Cheltenham Double!

What a great day for the stable at Cheltenham yesterday afternoon with a double courtesy of Duc de Beauchene and Israel Champ.  Duc de Beauchene was a decisive winner of the conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle under a well-judged ride from Jonjo O'Neill Jr (pictured above).  He stayed on strongly in the closing stages despite racing keenly early on and looks another progressive young horse for the stable.  He handled the testing conditions well, although he may prove even better suited to a stronger run race.  Israel Champ made all of the running to land the Listed bumper to close the meeting.  He clearly benefited enormously from his rules debut at Worcester and confirmed the high regard in which he is held.  A winning point-to-pointer in Ireland he will be even better over further with a set of obstacles to jump and he is obviously a very nice prospect.  I thought that Warthog ran a blinder in the BetVictor Gold Cup on Saturday, jumping really well in front in the hands of David Noonan to post a personal best in third place. 

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with a jumps card from Plumpton supported by two all-weather flat cards from Wolverhampton and Southwell.  David has one runner today as Miss Tynte contests the 2m4½f amateur riders handicap hurdle at 2.00pm.  She was a convincing winner at Worcester on her seasonal reappearance but was clobbered by the handicapper and remains 11lbs above her last winning mark.  Fergus Gillard is in the saddle and claims a handy 7lbs off her back.  He has ridden her at home and she is not without a chance despite the burden of top weight.

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England were decisive winners of their international match against Kosovo last night, running out 4-0 winners.  It is the turn of the Irish for the European Cup Qualifiers tonight as they take on Denmark on Sky Sports.  Mick McCarthy's men need a result here to automatically qualify for the latter stages of the tournament, although they may fall short with the Danes the likeliest winners.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was the winner of an eventful Brazilian Grand Prix yesterday in which Ferrari team-mates Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc collided taking both of the prancing horses out of the race.  I don't think you will be able to use the term 'mates' for much longer.  There is likely to be a frosty atmosphere at Ferrari after a season during which they have shown promise but ultimately disappointed.

Judd Trump atoned for his defeat in the final of the Champion of Champions tournament last week by winning the Northern Ireland Open last night 9-7 against Ronnie O'Sullivan.  The Rocket continues to play well, but there are a handful of young players who just seem to have his measure right now, Trump obviously being one of them.

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I used to go out with a girl called Penny...she was a copper!

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