Saturday, April 17, 2010
I’D be telling lies if I didn’t admit that the last week has been a strange one. To go from being absolutely flat out to doing literally nothing has been difficult.
Of course I enjoy spending time with my wife, Gillian, and little daughter, Isabelle, but it has still taken a little while for me to adjust.
It can be smashing to have some time off, but it’s far better when it’s of your own choosing. Next week promises to be difficult, with the five-day Punchestown Festival in full flow.
I’ll be keeping as busy as I can, writing this column in the morning and then working for RTE in the afternoon. Watch me on RTE trying to smile after a horse I should have ridden bolts in!
Seven days ago, of course, I began a possible ten weeks on the sidelines when taking that crashing fall off Celestial Halo at Aintree and the following-on Won In The Dark trod on me and broke my left arm in two places.
I could hardly have been better looked after by the doctor and paramedics at the track. The attention I got was first class, quick and smooth.
It was the same when I got to the Fazackerly Hospital in Liverpool. Again it was a case of being made as comfortable as possible and there was no cause for complaint.
I even got to hear a commentary on the National at the nurses’ station. Mind you, it wasn’t the best I’ve ever heard, because the guy doing it seemed to think there was only one horse in the race, the lad I should have been aboard, Big Fella Thanks.
I got so well looked after at the hospital that, by the time the bumper was run, I was in a taxi heading to my hotel and listening to another commentary.
Right then let’s have a look at the horses at Ayr today I would normally be riding, all for Paul Nicholls, starting with Advisor in the juvenile hurdle.
I rode him in the Triumph at Cheltenham and he ran a shocker. It was too bad to be true and wherever eventual second Barizan finished, Advisor should not have been too far away from him.
If he had finished fourth or fifth then you could say that’s as good as he is. I just feel Advisor had a real off-day and will be disappointed if he fails to leave that effort a long way behind.
In contrast to Advisor, Tchico Polos never runs a bad race and he’s worth a bet in the novice chase. He’s very consistent and has been beaten by some useful sorts along the way.
Tchico Polos enjoyed a deserved turn at Sandown last time and won well. He will love the track and the two and a half miles and will take a fair bit of beating.
Tito Bustillo is on a retrieving mission in the Scottish Champion Hurdle, after finishing down the field in the County Hurdle at Chelttenham.
But the bare facts tell nothing of the story of Tito Bustillo that afternoon. He made a particularly bad mistake at the second last and I wasn’t hard on him when his chance was gone.
There’s more than a possibility he’s well handicapped and it would be nice to see Tony McCoy reap the benefits of my kindness the last day!
Paul runs Meanus Dandy in the Scottish National and Cheltenham Gold Cup hero, Paddy Brennan, comes in for the ride.
Paddy and Imperial Commander may have deprived Paul of another Gold Cup with Denman, but business is business and he’s the ideal man off just 10-1.
But is Meanus Dandy anywhere near good enough? Well, I rode him to win at Sandown last time and didn’t even know if he was up to landing that ordinary heat.
He stays forever and is a superb jumper, but there is no getting away from the fact this is an entirely harder task than Sandown.
Expect a big effort from Red Harbour in a handicap hurdle. He battled powerfully to win at Sandown and is a tough customer.
He’s as honest as they come, will only just do enough and moving up another furlong and a half is a plus.
One for you at Tramore today is Willie Mullins’ Maid From Milan in the second, a maiden hurdle.
She may not have run since winning a bumper at Downpatrick last August, but is in good order right now. I schooled next to her at the Curragh recently and she jumped really well.
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