Hannah's great strike rate

Remarkably, we had some lovely weather on Tuesday and Wednesday (i.e. yesterday - as you can see from view of Silken Thoughts and Hugh which Ethics Girl and I enjoyed on the Limekilns at around 9 o'clock - and also from the great skyscape later in the morning, below, although I suppose the build-up of clouds over Long Hill might have suggested that blue skies were on the way out).  Inevitably, though, yet another area of low pressure seems to have arrived from the south west, so that it started raining here at around 6.30 a.m. today and we had yet another wet morning.  I think that Ascot had the worst of its rain a bit earlier than we had ours while farther north it was still raining harder through the afternoon.  Conditions looked really rough at Ripon this afternoon, where the horses and riders who got behind in the races seemed to come back in completely sodden and mud-covered.

That, though, would not have worried Hannah - who took her record for the current season to three wins from nine rides when making all the running to win the sprint on the Peter Salmon-trained 20/1 shot El McGlynn.  Hannah is doing really well and all her three winners this year have been outsiders.  Peter Salmon, a really nice man who trains near Wetherby and who used to be down here in Newmarket working for the Quinlans prior to heading back up north to start training, has proved a staunch supporter, so it's great that she has got such good results for him.  There has been some more great racing at Ascot, but from this point of view the 5.10 at Ripon provided the result of the day.