Racking Up The Miles

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Kempton, Warwick and Wetherby supported by all-weather flat cards from Wolverhampton and Lingfield.  The card over at Punchestown looks like a good one with Grade 2 and 3 races on the card.  There are no runners from Pond House today but stable jockeys Tom Scudamore and David Noonan head off to Warwick and Kempton respectively where they have picked up some outside rides.  Considering the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton should be the highlight, it is perhaps a little surprising that Warwick are offering the most prize money today with the 3m5f Classic Chase being their big race of the day.  With £186,000 up for grabs they should be congratulated on a job well done - I hope they get the turnout they deserve.

It is amazing how many miles some of these jockeys rack up between meetings.  Oisin Murphy rode a Group 3 winner at Meydan on Thursday and yesterday he rode a treble at Lingfield.  He touched down before dawn and stopped at Cobham services on the M25 before driving onto Lingfield - I hope he has the receipts to give to his tax man!  It is nice when you are among the winners, but somewhat less of a novelty when you are riding a bunch of no-hopers.

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The best football matches today involve the clubs at the bottom of the league with Crystal Palace taking on Burnley, Huddersfield host West Ham and Newcastle play Swansea.  With so much money available for staying in the top flight, there is plenty at stake for many of these teams.  The top of the table is far less interesting with Manchester City seemingly already home and hosed.  Meanwhile Tottenham Hotspur take on Everton tonight at 5.30pm on BT Sports and Spurs are big odds-on.

I agree with current world snooker champion Mark Selby that Ronnie O'Sullivan (despite rumours to the contrary) will be playing at this year's world championships in Sheffield.  I am sure that he would love to add to his current tally of five to get within striking distance of Stephen Hendry's current day record of seven.  Ronnie certainly is an odd one (or an enigma if you are being polite) but sports needs more characters like him as they raise the profile no end...it helps that he is perhaps the most naturally gifted player to ever pick up a cue.

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I used to own a balloon company but I couldn't keep up with the high cost of inflation!  Have a nice weekend...

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