Nordic Second

It looks like being a quiet day today.  There are three meetings taking place today; a jumps card from Lingfield and two all-weather flat cards from Newcastle and Kempton.  There are no runners from Pond House today, whilst Tom Scudamore, David Noonan and our young amateur jockey Fergus Gillard have all picked up one outside ride each at Lingfield.  I don't think I will be using the 'one ride theory' today however.

Nordic Combined fared best of our runners at Ffos Las yesterday, finishing runner-up in the novices' hurdle.  Although this wasn't quite up to the level of his Newbury second, the winner is still a very useful type and it is only a matter of time before Nordic Combined puts his head in front.  He looks like he would benefit from a step-up in trip to me.

I was surprised to hear Nicky Henderson claim that small fields were not bad news for him.  Personally, I would disagree...who is going to pay to go racing if the fields are small and uncompetitive?  I certainly don't and I reckon the rest of the general public would agree with me.  Without those people paying at the turnstiles or adding to the levy through betting there would be no racing.  Small fields are no help to anybody.

I thought that Bryony Frost gave Midnight Bliss a great ride to score at Fontwell yesterday afternoon.  She is also a great post-race talker.  She could have done a whole circuit talking to Luke Harvey and you don't even need to ask her questions - she just talks!  She is a great advertisement for racing.

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Much as anticipated, Manchester City were far too good for Wolves, beating them 3-0 and they remain four points behind Liverpool in the Premiership.  Meanwhile, Gunnar Soskjaer is in pole position to land the manager's job at Manchester United on the back of their good recent form.  They have won six out of six since he took over at the helm and it doesn't get any better than that...mind you, he has the goalie to thank for their latest victory against Spurs.

There are some FA Cup third round replays to look forward to today.  Blackburn are 31/20 to beat Newcastle, Sheffield Wednesday are 23/10 to win at Luton and Stoke are 1/2 to bear Shrewsbury.  The best bet of the night looks to be Mansfield at 1/2 to beat Crawley.

Andy Murray lost in the Australian Open tennis yesterday but not before putting in a spirited fight back from two sets down to take it to a decider.  It would appear that another Brit fighting injury is Kyle Edmunds who slumped to a straight sets defeat at the hands of Tomas Berdych.  He is facing a drop in the rankings for this.

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With the Brexit vote today, here is an appropriate gag...What do you have when a politician is buried up to his neck in sand?  Not enough sand!  Keep smiling...

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