Runners At Three Meetings

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon at Ludlow and Doncaster over the sticks as well as two fixtures on the all-weather at Kempton and Lingfield.  The stable has runners at three of those meetings - The Pier (pictured above, ridden by Michael Heard) at Ludlow, Storm Lantern (Sam Waley-Cohen) at Doncaster and Purple 'N Gold (Jim Crowley) on the level at Kempton.  Storm Lantern has his second start this afternoon - he finished fourth on heavy ground at Exeter on his racecourse debut and can only improve for the experience.  Off The Wall, an intended runner at Ludlow, does not go.

I cannot believe that legend of the turf Barney Curley is going to give up training and betting.  I can understand his reasons for giving up the training of the horses but gambling - no way!  Having the bookmakers over has always been in his blood...he is another great character that racing is losing.  I used to enjoy watching Barney stalk around the ring, walking past row upon row of wary bookmaker.  I am sure that a Barney book would be a best seller...if he were to tell all of his stories.

What about trainer Martin Keighley producing the first and second home in the staying handicap hurdle at Chepstow yesterday?  A good performance but nothing extraordinary, however I did smile when I realised that his wife owned the runner-up...I bet he is right in the dog house!

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There was a great win for Bradford as they beat Aston Villa 3-1 in the first leg of their Capital One cup match yesterday.  The Bradford goalkeeper was the star of the show, although I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Villa turn it around in the return leg.

While we are on the subject of football, did anyone see the suit that Lionel Messi had on to collect his World Footballer of the Year award?  It was a spotted jacket and bow tie!  You would certainly need some bottle to wear that outfit, mind you, he did score 91 goals in 2012 so he can pretty much do whatever he likes.  However, I would say that the suit would be better suited to Lionel Blair!