Guest Blog
Marshall's Blog, December 7
Horses, trainers, jockeys, we all have our favourites, even commentators and broadcasters have their own fan clubs and I doubt he is everyones cup of tea, Matt Chapman, but he has been voted the broadcaster of the year, no doubt in brackets, the enthusiastic broadcaster of the year. I like Matt, knowledgable, I have already said enthusiastic, and there is no doubting his passion for the sport, but nobody is perfect and his tendency to labour a subject when he is convinced he is correct is one of his faults. I have lost count of the times he has said Twist Magic would certainly have won the Arkle when he fell, thats one subject we will have to differ on. My Way De Solzen is in the record books as the winner, end of story. Twist Magic would never have outbattled him up that hill, sorry Matt. Congatulations, though I still believe Nick Luck is the better but like My Way De Solzen, your name is on the roll of honour.
Simon Claisse is more than confident that Cheltenham will race this weekend. I am not confident that there will be any racing in the north of the country this side of Christmas the way things are going. A couple of all weather meetings to save the day, and though yesterdays meeting at Southwell featured three bumpers, the fields were well strung out for those events, and with another cold night in the area, I expect the ground is going to ride slow, so I might check out the winning distances on then spreads. Looking back on yesterdays racing, it was interesting to see the Donald McCain yard landing a double with easy victories, so he has another couple of youngsters in his ever increasing yard of talented performers. I was particularly impressed with the victory of Diocles in the last, out of a mare Ferdy Murphy trained to wins over both hurdles and fences, and was once fourth to the great Istabraq in a grade one novice hurdle at Punchestown.
