Martabot Our Exeter Runner

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Exeter and Newcastle as well as an all-weather flat fixture from Southwell.  We run Martabot in the 4.50pm race at Exeter.  Our six year old carries 11-12 in this 2m1f handicap hurdle for conditional jockeys and Harry Reed takes 3lbs off his back.  Martabot was in the process of running a nice race when slipping on the bend last time at Lingfield so hopefully he can build on that promise.  Meanwhile stable jockey Tom Scudamore travels all the way up to Newcastle for a couple of rides including his brother's Two Smoking Barrels who looks to have a good chance in the 3.40pm race.

There was another farcical three runner race at Southwell yesterday that quickly turned into a two runner race when Radsoc de Sivola planted his feet and refused to race.  That left the runner-up free to jump around at his leisure and pick up £1,700 - not a bad day's work and certainly nice if you can find races like these.  Not much fun for the paying public though and I still think that races such as these that do not attract any interest should be cancelled -  having said that, the whole card failed to attract much interest with seven runners the largest field on show.

I see the winner of the claimer at Wolverhampton, Lacan was picked up for £12,000 yesterday.  I keep saying that the courses should hold more claimers and sellers and it would appear that at least somebody agrees with me!

All of my big punting mates keep telling me that the best bet of the Cheltenham Festival is Cantlow.  You can still get 11/4 with Ladbrokes and when I spoke with Sir Anthony McCoy about his prospects last week he didn't put me off.

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I hate to say it but Chelsea beat West Ham fair and square last night - they looked so much sharper and quicker on the ball.  I can't see Chelsea losing too many games - they have a solid defence and the Premiership looks to be theirs to lose.  Arsenal play Bayern Munich tonight in the return leg of their Champions League match and are facing a 5-1 defecit.  Bayern Munich are 1/1500 to qualify!

Meanwhile, Ibrahimovic and Mings are set to miss a few matches.  The television cameras showed that both players were out of order and deserve their bans.  Replay technology clearly works well after the event, so why not incorporate it into match play?

I was watching the HSBC Womens Gold Championship and saw Inbee Park shoot a final round of 64 to clinch a one shot victory.  What amazes me is just how far these ladies are able to hit the ball nowadays...I must be doing something wrong!

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While I was in the bookies last week one of my old mates came in wearing a neck brace.  He is doing much better now, indeed he has never looked back!

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