Weekend Runners

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon and all the action is over the sticks with meetings from Fontwell, Kelso and Uttoxeter.  The stable has four runners today with two apiece at both Fontwell and Uttoxeter and there look to be a few chances too.  Buster Edwards (pictured above) contests the 3m2f handicap hurdle at Fontwell at 4.50pm and our gelding was a course and distance winner last time out.  Winning rider David Noonan is in the saddle again and whilst he will need to improve again from his revised mark, he looks to have a good chance once again.  Drama King is our other runner at the Sussex track and he was producing a better effort last time when unseating at the penultimate flight.  He has the ability to go well, although a clear round would be the immediate priority.

Over at Uttoxeter David runs You Say What and Jacbequick.  You Say What contests the staying handicap chase at 4.30pm.  He was a very easy winner last time out at Newton Abbot, although that was on rain-softened ground and the underfoot conditions will be very different today.  He is 9lbs higher in the weights and with a couple of other previous winners in the line-up it is a trappy little race but he should again go well.

Jacbequick runs in the 2m handicap hurdle at 5.40pm.  Our eight year old has been runner-up from this mark a couple of times and will like the ground.  He is a most consistent sort and he is another with serious claims under Tom Scudamore.

Meanwhile, champion jockey Richard Johnson heads to Kelso for just two rides.  It is a long way to go and I think he could ride a double.

*****

You have to feel sorry for conditional jockey Rex Dingle (pictured right) who had enjoyed a break-out season last year with 32 winners.  The 21 year old rider, who had spent a season at Pond House in 2017/18 suffered a fractured vertebra in a fall at Ffos Las on 14^th May.  He has been fitted with a neck brace but has been discharged from hospital and is now facing a spell on the sidelines which could run into months as he continues his recuperation.

This is no lucky break, although fortunately for Rex his injuries could have been far more serious and it does go to illustrate the bravery of these riders who risk life and limb every time they get aboard a horse.

These will undoubtedly be frustrating times for the young rider who will be itching to get back into the saddle.  He had harboured ambitions of competing for the conditional jockeys’ title this season although this injury will certainly put a sizeable dent in those aspirations.  We wish him well with his recovery, although we know he is in good hands as he lives with his girlfriend Gemma who has worked for us at Pond House since 2014!

*****

What about tennis player Katie Boulter?  She picked up £20,300 at the French Open for not playing!  She withdrew before her first round match with a back injury yet still picks up half of her pay cheque.  I reckon even I could do that!  How times have changed...I won the English Table Tennis Championship and won a dart board!  I told the press that I would have to win it again the following year to win the darts!  I was suspended for those comments.

I will be having a wager on Sunderland today at 13/8 and Aston Villa tomorrow at 13/10...you heard it here first!

Tweet