Names from the past like Maori Venture, Birds Nest and Katabatic ensure Andy Turnell's regular inclusion in the All Our Yesterdays columns. It's unlikely he'll ever have horses to reach the dizzy heights that trio did but he has had a new lease of life training at his new base near Swindon after an ill-fated foray north to Malton for multi-millionaire owner John Hollowood, who didn't have a lot to show for shelling out some vast sums on horses.
Turnell has had a terrific time in the 2007-2008 jumps campaign, which ended yesterday, and can get the new season off to the perfect start today with 3.40pm Kew Jumper at Ludlow. He won't mind the drop in trip and the 6lb rise in the weights looks fair. The interesting racing today is at Longchamp and Navan where we could get some clues for the big races ahead this Flat season with, among others, Ascot Gold Cup winner Yeats returning.
1.55pm When I begged the question last week as to whether anyone had seen a horse travelling faster at the end of a long-distance handicap chase than the Scottish National winner Iris De Balme I had forgotten about the incomporable Arkle.
He looked pretty sharpish when he won the 1965 Whitbread, a race I watched again yesterday morning and that was run in its new guise at Sandown yesterday as the Bet365 Gold Cup. Quite a lot has changed in the intervening years. The race is a shadow of its former self but there has been an even bigger change off the track.
There could not have been a greater contrast from my experience at a midweek fixture at Newmarket the week before. Yesterday a bumper crowd, typical of many Saturdays through the year now, were there to drink and socialise with the racing there as a convenient backdrop.
Of course there were many aficionados crowding the paddock to see the actual horses but in the past there would have been no need for the constant music over the loudspeakers and the MC working the crowd -- "Here come THE JOCKEYS!" he screamed as the gladiators in their silks entered the arena. There was no bigger cheer all day than when the streaker attempted to follow in the hooves of the runners up the straight.
On the course Rob Roy was the big eyecatcher on the day and he will surely be winning races soon, while on the negative side I would say Centennial is far too short at around 8-1 for the Derby after his victory. Those who bothered to go to the paddock would not have been all that impressed and the form is nowhere near good enough as it stands to win at Epsom.
2pm Paul Nicholls dominates the National Hunt scene as no other trainer, Martin Pipe included, and he has the first winner of the new jumps season with Pepperoni Pete at Ludlow. Expect him to be in the same spot next April.
2.35pm Ascot Gold Cup favourite Yeats is out later but we saw a fascinating winner in Coastal Path win at Longchamp there. There's talk of him coming over for the Coronation Cup at Epsom's Derby meeting but he is also in the betting for the Ascot Gold Cup. He hails from the master Andre Fabre's yard, is unbeaten and has to be worth a good look if he comes over here.
4.35pm Yeats is back . . . he wins despite having looked beaten, racing on far from ideal ground and over a trip short of his tip-top best. His opponents will need to be on top of their game if he is to have his Ascot Gold Cup crown taken away from him. Great to have him back and a pleasure to watch.
5.40pm See what I mean about the camerawork at Irish tracks on Attheraces. King Of Westphalia from the Aidan O'Brien yard was the hot favourite in the Racing Post for the 5.30. He drifted badly and had a shocking run before finishing fast into third. We didn't see the horse's late surge because the camera concentrated on the eventual winner to the exclusion of everything else. Very frustrating.
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