Four At Wincanton

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon, two over the sticks at Wincanton and Carlisle as well as all-weather flat meetings at Southwell and Wolverhampton.  The stable has four runners at Wincanton, Royal Peak, Palace Jester, The Pier and Hugo Drax.  As per usual the bookies are giving very little away - Royal Peak who was an 80/1 chance the last time he was seen on a racecourse has either been found a very weak race or the bookies are afraid of him on his handicap debut...they certainly won't be running for cover at odds of around 3/1 today!  Meanwhile former useful hurdler Palace Jester makes his debut for the yard this afternoon on his first start in almost a year and it will be interesting to see how he gets on.  Pictured above are Palace Jester (left) and The Pier (right) on the gallops.

I thought that the well-backed Weekend Millionair ran a decent race to finish third at Fontwell yesterday afternoon, conceding weight to the horses in front of him in the handicap hurdle.  The handicapper looks to have him pegged a pound or two too high on 125, but I don't suppose this latest decent performance will see any respite from the assessor.

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Some things never change and champion flat jockey Richard Hughes completed a memorable first day back in the saddle by completing a fantastic four-timer comprising doubles at both all-weather cards in this country yesterday.

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It's funny how every report in the Racing Post tells you how well the Cheltenham Festival prospects are working.  Apparently reigning Champion hurdler Rock On Ruby was electric in his most recent work...I only mention this because I have never heard a trainer say that a horse has put in a disappointing piece of work just before the Festival!

Talking of the Cheltenham Festival, spare a thought for poor old Robert Thornton who is going to miss the meeting after breaking his right arm and fracturing three vertabrae in a fall at Southwell on Monday.  These jockeys look forward to Cheltenham and Aintree all season and then something rotten like that happens.

It is hard to believe that course officials are going to start putting frost covers down at Cheltenham - it was a postively balmy 13°c In Torbay yesterday afternoon and by 6am this morning it was already 7ºc!

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For £25million you can have Wayne Rooney!  It looks like Sir Alex is finally willing to cash in his chips with his star striker - it seems that once you fall out with Fergie, your days at United are numbered.