GIRLS ALOUD, HEAVY AT ST. CLOUD & A REASON (OR TWO) WHY HORSE RACING IS FOR EVERYONE.

This is my vanity site, so anyone who visits this site, while acknowledging that they are as entitled to their views as I am, must indulge me when I give prominence to what I believe is important to the sport. I am often, I suspect, awry with some of my judgements and might easily cause offence with my views on matters such as climate change. None of which I will apologise for. The sport of horse racing is pivotal to my well-being, as it has been for the greater part of my life. When still at school, middle-teens, I gave-up playing football for the school as it clashed with the racing on t.v. At that stage I had not even been close-up to any type of horse, let alone patted one on the neck. So forgive me for returning so often to the issues and ideas that I feel are important to the growth of our sport. I have banged on about the benefits of our top female jockeys being given opportunities at the top level since the emergence of Hayley Turner. Only a few weeks ago, Saffie Osborne was evidence of all I have said on this issue.

Yesterday at Southwell the final two races were won by young female jockeys who to my discerning, yet unprofessional eye, have the potential to make a name for themselves over the coming years. Aamilah Aswat has now ridden five-winners from just fifteen-races. At the moment her 10Ib allowance for her employers Kim Bailey and Matt Nicholls must be like lawful theft and they might be keen to have her only ride for them before her claim is reduced to 7Ibs. What I like about Aswat is her awareness of what is going on around her in a race and her strength in a finish. I no longer care about her skin colour, which when she first came on the scene I considered a good marketing tool for the sport, as her riding is doing all the marketing needed to determine to the ethnic communities in this country that this is a sport for everyone.

I am unsure how many rides Rebecca Hitchins has had but recently she has ridden two winners, both for Sam England, and yesterday in a three-runner field she looked extremely competent, with good hands and a patient way of riding. Hopefully these two female riders will get the support from stables outside of their home stables that will enable them to have a good shot of making a living as a professional jockey.

The ground today at St. Cloud is heavy, further perplexing me as to why the ground at Longchamp this weekend is forecast to be good-to-firm. I realise that soils can vary from racecourse to racecourse and that Auteuil must sit at the bottom of a valley as the ground there is always soft to heavy and that I do not know how close St.Cloud is to Longchamp as the crow flies but it is considered, is it not, one of the racecourses of Paris. You see, I cannot understand why it has rained at Auteuil and St. Cloud and not at Longchamp. I am cynical by nature but is this just another case of the climate-change narrative being central to every public-informing narrative? A drought at Longchamp, a prayer for dry weather at St. Cloud. Tomorrow we will find out what the jockeys consider the ground to be at Longchamp.

Two reasons why the sport of horse racing is for every sector of society will be on display over the weekend. Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds have both Night In Vegas, a 60,000-guineas yearling purchase who has already won £429,000 in prize-money, with perhaps more to come tomorrow at Newmarket, as well as Calendar Girl who runs in the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes. As with all syndicates, it takes little money to get involved in horse racing. While different syndicates specialise in different types of horses, while the number of members per horse can vary from 12 to a syndicate to many hundreds in a micro-share syndicate, very often all that is involved to join the fun is a one-off payment that is in the ballpark of hundreds of pounds, with stable visits, videos and newsletters thrown-in. I am sorely tempted to give it a go myself. So watch this space. I am largely ante-social and opinionated, though, which is what has always put me off in the past, apart from a year in the David Pipe Racing Club which I did not enjoy due to my opinion that the horses involved were racing too often. 

Another reason to consider joining a syndicate is Naana's Shadow, trained in Scotland by Katie Scott, who cost 20,000-guineas, has won plenty of races, including Group 3's and on Sunday will be one of the favourites for the Prix de I'Abbaye at Longchamp. Scott only has 21-horses under her care and yet this season has punched well above her weight, so much so that she will run two in the Abbaye, with Luna A Inbhir Nis (Moon Over Inverness) an able deputy if Naana's Shadow fluffs her lines. Scott had a winner yesterday, so her team remain in good form.