Airton Runs At Stratford

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Stratford and Uttoxeter as well as flat cards from Doncaster, Kempton and Southwell.  The big race of the day is the Lincoln at Doncaster which marks the start of the flat turf season...my goodness, hasn't that come around quickly?!  Anyway, our focus is still on the jumps and we have one runner today as Airton (pictured above) contests the 2m½f novices' hurdle at Stratford at 1.55pm.  He won on his hurdling debut at Taunton on good ground before finishing runner-up on the same track nine days later when narrowly failing to concede a penalty to his rivals.  He has to give weight away again today but he looks to have a good chance to me at odds of around 3/1.  Tom Scudamore is in the saddle.

Looking at the Lincoln, it looks as though it is going to be a cavalry charge with 22 runners over the straight mile.  I wonder which side of the track will be drawn better?  Auxerre could still be on the upgrade on a mark of 100.  The four year old has only run four times and won three of them so is still open to plenty of improvement.  Mind you, you may be better off buying a lottery ticket tonight!

The prize money over at Meydan is incredible.  I know the World Cup is the richest race in the world with £5,669,291.34 up for grabs, but there are another four races that are all worth between £1-2 million to the winner.  Both Frankie Dettori and Ryan Moore are over there chasing the money and who can blame them?

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It is good to have Premier League football back on again this afternoon.  The only local derby is between Brighton and Southampton...well, it's almost a derby.  I will be having a little wager on Brighton at 13/8, Leicester at 17/20 and Doncaster at 8/11.

Tiger Woods was much more like his old self on the back nine of the World Matchplay golf yesterday.  He now takes on Rory McIlroy in a winner-takes-all shootout today which promises to be a fascinating match.  Meanwhile, Lee Westwood managed to hit a hole in one, but still lost 3 and 1 to Tyrrell Hatton.

Ian Poulter was tempted to do an Eric Cantona on a foul-mouthed heckler who abused him in front of his wife and four children.  The only thing that stopped him was knowing that he would get a ban.  I hope they banned the spectator instead...golf is supposed to be a gentleman's game.  Sounds like I am wrong again.

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Don't buy faulty boomerangs...there is no return policy!  Have a great weekend...

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