Weekend Jottings

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon and two of them are over the sticks at Worcester and Hexham while the flat card is from Pontefract. If you live in the west country you are in for a bit of a trek as your nearest venue will be Worcester, while Pontefract and Hexham are miles up country. I have been to Hexham in the past and we were made very welcome by the course officials - David managed to get beaten aboard a 1/3 chance...maybe that is why they were so nice to us?! I don't think he will thank me for bringing that one up again!

Talking of Hexham, one of my old mates Bryan 'Pop' Robson who used to play for West Ham has a newsagents in Hexham, while his wife, Maureen played table tennis for England...not a lot of people know that.

When looking at the cards for these northern meetings I tend to look for trainers who have made the long journey from the south and there are a few of those this afternoon. With the ground likely to be quite lively there are only small fields and a couple of short-priced favourites. I think I will give the punting a swerve for today.

*****

I see that British number three tennis player Dan Evans is facing a two year ban after testing positive for cocaine after a match in Barcelona in April. It is normally a four year ban but if Evans can satisfy the authorities that it was taken outside of competition with no intent to cheat he could get it reduced to two years. So they you have it, if you are not playing serious matches, you can get high as a kite! I am sure you know how I feel about drug taking by now...the players know they shouldn't be doing it so the only deterrent that is going to work is a lifetime ban from the sport. We should be setting an example for the youngsters coming through in any sport...Judge Judy!

*****

I remember being diagnosed with amnesia...that was a day to forget!

Tweet