Buffalo Taunton Bound

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with action over the sticks from Taunton and Doncaster and an all-weather flat card from Southwell.  The good news is that all the meetings go ahead with Doncaster passing an early morning inspection.  David has one runner at Taunton today as Broadway Buffalo (pictured above) takes in the staying handicap chase at 2.10pm.  He was unseated on his reappearance after a lay-off but prior to that he had shown good form in long distance chases and is not badly treated on that form.  He will need to improve on what he showed at Haydock, but will go on the ground.

I see that the backlash against orange commentator Matt Chapman has started following his debut on Dancing On Ice at the weekend.  In racing circles we know what a noisy so and so Matt is, but it has come as a bit of a shock to some existing viewers who preferred the dulcet tones of Tony Gubba.  Matt has always been a bit like Marmite - the audience were either going to love him or hate him.  I wonder how long it will be before the ice starts to crack?!

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The big football match tonight is Manchester City versus Bristol City in the EFL Cup semi-final.  I can't see the Man City manager turning out a strong side for the match.  Mind you, most of his reserves would get in a Premier League side and that is reflected in the price with the home side 2/13.  Meanwhile, there was a good win for Brighton last night as they beat Crystal Palace 2-1 in the FA Cup third round.  On the manager front, Slaven Bilic has been backed to take charge of Stoke.  I am not sure that Bilic is the man to inspire a team at the bottom of the league.  He certainly wouldn't wind me up.

I see that Andy Murray has undergone surgery on his hip in Melbourne.  He will then go through months of rehabilitation and will drop out of the world's top 150 players before the grass court season starts in June.  He is a 7/2 chance to win a Grand Slam in 2018 and that is too short a price for me.  I hate to be the prophet of doom but I think he will do well to ever recapture his best form.

Golfer Dustin Johnson was only four inches short of a hole in one at the weekend.  Nothing special in that I hear you say, but it was a par four of 432 yards.  He went on to win the Tournament of Champions by eight shots.

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We are only a week into the New Year but it is already time to get a new fitness plan.  The other one just wasn't working out!  Keep smiling...

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