Even a dull day can be memorable

We certainly didn't get any drying done today, even though we had a rain-free day.  To borrow a phrase which lodged in my mind years ago from a 'Ripping Yarn' (remember those?) voiced by the fictional character Eric Olthwaite, "there was a lot of moisture in the air, even though there was no actual evidence of precipitation in the rain gauge outside the Town Hall".  It would have probably been overstating it to call it fog, but there was certainly a thick mist (as you can see through Oscar's ears on the all-weather on Long Hill) which never really cleared all day.  So with that and the heavy dew which hardly lifted, we're certainly no drier than we were.

Still, dull a day though it has been, it's been a day which will live long in the memory of the Quinn family: Josh Quinn, 16-year-old son of Jimmy and Zoe and elder brother of Oliver, made his race-riding debut in the apprentices' race at Southwell today on board the Phil McEntee-trained Jonnie Skull.  Josh's father, of course, is one of our most experienced jockeys and has long been one of our most successful lightweight riders, but Josh is unlikely to be accorded the second part of that description: he's already a few inches taller than his dad, which probably isn't surprising as his mum is too, and it is very rare for a boy not to end up taller than his mother.

Josh (pictured in the previous paragraph on one of Jane's horses last year, when he was still at school) is currently apprenticed to Jane Chapple-Hyam, but I believe that the plan is for him to transfer to Richard Fahey next year, which would be a very good thing, that stable having already produced numerous good jockeys, the likes of Paul Hanagan, Robert Winston, Freddie Tylicki and Tony Hamilton all having served their apprenticeships there.  Josh has spent some time up there in his school holidays in the past and it is very easy to see him forging a good career, even if his size might eventually see him trying his hand over jumps.  Although nowadays, with the champion jockeys of both Britain and Ireland currently each being close to the six foot mark, it seems that anything is possible.  On which subject, we should salute the nine Flat jockeys who entered so well into the spirit of the sport at Lingfield on Tuesday by taking part in the Flat Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle, the winner of which was ridden by Fergus Sweeney (pictured on Silken Thoughts at Newbury last year).  Of course, jumps jockeys do every day what they did on that one occasion, but that's by the by: it's a much bigger deal if one doesn't do it often, and it was very sporting of them all to take part.   And very well they did too - one wouldn't have known from watching the race that any of them weren't regulars.  Good on 'em.