Six Of The Best For Fact

The stable enjoyed a winner on the flat yesterday afternoon with the amazing Main Fact (pictured above) continuing his winning streak from last jumps' season by bolting up on the level at Newbury in the apprentice jockeys' handicap.  He improved massively last season to win five consecutive races over hurdles, with his handicap mark rising to 147 and on that basis he looked well-treated on his return to the flat and he did not disappoint.  Held up in rear by Luke Catton, he made smooth headway in the straight before coming right away in the closing stages.  He has an incredible record on heavy ground and is entered again at Catterick on Tuesday and would escape a penalty for this success.  He would be sure to take some beating if turned out again.

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with flat action from Doncaster, Newbury and Chelmsford City, whilst there is a jumps card from Kelso and it is day two of Cheltenham's fixture.  David has three runners today at Cheltenham; Story Of Friends, Buster Edwards and Major Robinson.  Story Of Friends contests the 3m handicap hurdle at 3.15pm.  He has been in good form this term, winning well over 3m2f at Newton Abbot and was unlucky not to follow-up there under a penalty.  This is much more competitive and he has a higher mark to contend with, although he is towards the foot of the weights.  He is still relatively unexposed over staying trips and Fergus Gillard takes a handy 7lbs off his back and he would have each-way claims at a big price.

Buster Edwards runs in the amateur riders' handicap chase at 5.00pm.  Three times a winner over timber last season, he has made a promising start over fences, twice filling the frame and jumping well on both occasions.  He runs from the same mark as when runner-up at Fontwell last time and certainly won't mind the good ground.  Martin McIntyre is in the saddle and he is another with each-way prospects

Our final runner is Major Robinson who contests the concluding bumper at 5.35pm.  He was a winner on his only previous start in a bumper at Thurles on yielding/soft ground in March, form which has worked out reasonably well with two of those that were well beaten, narrowly missing out next time.  He goes nicely at home and would have place claims under Tom Scudamore.

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The pick of the Premiership action today is definitely Manchester United versus Chelsea.  It should be an interesting match and here's an interesting statistic that David (a renowned Chelsea fan) won't want to hear...if Chelsea lose, Frank Lampard will become the first Chelsea boss to lose his first three league games against United!  The late match is Liverpool versus Sheffield United.  The action kicks off at 8pm.

Qualifying for the Portugese Grand Prix gets underway this afternoon.  The venue returns to the F1 calendar owing to the truncated nature of the season owing to the Covid pandemic.  Bottas was fastest in practice yesterday in his Mercedes which does not bode well for the rest of the teams on the grid.

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Did you hear about the actor who fell through the floorboards?  He was just going through a stage!

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