Eleven runners today!

There is a cracking day of action to look forward to today with five meetings taking place, four them over the jumps, the highlight of which is the Welsh National at Chepstow.  The other meetings take place at Sandown, Newcastle and Wincanton, while there is an all-weather flat card at Lingfield.  It looks like being a busy day for the stable with no fewer than eleven runners across three meetings.  I will be particularly interested to see how Grands Crus' full brother Gevrey Chambertin gets on on his handicap debut at Wincanton.  The race takes place at 2.05pm and I guess we will know shortly after that whether a mark of 130 is reasonable or not!

David is doubly represented in the Welsh National with Master Overseer (pictured above) and Sona Sasta, both winners last time out taking their chances.  Tom Scudamore will be rushing from Wincanton to Chepstow via helicopter to take the mount aboard Master Overseer who was successful in a Grade Three contest last time out at Cheltenham.  The trip and ground will suit our ten year old who is still officially 5lbs ahead of the handicapper despite his 4lbs penalty.  Mikey Ennis gets a great opportunity aboard our other runner Sona Sasta who participates from the foot of the weights.  Mikey has been dieting hard to be able to do 9-7 for a while now and it would be fantastic if his efforts were rewarded this afternoon.

Martin had a terrific record in the race, winning it five times in the space of six years in the late 80's/early 90's with such chasing greats as Bonanza Boy (twice), Carvill's Hill and Run For Free (who led home a stable 1-2-3-4 in 1992).

Don't forget to check out the Racing Post tomorrow as it features an interview with Martin.  The quote in their advertisement today is "I used to love helping myself to Newmarket trainers oats and hay, taking it home and getting it analysed" - I know, I used to be the lookout so I could warn him if the trainers appeared!  It should certainly be an interesting and informative piece.

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There is a great third round of the FA Cup to look forward to today.  The lowest team remaining in the Cup are Hastings and they travel all the way to Middlesborough - a journey that will take them seven hours aboard the coach.  I don't think they will have much chance with the home team being 1/10 shots!  Even so, that encapsulates the spirit of the tournament and there are often shocks, indeed Brighton against Newcastle could well produce a turn up.

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Why do we pay these experts?!  Apparently we do not need salt or sugar in our diets...I wonder how much it cost to glean that astounding piece of information?  I am diabetic so you don't need to tell me that and I could have offered that information free of charge!