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Tuesday, 02 July 2019 |
"The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken."
Samuel Johnson.
Roof Garden pulled out ready for exercise
It’s a different kind of morning in that there is no wind and the temperature is quickly rising in the sunshine. It looks like staying this way for the rest of the week so the ground will certainly be getting on the fast side and, with July week looming, the clerks of the courses will be splashing water everywhere. We have had a mixture of cantering, turnouts and walkers today and everything has gone as well as expected. Another rider would certainly come in handy though.
... and cantering up Hamilton Hill
It sounds like the new Curragh had plenty of problems with their three day meeting and very few people turned up. There were fewer than 3,000 on the first day, just over 3,000 on the second day and then 11,000 for the Derby itself. By all accounts the bars were undermanned with very long queues, as were the ones for the loos as well, which evidently there were not enough of. For the life of me I cannot understand why the architects who designed these building don’t understand how it all works. The public go racing to watch the competition, have a bet, something to drink, a bite to eat and all with good facilities. It sounds to me like none of these were available. I hope they can sort it out quickly or they will be in trouble.
 
(L-R) Isaac Murphy and Garrel Glen turned out in the paddocks
It was very sad to read of the death of John Corcoran who was the founder of Paddy Power Racing. He amalgamated his betting shops with two others and Paddy Power was formed. I met him a few times and he was the most charming of men, always interested in what you were doing and great fun. He was a very successful business man in other ways but he loved the horses and had many successes with his great friend Jim Bolger. Our condolences go to all his family and friends
Velvet Voice
There was another jockey banned last night at Windsor, this time for 13 days. The number of strokes over the limit was not announced but watching the film back it looks to me like 15, which is way above the mark. The only way, and I have said it so many times, is to ban these jockeys for at least a month, if not more, and disqualify the horse. It would soon sort this matter out and we wouldn’t have any more problems. The BHA has got to grip it by the horns, take no notice of anybody- be it bookmakers, punters or jockey squealing that it is not right. Just bring in some proper deterrent and we will do away with this whip debate forever.
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