It was an eventful day in the racing world with the shock announcement by Martin Pipe that he is retiring and handing over to his son David.
From a personal point of view the day could hardly have gone better. There were 5 winners from the list to follow with, Obe Brave, Rob Roy, Futun, Public Forum and Primary all obliging. There were winning tips for the 2 year olds Fool Me and Amber Valley and three other list horses, Zidane, Shipmaster and Woolly Bully were 2nd. Swinbrook and Tagula Blue were other winners to get a favourable mention.
There are no runners from our list to follow in action at Brighton. I see that 3 horses from last season’s list are running on the continent. Sir Mark Prescott has Violette in the German 1,000 guineas at Dusseldorf while Mark Johnston saddles both Kindling and Winged D’Argent in the Group 3 Prix de Barbeville at Longchamps.
The new jumps season starts on Sunday after a break of – er – 0 days. AP McCoy starts the defence of his crown in a novice chase at Ludlow! I will not be covering the summer jumps though.
Back tomorrow evening for a look at Monday’s cards.
ahorse 