A Stroke Of Luck!

There was a great (if somewhat fortunate!) win for the stable yesterday as Airton landed the 2m7½f handicap hurdle at Uttoxeter in bizarre circumstances.  He travelled nicely through the race under Fergus Gillard until getting a little outpaced in the straight.  He was staying on again in a close fifth when the leader took a crashing fall at the last, interfering with the eventual fourth.  Fortunately Airton was wide of all the trouble and keeping on well up the stands' side, he grabbed a narrow victory close home.  Sure, it was a little lucky, but they all count and this was a first win for young Fergus Gillard since turning conditional so very well done to him.  It was great too for the David Pipe Racing Club and you can be a part of the fun from only £100 a year!  Go to the David Pipe Racing Club page on the website for further details.

Mrs Miggins ran okay in the staying handicap chase but was always on the back foot after a few early errors.  She didn't jump with the fluency she showed when bolting up at Southwell and while she was higher in the weights in a stronger race, she is better than she showed here.

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with flat fixtures from Haydock, Newmarket, Ripon and Chelmsford, whilst over the jumps there is a meeting at Market Rasen.  Newmarket host a cracking card which features a pair of Group One contests for juveniles, the Cheveley Park for fillies and the Middle Park for colts.  The results could well see implications to next season's classic markets.

The Cambridgeshire handicap also takes place at Newmarket this afternoon and it is a 29 runner cavalry charge that will certainly prove challenging for the handicapper.  William Haggas' progressive three year old Ilaraab comes here on a roll and has sneaked in towards the bottom of the weights.  He only just does enough to win but that means he could still be ahead of the handicapper and looks to have a good chance under Cieren Fallon.

*****

There are four Premier League matches taking place this afternoon with the pick, dare I say it, Crystal Palace versus Everton!  They have both won their first two matches, although something has to give today.

The quarter-finals of the European Masters snooker takes place this afternoon and there looks to be a couple of interesting matches there, notably between world number one Judd Trump and World Championship runner-up Kyren Wilson.  Former World Champions Neil Robertson and Sean Murphy should also produce a good game.

The Russian Grand Prix takes place this weekend and qualifying will be this afternoon.  There was an eventful practice session yesterday which featured a few crashes and a scruffy session from the Mercedes drivers with Hamilton only 19th fastest.  Expect that to be remedied by this afternoon though, with the Mercedes still easily the class of the field with a clean lap.

*****

Did you hear about the chameleon who couldn't change colour?  He had a reptile dysfunction!

Tweet