Winning Chase Debut

Whoever said that a winner makes no difference?  What a load of rubbish!  Katkeau was a ready winner of the beginners' chase at Fakenham yesterday - he jumped really well on his chase debut and battled on tenaciously to beat 1/3 favourite Southfield Vic.  The whole stable was lifted and even Rex (Carol's dog) looked like he was smiling (or at least showing his teeth!).  Don't forget that the favourite was rated 11lbs higher than Katkeau over hurdles so this has to be considered a promising start to his new career - he seemed to love the soft ground and should be winning more races over fences judging by this.  It was also Tom Scu's first winner since returning from injury so it was a good day all round.

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Warwick, Hexham and Chepstow, while there is an all-weather flat fixture from Kempton.  Our three jockeys Tom Scudamore, Conor O'Farrell and David Noonan all have rides at Chepstow and on paper it looks as though it is leading amateur David Noonan who has the best chance of a winner with fancied rides aboard Sunshine Buddy and Boyfromnowhere.

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There was a good win for England last night as they beat France 2-0 on an emotional evening at Wembley.  The result doesn't really matter as this was more than just a football match - it was a show of solidarity for our way of life.  The rest of the world now needs to unite to sort this mess out.

Nice guy and Ireland manager Martin O'Neill incurred the wrath of the UEFA interpreter when he joked "your handwriting is as bad as mine, it's illegible".  The official looked at him completely dead-pan and said "that is shorthand".

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England was also successful in the cricket when they won the third One Day International against Pakistan by six wickets.  I am not sure whether England have suddenly improved or if Pakistan are just hopeless as well...I guess time will tell.  At least Butler and Taylor managed to score a few runs.

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Russian runner Viktor Ugarov won a marathon in Japan two days after his nation's athletes were banned for doping.  I wonder who checked the nationality of the competitors?

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Apparently Christine Poulton, 60 of Middlesborough awoke in the night to discover that thieves had stolen the bonnet to her red Vauxhall Corsa and nothing else.  Sounds like Robbing Hood!  Have a nice day...

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