Horses for Sale

   Tuxedo Junction (GB) 


Exciting dual purpose prospect,
click here for details!

 

    Fighter Allen (FR)  


Exciting new horse with proven form, 
click here for details!

 

 

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Newbury, Newcastle, Doncaster and Bangor and an all-weather flat card from a very cold Wolverhampton.  The big race of the day is undoubtedly the Ladbroke Trophy handicap chase from Newbury which has a first prize of £142,375.  It is good of Ladbrokes to step in to sponsor the race as they have big shoes to fill - I am sure people will still be referring to the race as the Hennessy years from now.  It is a very tricky contest to try to solve with the bookies going 5/1 the field.  Stable jockey Tom Scudamore heads north to Newcastle where he has picked up a few outside rides, including in their feature, the Fighting Fifth.

Talking of Tom, he must have been disappointed by the return of Thistlecrack in the Long Distance hurdle yesterday.  He was beaten into fifth place by 40/1 outsider Beer Goggles who got the better of a ding dong with Unowhatimeanharry.  Thistlecrack was the first beaten and connections say that it was down to fitness even though Joe Tizzard insisted that he was fit enough to do himself justice in the days leading up to the race.  How could they get that so wrong?  He has now drifted to 10/1 for the King George and I would want to see more from him before I were to invest.  Beer Goggles benefitted from an excellent ride from Richard Johnson who was allowed his own way in front, even so it was a very good performance from him and he won't be out of place in the Stayers' Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.

I see that former trainer Martin Tate is 94 years old today.  He is a very nice man who was very helpful to MCP in the early.  Many happy returns!

*****

England were handed a good draw for the 2018 football world cup yesterday and it would be something of an upset if they did not win their group.  They will play Belgium, Tunisia and Panama - those should be three easy games to sort out the team.  England can be backed at 7/5 to win the group with Belgium at 10/11 - I hate to say it, but England look a good bet to me.

There are some good matches on the home front today with Arsenal playing Manchester United.  I will be backing Liverpool at 8/15, Everton at 8/11, Leicester at 5/6 and Stoke at 19/20.

In the golf Tiger Woods managed to shoot another 3 under par round of 69 but he remains three shots behind Tommy Fleetwood.  The course looks to be quite easy with plenty of good scores, even so, I am sure Tiger is delighted by the way the first two rounds have gone.

*****

How do you make anti freeze?  Hide her woolly blanket!  Have a nice weekend...

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