Cheltenham, Bangor Runners

The good news is that Bangor have passed their early morning inspection and racing goes ahead meaning there are four meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps action from Cheltenham, Doncaster and Bangor over the sticks as well as an all-weather Chelmsford City.  David has three runners at Cheltenham; Abracadabra Sivola, Champers On Ice (pictured above) and Taj Badalandabad (easier to write than say!), while The Draconian and Tis What It Is run at Bangor.

Abracadabra Sivola contests the 3m2f handicap chase at 2.30pm – he will love the trip and going and is back on his last winning mark of 129 so it is not inconceivable that he could go well. He will need to step up on most recent performances however.

Champers and Taj Badalandabad both run in the 3m handicap hurdle at 3.40pm and the former ran respectably last time when fifth in what used to be the Fixed Brush hurdle at Haydock. He was behind The Dutchman that day but would have claims if returning to his best. Meanwhile, Taj Badalandabad is returning from a lay-off of 587 days. He has a good win-run ratio but it is a big ask for him to win this after so long and is entitled to improve.

Over at Bangor The Draconian and Tis What It Is run in the novices’ hurdle at 1.45pm and they have both shown glimpses of promise but would need to improve on what they have shown thus far over timber to figure.

There is a two runner confined novices’ chase at Bangor this afternoon and it is yet another example of trainers not showing the slightest interest in this type of contest. Clearly something needs to be done as this sort of thing is doing racing no good at all. I still maintain that there is too much racing taking place.

I thought that Friday Night Light and Miss Tynte both showed distinct signs of promise when finishing third and fourth respectively in the novices’ hurdle. It was nice to see the latter finish her race off well having folded a little tamely on her previous starts. They were not beaten at all far and should be winning plenty of races between them. Meanwhile, poor old Midnight Magic had no chance when one fell directly in front of him, bringing him down in the process. He is still only a youngster and there will be other days for him.

I see that it is Aussie Jamie Evans’ birthday today. ‘Mate’ used to work in the yard and won the Coral Cup aboard Big Strand at the Cheltenham Festival. I am surprised he is still alive given some of the stunts he used to pull! Anyway, if you see this Jamie, we hope you have a great day. Talking of Aussies, England look to have a fighting chance in the third Ashes test after good centuries from Bairstow and Malan took the visitors past 400 runs. The only trouble was that the last few wickets went relatively cheaply.  Still, it should make for an interesting contest.

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I have to say that I think the BHA have been a little harsh on Hayley Turner in giving her a three month ban from riding. She has certainly been silly in betting while still holding a licence, but her integrity has not been called into question – her bets averaged out at less than £20 a time…it certainly doesn’t smack of someone trying to get rich quick through inside information. She showed a profit of less than £200…even so, I bet some of her ITV colleagues can only dream of showing that sort of profit!

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Did you know I invented gloves? Okay, so I am lying, but I did have a hand in it! Keep smiling…

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