Wetherby Winner

The long journey was made worthwhile when the stable enjoyed a nice winner at Wetherby as Umbrigado (pictured above) ran out the ready winner of the 1m7f handicap chase yesterday afternoon.  Jumping well on the whole, he tracked the leaders into the straight and took command at the third last and stayed on resolutely to win by 2½ lengths under Tom Scudamore.  The strong pace certainly helped on this drop back in trip as he posted a good performance under top-weight to win from a mark of 139 on just his third outing over fences.  Still lightly raced, he can progress further and is an exciting chaser for the yard.

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Leicester, Sandown and Fontwell and an all-weather flat fixture from Chelmsford City.  David has two runners today; Eamon An Cnoic, who runs in the 1.20pm race at Sandown and Gabrielle du Seuil who contests the 3.58pm at Fontwell.

Eamon An Cnoic runs in the 2m conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle following a good performance last time when runner-up over 2m3½f at Chepstow.  He competes from the same mark of 117 which his 10lbs lower than his current chase mark.  He shouldn't mind the testing ground and the drop back to 2m could also prove beneficial.  Fergus Gillard takes 3lbs off his back and he looks to have a good chance, especially with the forecast favourite a non-runner.

Gabrielle du Seuil contests the 2m3f handicap hurdle and it looks a wide open affair with sixteen runners in the line-up.  She had some decent placed form in France but would need to improve on her two efforts on these shores to figure.  She is lower in the weights and this step-up in trip could help.  David Noonan takes the ride.

*****

Manchester City once again looked the class of the Premiership as they dismantled Everton 3-1 away from home last night to restore their 10 point lead at the top of the Premiership.

Naomi Osaka knocked Serena Williams out of the Australian Open tennis yesterday with an impressive performance to win her 20th consecutive match and book her place in the final against Jennifer Brady.  Meanwhile in the men's' tournament, Rafa Nadal was beaten in a thrilling five set match by Stefanos Tsitsipas who came from two sets down to win.

The Welsh Open snooker started at Celtic Manor on Monday and there have been few shocks to date.  Yesterday Ronnie O'Sullivan didn't have to come out of second gear to beat old friend Jimmy White 4-0 in the second round.  Whilst it is great to see Jimmy still enjoying the competition, his best days on the table are long behind him.

*****

Janet Street Porter walks into a bar and asks the barman "Can I get a large aperitif?"  Barman says, "I doubt it"

Tweet