Five victories in a row

Sirvino was bought by Maunby trainer David Barron for just £3,000 as a yearling, and this win made it five victories in a row and prize money in excess of £115,000. Barron was winning the race for the first time and afterwards the trainer said: “What I liked about him when I bought him was his attitude; he did everything right and was totally unflappable. He’s still like that.”

It was also the first win in the race for his young jockey Neil Brown who was gaining the biggest success of his 75-win career.

A delighted Brown said: “I was further back than I would have liked, but I got a lovely run down the rails in the straight, and fair play to the owners, and the boss for letting me have the ride.”

It was great to see Hayley Turner back in the winner’s enclosure at Nottingham on Saturday on her second ride back since returning from an enforced spell on the sidelines. The former champion apprentice suffered head injuries in a fall on the Newmarket gallops in March, and was initially told she would be stood down for 12 months.

However, Turner won an appeal on Thursday night and returned to action at Ascot on Friday. In a time when racing keeps getting its fair share of bad publicity, Turner is a credit to her profession, and gives any young girls aspiring to be a jockey the perfect role model.

Turner is in action this evening at Wolverhampton, but for me the most interesting card is at Ayr this afternoon where there is an eight race card.

Mark Johnston sends three horses up today including two in the six furlong maiden in which the betting market should be informative to which one is fancied the most.

Crime Writer is an interesting runner in the one mile handicap at 4.30pm. The three year-old was a decent winner of his maiden at this track before disappointing on his latest start. If you can forgive him that minor blip he could represent good valve to keep up the good run of his stable.