5 Runners At Taunton

Following the abandonment of Warwick and Newcastle this morning, there are just two meetings taking place this afternoon with Taunton hosting a jumps card and Chelmsford City with their all-weather flat fixture.  The card at Taunton looks to be a good one and features the rescheduled Peterborough Chase from Huntingdon's abandoned meeting of last week.  David has plenty of runners at our local track; Friday Night Light, Miss Tynte, Tobacco Road (pictured above), Vaniteux and Midnight Magic.

Friday Night Light contests the novices' hurdle at 12.00 noon.  He was a decent flat horse in France and faced a tricky debut for the stable in the Cesarewitch at Newmarket.  He travelled well for a long way that day before not appearing to get home.  He should certainly stay today's trip over timber and as a winner on heavy ground in France, he should also appreciate underfoot conditions.  He will be winning plenty of races over timber and has each way claims today under stable jockey Tom Scudamore.  David also has Miss Tynte in the race and she showed decent form when runner-up in a Punchestown bumper last term.  She is another who will be winning races and she is partnered by David Noonan today.

Tobacco Road goes in the handicap hurdle at 1.35pm and he was a ready winner at the track last time although that was on good ground.  He has gone up 8lbs for that success and he would have sound claims if acting on it okay.

The big race of the day is the Peterborough Chase at 2.45pm and David runs Vaniteux.  The officials who moved to reschedule the race will probably be disappointed by the five runner field.  Vaniteux has won six times, including in listed company and doesn't have that much to find of ratings.  He would ideally prefer better ground though and needs to improve to win.  Top Notch is a hot favourite and looks to be the one to beat.

Midnight Magic ran a cracker here last time to finish a close third and contests the 3m handicap hurdle at 3.50pm.  He is 5lbs higher today which obviously makes things tougher, but if he continues his improvement he could be thereabouts again under David Noonan.

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Manchester City looked a class above their opposition last night as they beat Swansea 4-0.  Meanwhile United beat Bournemouth 1-0 with Lukaku scoring his second goal in ten matches...you don't get a lot for £90 million these days!  West Ham earned a point against Arsenal and while that did not benefit me financially, it has to be considered a good result for the Hammers who have now earned for points from their last two matches against Chelsea and the Gunners.

England were off to a shaky start in the third Ashes test in Australia, scoring 168-4.  They are going to need at least 300 runs on this wicket and could end up losing the series after just three matches.

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What did Teresa May get when she asked Santa for a home makeover this year?  He brought her a new cabinet!

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