Kings Awesome

   Kings Palace Winning at Cheltenham

It was great to see Kings Palace put in another fine performance to win at Cheltenham yesterday.  I thought he jumped as well as I've ever seen a horse jump a round of fences at the track yesterday, especially for a novice.  On eight pounds worse terms with Sausalito Sunrise from their previous meeting I thought he beat him even more comprehensively and I think he is very decent.  I see he is now favourite for the RSA chase at the Festival and I think it will take a good one to beat him.  Standing Ovation still looked to be going okay when he knuckled and fell at the third last and it was a shame as he had also jumped superbly.  I am pleased to report that he and all our runners from yesterday are fine this morning which is most important.

Today we have five meetings, three jumps cards at Cheltenham, Doncaster and Lingfield plus two flat cards at Wolverhampton and Southwell.  David has two runners at Cheltenham and two at Doncaster.  Stars Over the Sea and Easter Meteor run at Prestbury Park while Border Breaker and Softsong run at Doncaster.  Sail By the Sea has been impressive in winning his two hurdle starts so far.  He steps up in class today in what looks a hot race but he has a great engine and we are hopeful of a good run.  Easter Meteor was pulled up on his stable debut in the Paddy Power in November but the better ground today will help and hopefully he can bounce back from that run.  Border Breaker is stepping up to three miles for his first try over hurdles.  He has run okay in a couple of bumper runs but two miles has looked on the sharp side so three miles could be the answer.  Zeroshadesofgrey has looked impressive in two hurdle wins so far and is the one they all have to beat.  Softsong ran okay on his stable debut at Huntingdon last time and also looks to have a chance in the 2 mile handicap hurdle. 

Did anybody see the 12.10pm race from Doncaster yesterday?  Clondaw Kaempfer unseated Brian Harding at the last and then hampered Red Devil Boys and brought him down.  The eventual winner Smart Freddy must have been the luckiest winner of all time!

There was sad news in the Barnes household yesterday as we had to put down our cat, Ginger.  He was a stray that had been with us 22 years.  He was part of the family.

My football treble for today are Bournemouth 4/5, Norwich 4/5 and Bristol 9/20.

Amir Khan fights Devon Alexander at 2am on Sky Sports in Las Begas tonight.  Khan is 4/9 favourite and must win if he wants that big money fight with Mayweather.

Jack Farrar was arrested for hitting his wife on the head with a frozen squirrel in a row in Georgia, USA.  They said he went nuts!  Have a nice day.