PETER THOMAS

Weblog:  Wandering the world wide web

Hard cheese for tourists in France

ANOTHER Sunday, another day of pointless Classic trials at Longchamp. We probably didn't learn very much, other than that the best reason to cross the channel at the weekend is to get five quid off a bottle of Scotch.

If you've backed one of the 'luckless' losers, however, there's not much point being grumpy. Complaining about the French tucking you up in a dawdling prep race is like complaining about them nailing geese to the floor or blockading ferry ports: it's just what they do and you have to learn to live with it if you're going to go there.

I don't suppose Aidan O'Brien will take a nice bit of runny cheese home for Johnny Murtagh as a token for his efforts, but then again, he won't be carting him off to the guillotine, either. Westphalia may not be quite Guineas class, but he'll pick up something decent along the way this year, while Black Bear Island probablydidn't deserve to be cut for the Derby, but he couldn't have seen less daylight if he'd worn blinkers by Ray-Ban, and the boy genius will be itching to get him into a proper race sometime soon.

Likewise, Proportional didn't disgrace herself, but she'll reportedly give Newmarket a miss and I doubt John Gosden and Rae Guest would lose too much sleep even if she didn't.

The 1,000 is boiling up into a hot race, isn't it? The crazy creature, Rainbow View, against the good girl, Serious Attitude. The Gosden camp will be on tranquilisers to help them sleep at night; the Guests will only need Ovaltine. And I'm off to Newmarket again tomorrow to see Michael Bell and ask him about his cheeky dark horse, Sariska, who is reputedly the best filly he's ever had, according to a little bird who chirped at me a couple of weeks ago.

The full stable tour will appear in Thursday's Racing Post, but don't be surprised if I give you a sneak preview here.