Runners At Market Rasen

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with flat cards from Newbury and Ripon as well as a jumps fixture from Market Rasen.  David has two runners this afternoon as To Fly Free contests the juvenile hurdle at 12.30pm, whilst Paricolor (pictured above) goes in the 2m5½f novices' handicap chase at 2.50pm.  To Fly Free runs in the colours of the David Pipe Racing Club and I thought she put up a decent first effort at Cartmel last time, weakening into third in the closing stages with the ground softer than ideal.  The quicker going today should help in an open contests and she gets plenty of weight with Fergus Gillard taking an additional 7lbs off her back.

Paricolor was in the process of running a nice first race over fences when coming to grief at the third last at Cartmel.  He was still going well and looked sure to be involved in the finish.  He should be well at home on this sound surface and has schooled nicely since.  He gets a very useful 14lbs age allowance and with a clear round looks sure to go well under Tom Scudamore.

Once again the ITV cameras will be rolling over the weekend with coverage from Newbury and Ripon on ITV4.  It is great that they continue to bring the sport to people's front rooms, even if there are no feature races on.

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There are plenty of sporting events taking place this afternoon with the continuation of the snooker world championship final from Sheffield, the Spanish Grand Prix from Barcelona and the third day of the cricket between England and Pakistan.

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I was out washing the car with my son yesterday. He turned and said, "Dad why don’t you use a sponge like everyone else?!"

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