Wednesday 3 December

So good to see Sam Jones getting in the winners enclosure again. Yesterday he rode a winner for his boss Oliver Sherwood at Hereford, a good follow up to his excellent winning ride on College Ace at the weekend.As with all sports, confidence is a massive part of things, and when you are dealing with powerful men and very expensive horses in races where split decisions can make the difference between winning and losing, a jockey has to have maximum belief in his own abilities, and when this starts to wane it can be a long and challenging time before they start to ride at their full potential again. Sam has been through a lean spell lately, suffering a few knock backs,while at the same time seeing his claim reduce rapidly has eaten away at his confidence a bit. Through all of his recent set backs SP has always conducted himself with the assurance and maturity that bely his youth. I have always been a big fan of Sam, and continue to use him whenever possible. It is good to see that his confidence is returning, and booting a few winners home and riding some nice horses as second jockey to Oliver will only help get his career back on track. On the flip side of confidence at the moment is another Sam in the weighing room, namely Sam Thomas! What a couple of weeks for the young Welshman, having suffered a couple of setbacks on the course he now find himself jocked off Master Minded - the best horse in training. It was always going to happen and you have to feel for him, a couple of UR's and falls does not suddenly make you a bad jockey, and I hope he bounces back soon. I felt so sorry for him to have to walk back past those packed stands after the Hennessey, but I suppose they get paid a lot of money, and realise that they have to take the good days with the bad. Having to walk back past the nearly empty stands at Folkestone after his hiccups on Monday must have been just as bad, these boys are not the nicest fellows to be around when they have just seen a winning opportunity slip from their grasp!!