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Plus 10 and drizzling when  driving in.

A good day in the office yesterday.. two winners at Ludlow and a second.

Sunday morning started with a visit from members of the Racing For Maggies Partnership who met here for a coffee and a tour of the yard and then off to the Maggies Centre in Cheltenham for lunch. Their two promising horses Another Venture and Biscuit were out in the fields on their summer holiday.

Ludlow was looking at its best yesterday. Green grass and stunning countryside in full bloom.

Richard Sheppard and John Webber who own Robin The Raven had taken a box for the day and were hoping that their horse would justify the extra cost…

Nerves jangling and play acting in the paddock were soon forgotten when the tapes went up and frankly they had nothing to worry about as Robin The Raven won easily.. Relief and delight.. Happy owners and happy trainer..

The very next race was the bumper and I had never met Phil Andrew who had bought and named Dandy Dan about 2 months ago; mind you Phil had not even met his horse..

Peter Kerr and I stood in the paddock waiting to meet up but it looked like a no show.. phone calls made and Phil was found standing outside the paddock watching .. Much encouragement from Peter, who had met Phil who already had shares in two KBRP's in Blazon and Fifty Bob,  resulted in Phil coming into the paddock to meet me and his jockey David Bass..and to see his horse.

Dandy Dan was a bugger to break and has always showed great spirit.. yes tough.. Dandy Dan misbehaved on the way to the start with a show of bucking and greenness which was slightly in character but David Bass soon had him under control.

The plan was to be handy, but as so often is the case in these bumpers there was no pace, so David opted to go off in front.

Dandy Man started and stayed in front all the way through the race, although he was looking for company and was not at all sure what he was meant to be doing, but he stuck on and won well.. yes a nice horse who will only improve for the experience gained yesterday.

What a great result for Phil.. as I said ‘internet dating at its best…’

Our other runner Royal Supremo was second and might have been a shade unlucky.. He now heads for the Goffs sales next week..

Warwick on Saturday night had missed the rain and the ground had dried up considerably from when I walked it on Thursday. Milord struggled under his welter weight and I took Rhaergar out of his intended bumper run.. again.

Monday morning..

Sandra Steer Fowler, fresh from delivering a colt foal out of her mare A Shade Of Bay, was up to pick up Pulling Power to take her home for her summer holidays..

We have one runner tonight at Towcester. Boy In A Bentley has another chance to break his maiden tag.. For my thoughts on his chances please click here.

Summer jump racing is starting in earnest now and the Racing Post wrote a whole piece last week about the summer prospects and prize money.. but they missed out Uttoxeter which was sad for them as they did not deserve that.. any way I wrote a letter to the Racing Post in the hope they would publish it..or an apology.. any way they didn’t..

This is what I wrote..

''I enjoyed reading Nicholas Godfrey’s piece celebrating the highs of summer jump racing which so many of us embrace. Whilst I enjoy my visits to Market Rasen I can only assume it was an accidental omission to leave out Uttoxeter’s efforts with the £35k 2m4f CLARKE CHASE at the end of this month and the JULY CHASE on the last Sunday of July but, more importantly, their £75k Summer Cup over 3m 2f on Sunday 2nd July which I know I won’t be alone in targeting given the prize money on offer and first class racing surface that Charlie Moore and his Team produce at Uttoxeter.’’

Credit due as Uttoxeter like Market Rasen and all the other summer tracks do their best with decent prize money..Summer jumping is here to stay..

The Racing Post are all too often wrong and yes they got it wrong again today.. Reading their post race report on Dandy Dan.. Analaysis says Dandy Dan cost 7.500 euros as a 3 year old and 600 pounds as a 4 year old.. please get your facts right as it is so embarrassing for all involved in this horse..

The Hybrid Golfer

A recent study found the average golfer walks about 900 miles a year.

Another study found golfers drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year.

That means, on average, golfers get about 41 miles to the gallon.

Kind of makes you proud - Almost feels like a hybrid.