Stratford, Taunton Runners

It's Cheltenham Eve!  But first things first, there is the small matter of racing today and amazingly it all goes ahead despite more rain over the weekend.  There are jumps cards from Plumpton, Stratford and Taunton as well as a couple of all-weather flat fixtures from Kempton and Wolverhampton.  David runs Grumpy Charley at Stratford and Yaa Salaam (pictured above), Nordic Combined and Shoot To Fame at Taunton.  The ground is going to be very testing at both meetings, especially at Taunton where the official going is given as heavy.

We will start with our sole Stratford runner, Grumpy Charley who contests the bumper at 5.35pm.  He ran well in a hot looking Cheltenham contest last time out, form that would give him every chance here.  He has had a break since, during which time he has had a wind operation.  There are a couple of potentially useful rivals in the line-up so it will be interesting to see how he fares.  Tom Scudamore takes the ride.

Back at our local track, Taunton, Yaa Salaam is the first of our runners as he goes in the maiden hurdle at 2.20pm.  A useful flat performer in Germany, he has run with credit to finish in the frame in all but one of his starts, showing some decent form in the process.  He shapes as though he may be ideally suited by a little further now, but looks to have a decent chance nonetheless.  David Noonan is in the saddle.

Nodic Combined contests the 2m handicap hurdle at 2.55pm and again, he has plenty of form that would give him every chance here, not least when he was third in a Listed contest at Ascot from a higher mark in November.  He has 12-6 to carry but young amateur jockey Fergus Gillard takes the ride for the first time and takes a very useful 7lbs off his back.  Looks sure to be thereabouts again.

Our final runner of the day is Shoot To Fame who contests the closing bumper at Taunton at 5.50pm.  She put up a good effort on her debut for the stable when third at Ascot last month.  Again, there are useful prospects in opposition so it is difficult to know what to expect, but she has place prospects under David Noonan.

The going is expected to be soft for the first day of the Festival and with a decent forecast for the remainder of the week it will be drying out rapidly.

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Chelsea demolished Everton 4-0 yesterday afternoon, whilst Manchester United beat local rivals City 2-0 at Old Trafford.  That means that United have swept City for the first time since the Sir Alex Ferguson era.  On Saturday Liverpool received a confidence boost by beating Bournemouth 2-1 to move a step closer to Premier League victory.

The Formula One season gets underway this coming weekend in Australia but organisers of the following week's race in Bahrain have already moved to stop fans from attending due to the coronavirus.  The race will run as normal but behind closed doors.

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An elderly couple are in church when the wife leans across to her husband and whispers, "I've just let out a silent fart, what should I do?".  The husband replies, "change the battery in your hearing aid".

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