Seven Runners Today

We are in for a cracking day's racing with five meetings taking place this afternoon.  There are three National Hunt fixtures from Ascot, Haydock and Huntingdon while there are two all-weather flat cards from Lingfield and Wolverhampton.  David runs My Brother Sylvest at Ascot while at Haydock he saddles Low Key, Batavir, Dynaste, Ballynagour (pictured above), Poole Master and Vieux Lion Rouge.  The big race of the day is undoubtedly the Grade One Betfair Chase at Haydock at 3.00pm and David is doubly represented with Dynaste and Ballynagour.  They are third and fourth favourites behind Silviniaco Conti and Cue Card (who beat our pair last time at Wetherby) - it looks a trappy little race and one mistake could decide the outcome.

If you are going racing make sure you wrap up warm - it was just 3°c where I live this morning and the coldest day of the winter so far.

The A P McCoy film is out in selected cinemas on Monday and David and Martin will be attending the Premiere in London.  The film will include a live satellite link to a Q&A session with AP and Clare Balding.  It has been given a positive review by most of the media and if you can't find a cinema near you, don't worry as it is out on DVD a week on Monday.  I can see a lot of racing fans having this in their stocking on Christmas day!

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What a knock fro Jos Buttler yesterday as he hit a ton from just 46 balls which set England up to reach the massive total of 355 as they beat the Pakistanis by 84 runs and secure the series 3-1.  It was the seventh fastest century by any batsman from any country and a real treat to watch.  It was good to see a few spectators at the match - through the Test series you could almost count the crowd on one hand.  These one day formats have certainly taken over from the dreary five day matches - they are overlong and don't always end in a conclusive result.  Today's audience want a quick fix - fast action and a definite result.

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Talking of a result - if anyone is looking for a little football wager this weekend, I will be backing Everton at 8/13, Swansea at 19/20 and Aresenal at 4/7.  You heard it here first - cheques to the normal address!

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I see golfer Ian Poulter has taken himself to task with his comments, "I got what I deserved today, disgusting commitment to shots, disgusting attitude, disgusting temperament, I lost my cool" - it would seem that he is disgusted with himself.  A lot of these sportsmen are their own biggest critics and it would seem that Poulter is the biggest of the lot!

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Why did William of Normandy hit the white cliffs of Dover with a horse chestnut on a string?  He wanted to conker England!  Oh dear...

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