Great Day Ahead

Qulinton ran a cracker at Cheltenham yesterday to finish second in the Pertemps qualifier to the 13/8 favourite Paint the Clouds. He was giving the in form winner five pounds and he certainly looks capable of winning over hurdles on this evidence.  Our other two runners Raslan and Buena Vista were towards the back of the field but I am pleased to report that all of the horses have come out of the race well and are in fine form this morning.  In the rest of yesterdays action I thought Sizing Symphony looks a fair novice hudler.  He won the first race on the card over 2m5f with a bit in hand and he obviously likes the better ground and although the trainer said he may have one more run before a winter break he could be one to follow when he returns to action in the spring.

All eyes will be on Ascot this afternoon to see if Frankel can keep his unbeaten record.  When Sir Henry Cecil says he is probably the best he has ever seen and trained you know how good he must be.  Sir Henry has trained some great champions over the years and his young jockey Tom Queally says he is the best horse he has ever sat on.  It is great for the sport to have another hero and lets just hope the superb racing action from Ascot and Cheltenham this afternoon puts the whip rule debate on the back pages tomorrow monring and we are not just talking about how many jockeys have got banned!  David has only the one runner at Cheltenham this afternoon, Frosted Grape in the 3.50pm race.  She has been slightly disappointing in her last couple of runs although her last start was on the flat at Kempton and she should appreciate the return to fences  and three miles this afternoon!  There is some competitive action this afternoon and I for one will be sat back watching it all!  I believe we have some rain forecast for next week which is very welcome news!  Unfortunately the first Taunton meeting of the season will not take place at our local track which is very disappointing but anavoidable.  The whole card as been moved to Chepstow due to the ground being too firm, with not enough rain forecest to make enough difference before October 25th.  Taunton racecourse said they would need at least 100mm of rain before the meeting to make the ground safe.  They have made the sensible early decision to move the meeting so all is not lost so well done to them for their forward thinking.  Fingers crossed we will be back racing at Taunton on their next scheduled fixture which is on 10th November.

In the cricket there was the One Day International between India and England yesterday and as my mate always tells me, an Indian does not travel very well.  The Indian team loked completely different than the one that has been playing in Engalnd all summer!  Over there on their home soil they beat England by 126 runs although you would have thought Engalnd would have got more than 174 runs as that was very disappointing!

My three football bets for today are Arsenal 1/2, Stoke 5/4 and Middlesborough at 10/11.