I don’t think I have experience a day quite like Sunday. If you look at the results, you will see that we had seven open winners at Towcester and three at Henlow.
Ten open winners in a single night! To memory, I think that is the most we have ever had.
But the story behind the story is that the day started off with a bitch being bitten on a vein and having to call in an emergency vet while we are trying to prepare to go racing.
The night ended with the alternator belt falling off the van on the Towcester car park as they were due to leave to come home at 7.30.
The dogs were all taken off the vehicle and back to the stadium kennels where they were locked away to keep warm.
The Towcester paddock staff stayed behind until the van was fixed, and even bought food back for my kennelman Kein. Fantastic effort.
It was 1am before the van was fixed and 3.30am before they got home.
Now that is what you call a night to remember!
I know the seven winners will get the headlines but nobody mentioned the one winner from 17 graded runners on Friday and Saturday.
This game has a habit of keeping you grounded.
The day started off well with Black Francis qualifying for the semi finals of the Golden Jacket.
I said in this column that I thought 50-1 was very big about him, and if he can get through the semis, you never know about the final.
He is ideally drawn in red and although he has plenty to do, he isn’t without a decent chance.
He is in the same semi as Roxholme Dream who is a great bitch and a deserving favourite.
But she can’t afford to get it wrong!
So far, she hasn’t looked the quickest trapper and although she has fabulous early pace, those gaps can sometimes close before you get the chance to use it.
The favourite wasn’t the fastest heat winner and although you would think she would improve for the run, I don’t think she wants much further either.
Apart from Black Francis hoping to retain the Golden Jacket title, we have won the last three finals of the Bussey Memorial with Aero Joker, Bridge Bandit and Aayamzamodel.
We went Jimmy Nailed On for a trial at the weekend and he did a very respectable 33.79 for Crayford’s 540 metres.
That is a little bit more what I was hoping for. He has a bit of ability but hasn’t really produced as much as I had hoped for so far. Hopefully he has now turned the corner.
I am happy with the trap draws for both of my runners in the Gold Cup Final at Henlow.
Blonde Razor is drawn three and won both heats and semi final from the same trap so why would I want anything different?
Blackstone Marco is drawn four, and although he is a railer, he won the Henlow Cesarewitch from the same box before Christmas, so, again, no complaints.
I think this is a tougher race than the Cesarewitch though. Airport Captain and Backrose Tyson and very good dogs over the course and distance.
Kevin’s (Hutton) other dog Old Fort Cracker made Airport Captain pull all the stops out in his semi final and would be no shock if he led all the way.
Likewise, John Gardner’s Moors Matilda is only a baby with obvious scope for further improvement.
