the above and race continues as normal.
5. Race finishes...and then is declared void due to the flag situation.

It really was a farcical situation, made even more farcical by the subsequent banning of all jockeys involved for ten days! The stewards recognised the mistake made by the flagsman and have raised this to the BHA, but also say all jockeys should have pulled up so the whip come out and bums are smacked. And by the letter of the law they are right, the jockey's should have pulled up when seeing the flag waved. However this is another ridiculous situation where it is hard to believe we are involved in a sport in the 21st century; surely common sense could prevail and we could reach a far more amicable agreement rather than penalise jockeys, connections and punters (although many bookies did pay out on both the winners and void all other bets, very good gesture.) I think this one will run and run as we get possible jockey appeals and BHA comedown on the course, one to look out for.

A deserved Banning for a shamed trainer

Disgraced trainer Philip Fenton 

We also received the frankly welcome news that disgraced trainer Philip Fenton has been banned from the sport for three years by the Irish Turf Club and rightly so. The trainer has shamed the sport with his awful tales of drug related abuse towards his horses, and the sheer quantities of drugs found at his yard are absolutely staggering. Furthermore Fenton was never totally co-operative in the investigations into the findings of banned substances at his yard, preferring rather to drag the sport through the mire as he tried to wriggle his way out of the mess he found himself in. The sport is better off without Fenton and hopefully this length of ban will ward others in looking for a shortcut to success in the training ranks. It is scary to think that Fenton could theoretically been a dual Cheltenham winner in 2014, imagine if the Gold Cup winner had then turned out to have won juiced up to the eyeballs!

A brief look ahead to the upcoming action

Well unfortunately for Newcastle racecourse the Fighting Fifth looks a very substandard renewal of the race to me this year. For a Grade 1 race it really does not attract the field it could, although the new hurdle race at Haydock has certainly not helped them out here and again is an example of the sport not doing the best for the customer who so loyally support it. If pushed for a selection I'd plump for the John Quinn mare Aurore D'Estruval; John often targets this race and this mare has looked smart so far in her career. She gets weight from the field being a lady and certainly won't mind the softer ground conditions on offer at Gosforth Park. Definitely not a race to go ploughing into for me though.

We've actually got a great clash happening tomorrow at Thurles when Willie Mullins unbeaten Un De Sceaux embarks on a chasing career with Ruby set for the ride. He won't have it all his own way however as Blood Conti, although from the same stable, is no easy opponent and neither is Mr Fiftyone or Clarcam (if he gets a place in the lineup). However if Un De Sceaux continues where he left off last season we will be in for a treat as his style of running, basically go out quick and see if you can get home!, is really exciting to watch for the punter if not the trainer!

The Newbury Hennessy festival starts tomorrow, I've done an ante-post piece on the race already which you can find elsewhere on the site, but there are some more great races at this festival worth a watch. Obviously we have the Long Distance hurdle, where last season's World Hurdle winner More of That is ready to make his seasonal debut. The potential line-up looks very solid as well, with At Fishers Cross (a horse with plenty to prove), Cole Harden, Lac Fontana and Medinas all very useful opposition. However this is the race that AP has said he has timed his comeback around; he clearly holds More of That in very high regard and I'll be watching hoping for a really exciting and impressive win here.

Up tomorrow Jolleyallan is a really nice horse for the season ahead, given positive mentions in our pre-season preview blog by the London Racing Club panel, and he will continue his education in the opening race at Newbury. He has already made a great start to his hurdling career and will race under a penalty tomorrow; I am certainly hoping for a good performance before bigger things later in the season. The Intermediate Hurdle later in the card also looks a very interesting contest, with horses such as Wicklow Brave (6th in the Supreme last season), the exciting French recruits Le Mercurey and L'ami Serge and another Mullin's horse Daneking all clashing in a limited handicap that could be worth watching as there could be a few nice types out.

Finally lets touch on Friday, where I can announce (and I'm so excited for this!) I will be making my debut for the Racemakers team, offering help and advice at the course in a similar manner to the gamesmakers at the Olympic Games. On the track I'll be hoping Little Boy Boru can complete the hat trick in the Pertemps Hurdle qualifier; he won the last twice in impressive manner with plenty more to come and Nolan has struck up a great relationship with Suzy Smith's horse. Ground conditions will be totally fine and a 7lbs rise for victory last time out may not be enough to stop him here. I'll be waiting for declarations before making any more decisions but will be tweeting on the day (@_Neptune_) with pictures from my day as a race maker and also my (hopefully) winning tips so get involved and interact with me on twitter!

Once again thanks for reading and have a good punting Hennessy Festival!