Joli's Classic colours

Good news this morning is that it's raining in Newcastle. It's even better news that it's not raining here or in Warwick. We've had enough rain here and we don't want it to rain at Warwick because Jack D will want good ground on Monday for his latest run since his mighty Yarmouth victory. Another gallant stayer, Jolizero, makes his long-awaited return the same day and the old mudlark will relish conditions if that rain keeps on pouring on my mum's birthplace. So here's hopin' that the the two Beverley House Stables representatives get things just the way they want them and that Jolizero can carry the famous (for reasons which I will explain in a minute) colours of E. L. Collings to victory at Gosforth Park.

Olly Marsh, one of East Anglia's up-and-coming point-to-point riders and pupil assistant to Luca Cumani, was the first jockey of the modern era to sport the light blue and chocolate hoops when partnering Currow Kate at Horseheath last February but they had previously been seen in much more illustrious company when Billy Bullock rode 100-1 shot Signorinetta to win the 1908 Derby.

Somehow, I have managed to end up with the colours of Cavallieri Ginistrelli, breeder, owner and trainer of Signorinetta, who also won the Oaks that same week. I hope the long-deceased Italian nobleman would have found it fitting that the two most recent bearers of his once-famous silks reside in the same yard from where Signorinetta's sire Chaleureux was trained.

I'm not sure Joli can quite live up to the reputation of the dual Classic heroine but winning a two-mile staying handicap in the mud at Newcastle will feel like the Derby for me. We all have to start somewhere.