This week we have three days of racing at Newmarket plus two days at Cheltenham. That almost certainly means 8000 Willie Mullins horses arriving in a fleet of 926 horseboxes; numbers that are truly astonishing. Even as I write, Unite, the union de choix of the Socialist elite, are considering cutting their output, in protest at the environmental impact of so many horses on their bin collections.
We have a Friday programme of 11 televised All-Weather races from Lingfield and Newcastle, running as far as one can see, all afternoon! Then on Sunday, Willie Mullins is planning the largest equine airborne-drop on Plumpton, utilising (in the manner of Operation Market Garden), parachutes, Gliders and specially trained jumpers. Peter Savill has already asked the Skeletons to bring reinforcements!
However, before all that, we have the Nell Gwyn and the Sefton at Newmarket - which put 5 mm down on Friday, had 6 mm of showers overnight and are expecting another 6 mm before racing. The ground has gone from GF to Good to Soft, and I would treat that with caution.
So ITV4 for the afternoon, and by way of a change, none of the races are being contested by the Champion Trainer-elect… yet.
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