Chepstow Winner

The stable was among the winners again courtesy of the easy success of Sexy Lot (pictured above) in the concluding 2m3½f handicap hurdle at Chepstow yesterday afternoon.  Given a cool, confident ride by David Noonan, she closed on the clear leader two out, led at the last and quickened away for a decisive success.  This was a good piece of placement by David as she was competing without a penalty for her previous Ffos Las success and was 12lbs ahead of the handicapper - it is just a shame that Lingfield was abandoned on Tuesday as she was a very short price to oblige there as well!

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Ascot, Haydock and Huntingdon, whilst on the flat there are fixtures from Lingfield and Wolverhampton.  David has two runners today at Haydock; Umbrigado and Main Fact.

Umbrigado runs in the 2m3½f handicap hurdle at 1.50pm.  A good novice hurdler a couple of seasons ago, he ran well in the three mile event on this card twelve months ago before seemingly not getting home and was only beaten 8 lengths at the Cheltenham Festival subsequently.  Fergus Gillard takes 7lbs off his back and he looks to have a decent chance with conditions to suit.

Main Fact contests the Stayers' handicap hurdle at 2.25pm.  Our remarkable seven year old comes here on a nine-timer following five wins over timber last season and another three on the flat.  He is 15lbs higher than when bolting up over 2m4f at Uttoxeter on his last hurdles start so this will obviously be much harder, but he may yet improve further.  He certainly wasn't stopping at Uttoxeter and his runs on the flat appear those of a horse laden with stamina.  This is an extremely difficult race with many in with good chances but if he gets the trip, he must go well.  Fergus Gillard has struck up a great partnership with Main Fact and takes 7lbs off his back.

Later on the card, there is a small but select field for the Betfair Chase at 3.00pm.  It features the last two winners of the race, Bristol de Mai and Lostintranslation as they take on dual King George winner, Clan des Obeaux in what looks a cracker.

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Ronnie O'Sullivan will face Ali Carter in the semi-finals of the Northern Irish Open after O'Sullivan beat Ding Junhui 5-2 last night.  Meanwhile, Judd Trump made serene progress, winning his match 5-1.  A clash in the final looks an inevitability with these two playing on a completely different level to anyone else.

The Premiership returns this afternoon and there are some intriguing matches.  None more so than Spurs versus Manchester City.  City are fresh off the back of their manager Pep Guardiola extending his contract for another two years and I bet he would love to celebrate by getting one over on Jose Mourinho!

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An old lady walked into a pet store, found a parrot and asked the owner if she could buy it. The owner said, “No way! That parrot has a potty mouth! Trust me – you do not want that parrot!”

She said, “I can teach it good manners.” 

But, when she got home the parrot let out a swear word, so she put it in the freezer for 10 seconds.

She took it out and said, “Did you learn your lesson?” to which the parrot let out another expletive, so she put it back in the freezer for 30 seconds. She took it out and asked if it had learned its lesson yet. 

The parrot said “Brrrrr…yes I learned my lesson, but, what did the chicken do?”

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