Weekend Jottings

There are just two meetings taking place this afternoon with jumping action from Fontwell and Southwell. David has one runner today as Saint John Henry contests the three mile handicap hurdle at Southwell at 4.10pm. It is a £10,000 contest so although there is not a big field, they are quite a competitive bunch. Saint John Henry is already a winner this term, although he remains 7lbs higher than that mark. Winning jockey David Noonan is in the saddle again today and he takes a handy 3lbs off his back. Meanwhile, there is some very good prize money up for grabs at Fontwell with £80,000 in prize money up for grabs and the highlight of the card is the National Spirit Hurdle. Well done to Fontwell on a job well done...it is good to see some of the smaller tracks putting on prizes like this, although just look at Naas where the least valuable race is worth £13,500 and that is for the bumper. It makes you wonder why the Irish trainers bother to come over!

Storm Dorris certainly took it's toll earlier in the week. Commentator Mike Cattermole had a close escape when the glass in his box at Chelmsford shattered, narrowly missing the race caller. There was a close call at Donald McCain's stables too when a tree was blown down, crashing through the roof of a barn where he had several horses stabled. Fortunately nobody human or equine was injured in the incident.

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Talking of wind, I see that former Aussie skipper had a go at Yorkshire's Matt Renshaw who had to leave the pitch with a dodgy stomach...mind you, he did score 68 runs.

I see the proposed fight between Amir Khan and Manny Pacquiao is on...provided the fight backers can stump up £31 million to stage the bout. Khan is now 30 years old and Pacquiao is 38...I am not sure I would want to be paying that much money to bring these two together. If Pacquiao can catch Khan on the chin it will all be over quite quickly.

There is only one big football match taking place this afternoon with Tottenham Hotspur taking on Stoke at 1.30pm. Spurs are 4/11 chances, although I am not sure I would want to be backing them at that price after their poor performance against Gent in Europe earlier in the week. There is a local derby as Norwich take on Ipswich at midday - Norwich are 5/7 chances and look worth a bet...I am not sure if head lad Oliver Defew (a lifelong Canaries fan) will be pleased to hear that or not.

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My favourite composer is Handel who later teamed up with Hinge and Bracket to form The Doors!

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