Girls on top!

I've always been a big believer in the ability of female jockeys and have always been keen to give the girls a chance when the situation allows, so it was great to see Michelle Payne prove she is more than capable of doing a great job at the highest level when winning the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday. It still baffles me why some people in British racing see women as inferior riders to men when, on the vast majority of horses, it would not matter if the person on board was male, female or even an alien!
Sadly British racing will be one girl short as of this weekend with the retirement of Hayley Turner. She has done herself proud and has, in my eyes, been the first woman to really prove to the establishment that her sex should be given a fair chance. I know for one that she inspired my daughter Shelley to give it a go as a jockey and hopefully she will do so to many more future generations.

Michelle Payne with the Melbourne Cup

Shelley gets her chance to shine for us later in the week but on Monday it is Adam's turn in the saddle. He rides Star of the Stage at Kempton and the pair look to have been scuppered by a wide draw. He ran OK last time and this will probably be another learning experience for us both as he is only new to the yard.

We're back at Kempton on Wednesday with a pair of runners for owner Dick Creese. Little Orchid made a promising debut at Newmarket last week and she came out of the race in such great form that I'm not afraid to run her again so soon. It will be another step on the career ladder for her and she probably will hit full stride in handicaps but it will be great to get another run under her belt.
The best chance would come from Dissertation. She is a filly with a lot of ability but she hasn't quite shown it yet. We felt last time that she wasn't too keen to go past horses so we will ride her from the front on this occasion and use her long stride to full effect.

Dakota City (Mark) & Dissertation (Nick)

Friday nights in the wintertime only mean one thing and that's Wolverhampton so we'll be up there on Friday with Silver Alliance. He has won at the track before and is still in good order with himself but he will just need the strong pace to chase that he normally requires. It is hard to predict what he will do but I feel there is another win in him sometime soon.

Silver Alliance (Tehu) & Meddling (Ross)

Candesta has been full of confidence since his win last time and I hope he can strike again at Lingfield on Saturday. He only went up a couple of pounds for that win so there should still be a chance at the weights. He is working well at home and should have a good chance.

Serendib's Glory (Adam) & Candesta (Caitlin)

Yearlings are a yard's future so it's great to say we have a lot more than normal with six on the books. Four of them are still away at pre-training but we got the two boys back this week and I'm very happy with how they've taken the first step on the way to becoming racehorses. The Mount Nelson colt continues to impress me, he is a lovely looking lad now and moves beautifully. Mungo has a bit of a mind of his own but he is starting to get the hang of things now and does his work easily too.

Mount Nelson colt

Mungo Madness

THREE TO FOLLOW RESULTS

Thank you to everyone who entered this year's competition, we had a record number of entries and we will definitely be doing it again next spring.
Bethan and Attain were the two horses you needed on your side as they both manged to win and collect a handful of placings.
Mark Rimmer took an early lead and was not for catching so he takes home the £100 first prize. It's the first time a member of staff has won the competition so it must mean I have more knowledgeable staff than ever! I'm just glad I got a score this year after the zero I got last time.

Mark Rimmer	25
Adam Beschizza	24
Jim Stevens	24
Shelley Birkett	21
Sarah Macdonald	21
Tessa Stone	21
Ros Cousens	19
Kel Mansfield	18
Harry Hurst	18
Ged Turley	18
Bill Aspland	18
Steve Moore	17
Julia Feilden	17
Dominic Lisle	17
Tony Birkett	17
Lewis Richards	17
Jason Coote	16
Sophie Collington	16
Chris Shirran	16
Dave Barnett	16
Liz Moore	16
Malc Shields	14
Poppy Feilden	14
Eddie Partridge	14
Rita Aspland	14
Paula Smith	14
Steve Clarke	14
Martyn Clark	14
Geoff Roberts	13
Barbara Walton	13
Gordon Hill	13
Bill Burgess	13
Sam Feilden	13
Megan Digby Baker	12
John Birkett	12
Julie Feilden	12
Linda Wright	11
Stephen Broadley	11
Nick Feilden	11
Chris Shelley	10
Sophie Feilden	10
Maureen Case	10
James Collington	10
Jane Shirran	10
Anthea Telford	10
Lee Cousens	9
Tina	9
Ryan Moore	9
Dave Morris	9
Allan Forster	9
Geoffrey Walton	8
Martin Godfrey	8
Wayne Moore	8
Michael Buckley	8
Sheila Collington	8
Matt Bisgono	8
Robert Wright	8
Adi Tuddenham	8
Zoe Fuller	7
John Wardle	7
Malcolm Roper	7
Ross Birkett	7
Tony Piller	7
Brian Reilly	6
Jonathan Kinge	6
Steve Springford	6
Phil Collington	6
Rachael Shucksmith	6
Rob Weston	6
Trevor Fuller	6
Barry Hine	6
Carol Bushnell	1
Kevin Case	0