I was absolutely thrilled to hear the news Kempton has escaped the bulldozers clutches!
Its a lovely track – one of the fairest there is – and gave me one of the biggest days of my career over Christmas when Clan Des Obeaux won the King George.
The announcement is a relief to both all-weather and jumps fans alike, and long may the course continue to thrive.
Ill be about an hour away up the M3 this weekend for Betfair Super Saturday at Newbury, where undoubtedly the highlight of the afternoon is Altior.
Im really excited to see him back on the track and he should be extremely difficult to beat.
Nicky Henderson reckons hes got him rocking and rolling again and thats good enough for me!
Sadly I wont be sitting on him – or on other hotpot Native River in the Denman Chase – but Im looking forward to taking the reins on Stolen Silver (3.35) in the Betfair Hurdle.
Hes been flying at home and Dad thinks he has him spot on.
I was thanking my lucky stars Haydocks straight is almost as long as the Great Wall of China when he won last time – he certainly gave me a fright as I stole the prize right on the line!
A penalty shouldnt be too big a barrier for him and Id certainly give him a nice chance.
Dad also runs Sir Valentine in the race.
He was unlucky not to get closer at Ascot last time as he jumped a little big going down the hill.
Obviously its a very hot race – 24 runners for a massive amount of prize-money – but Grange Hill Farm boasts two strong contenders.
Hopefully the races will all go off on time as Im itching to watch England against Scotland at 4.45.
The boys will put it on in the weighing-room after racings finished and Im hoping for a whitewash!
England have made a few changes to the line-up but if putting their best foot forward, they should have too much class for the boys in blue.
Hopefully well get the Stolen Silver/England double up!
Im not going to Newbury until 3.35 so I actually have time to ride in the first at Warwick.
The distance between the two tracks is only 70-odd miles so there should be no worries on the timing front – hopefully!
Thriller!
The grey Stolen Silver mugs his rivals with a mighty late rattle for Grade Two honours at @haydockraces.
Pennies matched on the winner at 999-1, while Edwarstone hit 1.05 late in the run
pic.twitter.com/xfa98kpSUm
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) January 18, 2020
Kingsplace – my mount in the contest – has a decent chance. Its an open, competitive race but I expect him to step forward from his first run.
Finally I want to say a quick word about James Banks, who died earlier this week.
Its incredibly sad. He was a very bubbly, very funny guy who was a huge part of the weighing-room.
The thing that really stood out for me was how many people had pictures of him – not just part of groups, but individually.
He touched a lot of people and was a credit to the racing world.
