Surely not? It's years since the Easter has been held at Easter.

I considered going to HQ yday but I had a quite welcoming experience at Te Aroha last week - couple of food trucks, coffee on demand, good sandwiches even - that I did not want to spoil it by turning up and asking for a flat white at ellerslie, only to be told at about 1.30 that the coffee was off for the day.  Might go on the 19th when I believe they have something like the Easter Handicap scheduled....at Easter.    Who knew. 

I think you might have added in the wrong clip here Sir. 😂

As I always say even a blind pigeon can sometimes get some corn.🤣 Congrats to the 4 finalists...may the best tipster win.  

Yes, BEAUPORT was prominent until crossing the Melling Road the second time after which he got a bit cream crackered and finished twelfth beaten a country mile. As for THREEUNDERTHRUFIVE, he jumped well enough but was kept wide by Harry Skelton - not quite sure why. He was still in with a shout at the 19th but quickly weakened and called it a day two out. IROKO ran well in fourth and I'm sure they'll be back but SENIOR CHIEF ran with a lot of promise and he should be on people's short lists for 2026 on this evidence. The ground was too quick fro STUMPTOWN and HEWICK while THREE CARD BRAG was well backed but didn't get home.  I think GRANGECLARE WEST would have won if he'd not hit the last. Unexceptional time - 9 minutes 6.14 seconds on the allegedly Good ground. 

Altering his initial plan to run American Promise in the April 12 Lexington Stakes (G3) at Keeneland, trainer D. Wayne Lukas said April 5 the colt would instead await the May 3 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs.View the full article

Nowhere near as expected but all bar one ran ok and at least got round unscathed….

Back in my day - young fellas cut off their car mufflers to be cool nowadays young fellas cut off their weiners to be cool 🙄

Raging Torrent led all the way to a daylight victory in the Godolphin Mile (G2), giving trainer Doug O'Neill his second straight score in the race.View the full article

Unleashing a furious rally down the stretch under Florent Geroux, Hit Show caught fellow American Mixto by a half-length in the $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1) at Meydan.View the full article

A front-running Dark Saffron defeated the world's best sprinters with a stunning 65-1 upset in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) at Meydan Racecourse April 5.View the full article

Ireland-bred Nick Rockett led home a spectacular and historic 1-2-3 finish for an emotional Willie Mullins in the Grand National as he denied stablemate I Am Maximus back-to-back victories.View the full article

Play-offs Week 3 - Final Result   Blaird, Sayer, Floyd and Kiwignome land the final four spots in the Grand Final. Scooby collects the consolation prize with a runaway victory. NAME TOTAL Blaird  764.00 Sayer 543.20 Floyd Pink 535.00 Kiwignome 514.80 Kloppite 509.00 Basil Brush 492.00 Jayar 466.60 Say No More 447.00 Aaron 442.40 Al Feilding 410.60 Joan 276.60 Pete Lane 204.00         NAME TOTAL Scooby 1002.20 Kilcoyne 492.60 Mr gee 475.00 Lucasduke 434.00 Insider 317.60 Manfield 289.60 Dogzstar 280.00 Winner 271.00

