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29th November 2016

Minus 4 coming up the drive and then it dipped to minus 5 when arriving at my office.

Frost covers down.. where? Racing could struggle today if they have had the frost we have had.

David Bass was in to ride out this morning.

David who is currently working out a four day ban is able to start race riding again on Thursday. The doctors have passed him fit so once he has sat out his 4 day ban he will be back race riding..It will be good to see him back on the racecourse.

Graham Potts our vet was in as normal and this weeks movers and shakers in the weekly BHA handicap charts are...Ascotdeux Nellerie down 2 to 121, Battle Dust enters at 120, Grand March down 3 to 92, Monkhouse down 4 to 106, Texas Forever down 5 to 95, Red Spinner goes up 1 to 143 and Derrintogher Bliss goes up 2 to 127.

There is a big page in todays Racing Post about stable staff and the problems they have recruiting and keeping them in Ireland. We are no better off here this side of the water.

The shortage of stable staff is a big problem and although we are lucky that we have a great team here we have been looking for somebody to drive my second box to the races, when our first box is at another meeting.

This was a job that five years ago would have had loads of people applying, but now that has dried up. The hours and working weekends are the problem.

Anyway if you are looking to join our team as a second travelling person please get in touch.

Irish racing as a whole is in an interesting place.. It has become incredibly top heavy on the jumping side.

I am a huge fan of Gordon Elliott and what he has achieved is nothing short of a miracle. He started with nothing and has now run over 230 individual horses this season.

Compare that to England’s biggest trainer Dan Skelton who has run 133 individual horses.

Irish racing has about 4 big trainers which include Willie Mullins, Henry De Bromhead and Noel Meade and the rest are finding life hard.

On the owner front JP McManus has had the most runners followed by Gigginstown and without their patronage you as a trainer would be struggling.

We have two runners today. Mr Brinkley heads to Southwell while Champagne To Go heads to Lingfield. For my thoughts on their chances please click here.

Here are some common facts from John Cootes..

It takes your food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.

One human hair can support 3 kg.

The average man’s penis is three times the length of his thumb.

Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.

A woman’s heart beats faster than a man’s.

There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.

Women blink twice as often as men.

The average person’s skin weighs twice as much as the brain.

Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.

If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.

Women reading this will have finished by now.