Welsh National Day

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with three jumps cards from Chepstow, Sandown and Wincanton as well as all-weather flat fixtures from Kempton and Lingfield.  The big meeting of the day is the rescheduled Welsh National card from Chepstow.  I know I keep saying it, but I can't believe that it is going ahead without any problems - you will want a horse with plenty of stamina who loves the heavy going this afternoon.  David runs Rathlin Rose (pictured above) in the big race - he had some good form last season, notably when winning the two military races at Sandown under Guy Disney.  He has a light weight this afternoon, which could prove to be beneficial and there have certainly been worse 33/1 chances.  Tom Scudamore is in the saddle.

I used to love going to Chepstow to watch the Welsh Grand National and I have fond memories of Bonanza Boy winning the race in 1988 and 1989 but the one that always stands out to me is the victory of Carvill's Hill in 1991.  It was one of the best weight carrying performances I have ever seen.  Run For Free and Riverside Boy were other great horses from Pond House to have landed the Welsh feature.

Taj Badalandabad is our other runner today and he contests the 2m5½f handicap hurdle at 3.45pm at Wincanton.  I thought that he ran a nice first run back after a lay-off at Cheltenham last time, showing up well and only weakening at the last hurdle.  He has top weight of 12-1 to carry today less Michael Heard's 5lbs claim.

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There are some great FA Cup matches to look forward to this weekend with plenty of smaller teams trying to be the giant killers.  It is an important tournament for them as playing the bigger clubs will bring more gate receipts and more money for the club.  Exeter take on West Brom today while Fleetwood play Leicester and Norwich take on Chelsea.  Meanwhile, there is a good local derby taking place with Middlesbro versus Sunderland.  Talking of local matches, Liverpool beat Everton 2-1 with Liverpool's new £75 million signing Virgil Van Dijk scoring the winner.

It does not look good for England as they try to get a result in the final match of the Ashes tour.  In fact, we could lose.  The Aussies are putting up a big score and it does not look like the visitors can bat or bowl!  Back to the drawing board I think...

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What is a young colt's favourite sport?  Stable tennis!  Have a nice weekend...

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