Ramses Remarkable!

The stable enjoyed a winner at Cheltenham yesterday afternoon as great favourite Ramses de Teillee produced a typically gutsy performance to land the 3m3½f handicap chase.  He jumped extremely well and responded bravely to Tom Scudamore's urgings all the way up the straight to fend off the rallying Yala Enki, the pair well clear of the remainder.  He is a tremendously game and versatile horse and it is great to see him back in the winners' enclosure.

There were a number of other good performances over the weekend too, with Adagio confirming himself among the best juveniles on this side of Irish Sea when runner-up in the Grade 2 Triumph Hurdle Trial - not bad for a €25,000 purchase from a flat claimer!  Kepagge was not disgraced in fourth under top weight on his seasonal debut in the intermediate hurdle, whilst Astigar ran a race full of promise to finish second in the concluding bumper at Uttoxeter.  He was only beaten a head in what looks like a race that is sure to throw up plenty of winners. Those either side of him had already shown decent form in similar races, whilst there were a number of well-fancied contenders in behind.  From the family of Ramses de Teillee, Astigar certainly looks an exciting prospect.

It was a shame that Siruh du Lac got no further than the first in the Paddy Power, but the main thing is that he is okay after his unfortunate unseat.

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Leicester and Plumpton as well as all-weather flat fixtures from Wolverhampton and Kempton.  David has one runner today as Paricolor contests the selling hurdle at 12.30pm.  A dual winner over hurdles last season, he has been running creditably of late and looks to hold every chance with Fergus Gillard taking 7lbs off his back.  First time blinkers should help, although he probably wouldn't want too much more rain.

*****

I enjoyed a great day of sports in front of the television yesterday.  No, I'm not talking football or the Masters.  I was able to watch the British Touring Cars action on ITV4 from 9.20am which took me through to racing from Cheltenham on ITV, followed by the Formula One on Channel 4.  As if that weren't enough, that ended just in time for the NFL...fantastic!  Of course, the Vikes travel to Chicago tonight and I will be tuning in at stupid o'clock to watch that.  Skol!

Lewis Hamilton secured a seventh drivers' title in an exciting renewal of the Turkish Gran Prix yesterday.  Although the final result was very much the status quo, the rain certainly made it unpredictable.  Perhaps F1 should look at holding more races outside of their normal timeslots?  It was good to see Vettel back on the podium after his difficult season in which his treatment by Ferrari has been pretty shoddy.  Anyway, hats off to Lewis Hamilton on a remarkable achievement.

World number one golfer Dustin Johnson was the epitome of cool as he finished  a five shot winner of the Masters yesterday, posting a score of -20.

*****

A guy is sitting at home when he hears a knock at the door. He opens the door and sees a snail on the porch. He picks up the snail and throws it as far as he can. Three years later there’s another knock on the door. He opens it and sees the same snail. The snail says: ‘What the hell was that all about?’

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