2 Ascot Runners

It has been a filthy start to the day with strong winds and loads of rain.  We have only had 6mm of rain overnight which seems unbelievable given the amount of standing water around.  There is an excellent day’s racing ahead with five meetings taking place. The action on the flat comes from Newmarket and Chelmsford City, whilst there are jumps fixtures from Ascot, Ayr and Wetherby. There is a Group 3 and three Listed races at Newmarket but that looks small fry compared to the second day of the Breeders’ Cup meeting from Santa Anita where they have nine Grade 1 races! David has two runners at Ascot today with Nordic Combined and Collingwood Court (pictured above).

Nordic Combined makes his seasonal debut in the 1m7½f Listed handicap hurdle at 2.45pm. It is a valuable contest with over £34,000 on offer for the winner, so unsurprisingly it has drawn a very competitive sixteen runner field. He had some very good placed form during the early part of last season and gets in here towards the bottom of the weights on 10-4. Tom Scudamore takes the ride.

Our other runner is Collingwood Court who makes his debut for stable in the bumper at 3.55pm. He showed useful form when a winner of an Irish point-to-point on his third and final start. This looks to be a very hot race with plenty of promising types and unknown quantities in the line-up so it is hard to know exactly what to expect - he will certainly learn plenty from the experience.  Tom Scudamore is in the saddle.

Samcro looked to be back to his best with a convincing victory in the beginners chase at Down Royal yesterday.  He has already been promoted to favouritism for the JLT at the Cheltenham Festival in March and whilst talk of the Festival might be premature, you could not help but be impressed by the manner of victory.

There were no European winners in the Breeders' Cup last night with Roger Varian coming agonisingly close in the Juvenile Fillies with Daahyeh finishing a close second.  Storm The Court produced the biggest surprise of the evening when landing the Juvenile at 50/1, an even bigger shock than Aidan O'Brien failing to hit the mark.  He has a few more chances today, including Epsom Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck.

There are a couple of local birthdays today with trainer Victor Dartnall celebrating his 71st birthday, whilst former owner/trainer John Hill is 89.  John won the Chester Cup and the Hill horses were invariably popular with the local punters.  Many happy returns...

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What an exciting start to the morning with England taking on South Africa in Tokyo in the Rugby World Cup Final this morning at 9am.  I am not going to put the jinx on our boys by trying to tip the winner.  Needless to say, we will all be cheering on England!

First practice for the American Grand took place yesterday and Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fastest.  Even so, it would be no surprise to see the Ferrari's leapfrog them today in qualifying when the engine modes get turned up to full.

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A man walks into the doctor's surgery with a carrot up his nose and a parsnip in his ear.  The doctor says, "You're clearly not eating properly!"

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