There is only two HQ, Flemington and Leo’s No room for a third, just a wannabe

The first day of the Grand National Festival at Aintree saw the course bathed in spring sunshine. No heatwave but pleasant for participants, both human and equine. The ground remained Good to Soft, Good in places with watering to maintain. Four championship races opened the card and plenty to chew over. The first was the Manifesto Novices Chase over 4000m. With the axing of the equivalent championship race at Cheltenham (and its replacement with a far more competitive limited handicap), this renewal was fairly strong. Arkle winner JANGO BAIE looked set to enjoy the extra yardage based on his last gasp win in the Arkle over 3200m at Cheltenham but there was support for IMPAIRE ET PASSE from the Mullins yard and the two dominated the pre-race exchanges. In the end, JANGO BAIE went off 6/4 and IMPAIRE ET PASSE 9/4. First blood to Willie Mullins and IMPAIRE ET PASSE back to his best with a convincing win. GIDLEIGH PARK made a bold show from the front and as expected Nico de Boinville kept JANGO BAIE off the pace but Paul Townend always looked happy on IMPAIRE ET PASSE and apart from a poor leap at the second last put in a solid round of jumping. JANGO BAIE blundered at the eleventh and from then was always just on the back foot but ran home strongly from the past just failing to snatch second on the jamstick. 4000m looks ideal for the winner and immediate post race comment from Mullins suggested he could be a Ryanair horse next season - I'd love to see him in the King George at Kempton as I think on decent ground he could see out the 4800m. Whether he can scale the heights of Allaho from the same yard I don't know but he's a very good horse. GIDLEIGH PARK did nothing wrong in defeat and conversely I'd like to see him back in trip on a more galloping track. JANGO BAIE got going too late and de Boinville opined he could go up to 4800m next season - well, yes, and the King George would work for him as well but he needs to eradicate the hanit of making a mistake at a critical point. Of the others, BOOMBAWN outran his odds and I wonder if the early season handicaps over 4000m in the autumn could be in mind. RUBAUD raced prominently but didn't see out the trip at that pace in this class of field. He's another for whom a drop back in trip would be no inconvenience. They ran 4 minutes 58.58 seconds suggesting the ground was close to as described. The Boodles 4-y-o Hurdle over 3200m wasn't the strongest renewal with the Triumph Hurdle principals absent. The Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham was well represented with winner PUTURHANDSTOGETHER sent off favourite. However, there was a significant market move for the Mullins trained (and only filly in the race) MURCIA, who had run eighth at Cheltenham but was backed from 8s to 11/4. The money spoke and it was Mullins 2, the rest 0. MURCIA was getting the sex allowance (7 lbs) but I doubt it made a scintilla of difference as she was just too good for these. Whether she'll be kept over hurdles for another season or whether they'll send her chasing I don't know but she clearly relished the better ground and had these cooked from some way out. It all happened a bit too fast for PUTURHANDSTOGETHER who just couldn't go with the winner but he's a decent type. I thought LIVE CONTI, on only his third run, ran a huge race for the Skeltons in second and he's clearly got an engine. GIVE IT TO ME OJ is trained by the father and son combination of Gary and Josh Moore who are well known round the southern English jump circuit. He had won well at newbury but this was a step up in class and he acquitted himself well. The first four had a nice break on the others and all look good prospects for next season whether over hurdles or fences. Of the others, FILIBUSTERING, a decent ex-flat galloper on only his second hurdles start, ran okay - I'd love to see him over 4000m as he stayed 2800m on the level. GIBBS ISLAND just wasn't good enough at this level. Unfortunately, WILLY DE NOUELLE suffered a fatal injury at the fourth last. The sole championship chase on the first day was the Golden Miller Bowl over 5000m. Known as the "Aintree Gold Cup", it's usually the Cheltenham also-rans who fetch up here and there were a couple but the favourite was GREY DAWNING who had run second in the Betfair in a Haydock winter bog and that had bottomed the horse given his abject display in the King George five weeks later. Back after a break he had beaten Grand National fancy IROKO at Kelso but he was back at the top table. GAELIC WARRIOR is a horse I've always liked - he chased home IMPAIRE ET PASSE inn the 2023 Ballymore before winning the 2024 Arkle but I've been wanting to see him over this kind of trip for a long time. He was backed to make it a third Mullins win but stable jockey Paul Townend opted for EMBASSY GARDENS. You better believe I cheered this one from the Plumpton stands with a big bet (by my standards) not stopping GAELIC WARRIOR finally showing the ability he's always had over the distance he's always needed. He's a German bred and they tend to stay longer than the mother-in-law (as the saying goes).  