Harry Cobden’s Planet Sport Bet blog: Hermes Allen will be sorely missed

It was great to have four winners on Sunday at Musselburgh, but that came after a very sad day at Sandown where we sadly lost Hermes Allen.
 
He was a brilliant horse. To lose a horse like that is very tough, it’s horrible for the owners and for those that work in the yard - particularly those that worked closely with him.
 
Horse racing can be difficult at times, and he’s a horse that will be sorely missed.

 

 

Jockeys' Championship

The last couple of weeks have gone really well, by-and-large, and the gap between myself and Sean [Bowen] is only five winners. In all honesty, I thought it would take a bit longer to get  as close as I am, so it’s great I’ve managed to close the gap.
 
The first half of January is always quite quiet for Paul’s [Nicholls] yard with the horses having their flu jabs, but we’re getting back into the swing of things now and it’s great the horses are running well.
 
There’s a long way to go, but if I can keep riding winners, hopefully I’ll give myself a good chance of winning it.
 
It would be a dream to win it. It’s what every jockey wants to have on their CV and I’ll be doing everything I can to win it.

 

Jubilee Alpha

I’ve ridden plenty of winners recently, but the one that really stuck out was Jubilee Alpha, who won at Wincanton last week.
 
I wasn’t sure how strong the race was, but us and the second horse pulled a mile clear of the third.

She showed a really nice attitude to put her head down and battle past the other horse to get her neck in front.
 
I discussed with Paul and the owners after the race and I said that I thought she was a filly that would be good enough to go to Aintree for the mares’ bumper.

I’d be pretty confident she’s better than average.