Story At Kempton

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Ludlow, Musselburgh and Kempton as well as an all-weather flat card from Chelmsford City.  David has one runner this afternoon as Story Of Friends (pictured above) runs in the 2m conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle at Kempton at 3.40pm.  He makes his handicap debut from a mark of 118 which does not seem unreasonable and the form of his last start has been subsequently well advertised with the winner obliging again.  He was the winner of a bumper and a novices' hurdle earlier in the season and whilst he has also won an Irish point-to-point over three miles, he is not short of pace.  Jonjo O'Neill Jr is a positive booking in the saddle and he looks sure to go well.

Umbrigado finished a creditable fifth on his seasonal reappearance in the valuable stayers' handicap hurdle at Haydock on Saturday, beaten only 6½ lengths under his big weight.  He looks as though a slightly shorter trip may suit him.  The same comment could apply to Know The Score.  He seemed to travel nicely in the 3m4f handicap chase but shaped as though he did not get home.  There will be other days for him.

Hands up, I couldn't have been much further out on Saturday when siding with Altior and Bristol de Mai.  They were beaten by Cyrname and Lostintranslation respectively and there was no semblance of a fluke about either result.  They both look like the real deal.  The two winners are likely to meet in the King George on Boxing Day and Altior could also run there.  Mind you, with two Champion Chases already under his belt, I am not sure why connections would want to face Cyrname again over further.

I see that Donnacha O'Brien has decided to quit the saddle at the age of 21 after landing his second flat jockeys' championship.  He plans on pursuing a training career, much like his brother Joseph.  They were both tall lads to be flat jockeys and the regular wasting to do the weight has to have been a consideration in the decision.

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It all fell apart for England's cricketers in their first test match against New Zealand, the visitors falling to an innings defeat.  After a promising start, England couldn't bowl out the Kiwis (who declared on 615) and were then skittled out for less than 200 in the second innings.  They are going to need to improve massively if they are to square the two match series.

There is growing pressure on a number of Premiership managers, particularly Marco Silva at Everton after they lost to Norwich at the weekend and with a tough schedule ahead, things are not going to get any easier for him.  Unai Emery is also feeling the pinch at Arsenal as they sit in eighth place and the fans calling for action.

Aston Villa take on Newcastle tonight with coverage on Sky Sports.

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I've just started a band called 999 Megabytes, we haven't had a gig yet!

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