As I said in my preview, I simply couldn't understand why he'd been campaigned over 3200m as he was crying out for a bit of ground. Patrick Mullins got him into a lovely rhythm behind the leaders and produced him from the second last to cut down GREY DAWNING and in the end win cosily to make it Mullins 3, the Rest 0. GREY DAWNING didn't, for me, jump with the same fluency he showed at Kelso and on more galloping tracks for all he has run well at Aintree in the past. I can see him winning a big race one day - perhaps the King George - but he bounces off decent turf and gets stuck in the mud. STAGE STAR jumped beautifully from the front but he's a 4000m horse and the stamina gave out two from home - it was a real sight to see this horse back to his best and I imagine there's a target or two in mind for this one over the shorter trip. As for the winner, is he a Gold Cup horse? Not sure - he too seems to relish better ground so he might yet go to Punchestown to take on the likes of GALOPIN DES CHAMPS which will be fascinating later in the month. The winner's stablemate EMBASSY GARDENS was pulled up lame after the third fence. The big race of the afternoon was the Aintree Hurdle over 4000m. This had the promise of an intriguing clash between Mares Hurdle winner LOSSIEMOUTH and the enigmatic CONSTITUTION HILL who had won the 2023 Champion Hurdle and this race last year but who had lost his unbeaten record when falling at the top of the hill in the Champion Hurdle. The stories were the horse had done a lot of schooling in the last three weeks to try to eradicate this quirk of taking off a stride too early. It all went wrong for CONSTITUTION HILL as the horse took another fall (up quickly and apparently fine) two out. Jockey Nico de Boinville has come in for a right slating on social media and in the trade press and on the telly. Yes, he was outridden by Danny Gilligan on WODHOOH and Paul Townend on LOSSIEMOUTH.  De Boinville made the mistake of following the weakest horse in the race rather than the strongest and when TELLHERTHENAME started to fade, de Boinville was caught on the inside as Gilligan and Townend moved forward on their mounts and closed the door. By the time CONSTITUTION HILL got out he had lost a valuable length and a half and was playing catch up and that's when the horse forgot his schooling, took off too soon and fell at the second last. The groans at Plumpton were considerable, I can assure you. With CONSTITUTION HILL out of it, LOSSIEMOUTH came home in front of WODHOOH but the winner looked far from convincing. She has carrying her head awkwardly during the race, I thought, and I suspect the ground was plenty quick enough for her. WODHOOH ran a blinder in second and could well be the "new girl on the block" next season. She is officially 8 lbs behind LOSSIEMOUTH but was only beaten three lengths at levels and you'd fancy her to give the winner a real challenge in races like the Hatton's Grace or the Mares Hurdle next season. As for CONSTITUTION HILL, what now? Trainer Nicky Henderson still wants to go to Punchestown but many think he should go over fences as he might respect the larger obstacles and jump them better. That's a view and I know he has schooled well over the practice jumps at Seven Barrows. The other big take away from the race was Willie Mullins 4, the rest 0. Having seen his vice like grip at Cheltenham shaken a little, Mullins has come back strongly at Aintree and closes in on Dan Skelton's lead in the British trainers' championship.  

Of course they will. It's heartland racing. T o be fair to Ellerslie, as a percentage of population they are probably doing better than the Sydney tracks if the Golden Slipper could only attract approx 12,000 people. Incidentally most of them were the shareholders in the runners. Thank God for My Racehorse, The Frac Club and all the other syndicators I say. P.S. I am not suggesting or promoting or supporting My Racehorse, The Frac Club or their concepts, BUT I am certainly supporting the other syndicators where you get your name in the racebook. 

Riverton are up against HQ on 19th April.  I will bet a servo pie that Riverton have a higher on course turnover. Where the hell is Riverton?

Gee whiz he would have struggled under the old days of the Lowry dynast:  Mop,  Game,  Lilt etc  😂

The lady presenter was just as bad. They were both at it. I'm not sure if they did it every race, but they were really into it the race I saw. Copying Flemington, but just sounds pathetic.