Duc Runs At Punchestown

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with flat action from Ascot, Pontefract, Southwell, Bath and Brighton.  Meanwhile, it is the second day of the Punchestown Festival over in Ireland and there is a Pond House runner in the shape of Duc de Beauchene (pictured above) who contests the 2m5f handicap hurdle at 3.40pm.  He won nicely at Plumpton and then ran even better to finish runner-up at Sandown behind a well-backed favourite.  He is only a young horse who has plenty of scope for further improvement.  He will handle the ground and the bookies make him a 10/1 chance so he holds solid each-way claims under Donal McInerney.

The big race at Punchestown today is the Punchestown Gold Cup at 6.05pm with a first prize of £177,000.  If Kemboy can repeat his Aintree performance it would be no surprise to see him beat stablemate and Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo.

There is a good flat card from Ascot this afternoon and whilst it is mid-week, I just wonder why ITV are not covering it?

Shelly Birkett learned plenty about the ups and downs of racing yesterday.  She rode a winner at Yarmouth but just one hour later she was on her way to hospital after a crashing fall after clipping heels on Spanish Mane.  She broke her collar bone and dislocated a hip - let's hope she is soon feeling much better.

I note that it is Steve Cauthen's 59th birthday today.  "The Kentucky Kid" was champion flat jockey three times in Britain and completed the Triple Crown on both sides of the Atlantic aboard Affirmed and Oh So Sharp.  A great jockey and a really nice man - he rode plenty of winners for Martin and his feedback about the horse was first class.

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What a football match we have to look forward to tonight.  Barcelona take on Liverpool and Barcelona can be backed at 19/20, whilst the Spanish club are 20/27 to qualify.  We will find out just how good the Premiership is over these two legs.

Spurs were beaten 1-0 by Ajax last night, but they look to have an impossible task travelling to Ajax for the return.  With so many injuries in their line-up I don't think they have enough depth to overcome the defecit.  They need to spend some money on new players which I cannot see them doing.

Have you seen the size of Anthony Joshua's next opponent?  His ex-promoter Bob Arum admits that Andy Ruiz looks like a fat slob...why can't they organise a decent opponent for Joshua?  Mind you, it's easy money for our fighter.

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I was walking through Brixham the other day and noticed a huge advert for Viagra...it's been up for ages!  Have a nice day...

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