Ashes to ashes. Just yet…
Australia probably just below par with 8 wickets down. 90 odd for 4 was a good moment in the middle of the night – but I reckon after losing the toss, England’s cricketers would have settled for this…
Nip out the final two wickets early tomorrow – and then bat properly. And bat and bat. Anybody expecting that ? Or holding their breath ? We shall see. A chance – which is a whole heap better than no chance…
A lot of chat about Kempton Racecourse and rumours of an imminent closure. Claims and counterclaims from those intimately involved and across the media…
I am almost certainly being very thick here (the norm…), but surely there is more than enough room for hundreds of Redrow developed houses AND a racecourse. Acres of green belt beyond the all weather and the jumps turf circuit. If my memory is correct, the Jubilee flat turf course started not a million miles away from the shadows of Twickenham Stadium….
Newbury have developed a large area of their curtilage – and with nil impact on the racecourse. Why can’t the same happen at Kempton ?? Maybe because The Jockey Club don’t actually want to keep Kempton going, and a sale of the whole would obviously finance the planned improvements at Aintree and Cheltenham – and maybe a new track elsewhere….??
But where would that new track be ? Surely not Newmarket ? Meaning that the training centre would have three tracks on its doorstep, and Chelmsford down the road. Inside the track at Sandown perhaps…?
The geography of all of this is very relevant to those of us who train in the south and to the west of London. Kempton will never be a glamour venue, apart from one day of jumping on Boxing Day, but it more than does a job. A long and fair home straight. Not too many hard luck stories. “Betting shop fodder” for sure – but geographically the place works for plenty of us…
As I say, plenty of varied comments on this. A couple of “pundits” seem to have developed a massive chip on their shoulder on almost every racing subject – and I sense that if we told them that grass is usually green, they would beg to differ. Those who follow racing folk on “socials” will not struggle to work out who I mean. Chips on shoulders becoming potato factories…
We use Kempton a lot to gallop our horses. An “away day” is good for the mind and soul. We have plenty of runners there. There is always a full jar of sweets on the desk at exit. The Guinness is passable, and occasionally the food is edible. It works for us – and hopefully it can work for us for a few more years….
Kempton chat providing the opportunity to hark back to the first Downs House winner. Search for The Hero….
