Weekend Jottings!

There are just two meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Huntingdon and Sedgefield.  David does not have any runners today but stable jockey Tom Scudamore makes the long journey north to ride at Sedgefield and he appears to have picked up some nice mounts.  Meanwhile, there is an excellent card over in Ireland at Leopardstown - it looks like a day of for Gordon Elliott as he only has two runners...I wonder what he will do with himself for the remainder of the meeting?!

Jockey Gavin Sheehan was the subject of plenty of abuse from racegoers at Ffos Las when falling off a well-backed favourite after the last earlier this week with the race seemingly at his mercy.  I can understand the punters frustration but the horse was running about a bit and he simply lost his balance.  I would like to see some of the critics jump off a horse that is galloping at top speed...you would need to be pretty brave (or very stupid!) to do it on purpose!  During my esteemed riding career I fell off one that was hardly moving, breaking my wrist in the process.  I haven't sat on a horse since and would even give a rocking horse a pretty wide birth!

The weather forecast for the start of the Cheltenham Festival is looking a bit iffy with frost likely.  A lot can happen in 10 days so let's hope that the experts are wrong.  It is that time of the year when the leading jockeys will be looking very carefully at their mounts in the lead-up to the Festival and steering well clear of horses with too many 'F's' beside their names!

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I will be tuned in to the football this afternoon as Sunderland are at home to Manchester City.  Spurs are also in action as they take on Everton.  Manchester City are long odds-on and should win, while Spurs seem to have two ways of playing and they will be missing Harry Kane - the 5/1 about Everton looks interesting.  The big match however takes place tomorrow as my beloved Hammers take on Chelsea - David is a Chelsea fan so bragging rights are at stake...I just hope Andy Carroll is fit.

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I went to the pet shop yesterday and asked the shop keeper for a gold fish.  'Aquarium?' he said, 'I don't care what star sign he is' I replied.  Keep smiling...

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