One Runner At Wetherby

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon from Bath, Nottingham and Kempton, whilst there is a jumps card taking place at Wetherby.  The stable has one runner today as Martinhal (pictured above) takes in the 2m3½f novices' hurdle at 3.35pm.  A convincing winner of a bumper at Huntingdon last season, he looks like a really nice hurdling prospect.  There are plenty of promising ex-pointers in the line-up so this could prove to be quite a hot contest.  Our chap has pleased with his schooling ahead of his hurdles debut and looks to have a good chance under Tom Scudamore.

I thought that Panic Attack ran a decent first race over timber at Huntingdon yesterday afternoon.  On ground that would have been plenty quick enough for her, she jumped well on her hurdling debut and probably just bumped into a very useful rival in Vegas Blue.  She had the rest of the field well strung out behind her and will certainly have learned from the experience.  There are clearly plenty of races to be won with her, and she doesn't look as though she would be inconvenienced in the slightest by dropping back in trip.

Nobel Joshua also ran a perfectly respectable race on his debut for the stable, just missing out in a photo for third to the 3m1f handicap hurdle.  He kept on gamely all the way to the line but looked as though a more thorough test of stamina would be appreciated.  Meanwhile, over at Hereford Collingwood Court proved disappointing in the 2m6f handicap hurdle.

An exciting weekend lies ahead as Ramses de Teillee and Poker Play are France bound tomorrow morning after it was confirmed that they would both be allowed to take their chances at Auteuil.  Ramses de Teillee is due to run in the Grand Course de Haies d'Auteuil (the French Champion Hurdle) on Saturday, whilst Poker Play will contest a 2m3½f Listed handicap hurdle on Sunday.

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England take on Denmark this evening in the UEFA Nations League at Wembley.  The two teams played out a dull goalless draw last month, so let's hope that it is more interesting than that.  England currently head their group, a point ahead of Belgium and three points ahead of tonight's rivals, Denmark.

Judd Trump survived a scare in the English Open snooker to overcome a 3-1 deficit to beat world number 69 Louis Heathcote 4-3.  Things were more straight forward for Kyren Wilson and former world champion Shaun Murphy who both progressed to the second round.

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My Grandad always said, “as one door closes, another one opens”.  Lovely man, terrible cabinet maker.

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