Whitley A Winner!

There was a nice surprise for the stable at Exeter yesterday afternoon when Whitley Neill bolted up under Tom Scudamore in the 2m2½f maiden hurdle at odds of 20/1.  I love the old phrase about fools and horses.  Does the application of tongue-tie make that much of a difference?  In this case, clearly it does!  Or could it be the switch to hurdles?  Either way, it was an impressive performance and he certainly looks useful.  On this evidence it looks as though he will be winning again, let's hope so.

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon with flat cards from Epsom, Catterick and Lingfield, while there are jumps cards from Perth and a little closer to home at Taunton.  David has one runner today; River Dun who contests the mares' handicap hurdle at 7.10pm at Taunton at 7.10pm.  She has bits and pieces of form that give her reasonable claims, although she is still a maiden after sixteen starts.  Mr Rex Dingle takes the ride and claims a handy 7lbs off her back.

Over in Ireland it is day two of the Punchestown Festival and Willie Mullins has the more firepower this afternoon with 23 runners compared to Gordon Elliott's 16.  Mullins reduced the gap a little yesterday despite the carnage in the Champion Novices' Chase when Al Boum Photo ran out at the last with the race at his mercy, leaving an Elliott 1-2-3.  How costly could that be at the end of the week?  Anyway, there is another £680,000 up for grabs today and it could still be very close.

I had to laugh when I heard Simon Crisford's question, "When did they shut the car park across the road?"  Well Simon, the car park at Yarmouth was shut down 15 years ago!  He clearly isn't a regular visitor.

*****

What a great result for Liverpool last night as they beat Roma 5-2 at Anfield in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.  I wonder if they are going to be able to hold on to Mo Salah who scored two goals and made two more.  It is a shame that they gave two goals away, but it looks as though they have one foot in the final.  It is just a shame there was trouble with both sets of supporters.

John Terry gave his old pal David Luiz a fright by turning up on his birthday as the Honey Monster.  I thought John looked more scary out of the costume!  There was good news for Aston Villa when Terry confirmed that he will be staying with Villa for another season.

*****

Science has revealed that women have cleaner minds them men...because they change them more often!  Keep smiling...

Tweet