Stratford, Windsor Runners

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with flat cards from Leicester, Windsor and Pontefract as well as a jumps card from Stratford.  David has two runners today; Buster Edwards at Stratford and Ekayburg at Windsor.  Buster Edwards (pictured above) contests the 3m2½f handicap hurdle at Stratford at 3.15pm.  He has been in good form this form this term, winning at Fontwell on his penultimate start before finishing a close third at the same venue last time.  He is 6lbs higher than when successful but should handle the ground and looks to have a solid chance under David Noonan.  Ekayburg runs in the 1m2f novice stakes at 8.15pm.  He was a good horse in French bumpers but is yet to translate that ability to these shores.  David, owner William Frewen and jockey Finley Marsh had a winner here last Monday night, although it would be something of a surprise if Ekayburg were to oblige.

Van Gogh du Granit ran another cracking race to finish second in the Perth Gold Cup yesterday afternoon.  He was beaten only a short head, just failing to get his head in front on the run-in.  Even so, he still picked up almost £7,500 for finishing second.  He was running from a mark of 137 here and will probably go up a pound or two in the handicap for this effort.  He has proven to be a real bargain since being acquired from a claimer in France for just €11,006 in January.  In that time he has bolted up at Market Rasen and finished in the frame at Taunton, Ascot, Aintree and Perth and amassed almost £27,000 in prize money.

I see that it is Eddie Harty's 82nd birthday today - he was the rider of Highland Wedding.  I was on A Question Of Sport with him back in the 1960's...that seems like a lifetime ago now.  Many happy returns Eddie.

We were all saddened to hear of the passing of former trainer and owner Richard Barber (pictured right) on Saturday morning at the age of 78.  He was a thoroughly nice man who had Woodurather (winner of 7 races) in training at Pond House many years ago, he was also involved with Rushing Wild who finished runner-up in the 1993 Cheltenham Gold Cup.  Richard was also good enough to give David his first ever ride in a point-to-point.  He will be greatly missed and our thoughts are with Richard's wife Viv and the rest of his family and friends at this sad time.

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England won a penalty shoot-out to finish third in the Nations Cup.  Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford saved a penalty and also scored one so it was a good game for him.  Raheem Sterling only had 20 chances so he was never going to score!  He gets a lot more chances for Manchester City!  With all the money he gets paid, Sterling is the perfect name for him!

What a performance from Rafa Nadal to win his 12th French Open at the weekend beatin Dominic Thiem.  His first success in the tournament came in 2005, what an incredible record...he has only ever lost two matches at Roland Garros in his life.  Meanwhile, the ladies trophy needed fixing...it had Sue Barker down as an Aussie.  The mistake was not picked up until Saturday - 43 years later!

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There are two theories to arguing with women...neither of them work (and I should know)!

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