Cheltenham Looking Good

There is already some good news this morning as Cheltenham have passed their inspection this morning where the going is now officially soft.  Clerk of the course Simon Claisse will take another look tomorrow morning when holding a precautionary inspection at 7am.  I don't suppose I can blame him - there is plenty of rain forecast over the next 24 hours and rising temperatures will mean plenty of flooding throughout the country as the ice thaws.  The fact that they are optimistic is excellent - we really need a top class jumps meeting like this to take place on a Saturday.

There are no such worries this afternoon as no inspections are planned at Lingfield, Wolverhampton and Kempton - the last named is holding a 'jumpers bumper' card on the all-weather.  I reckon that some of the flat trainers must be getting a bit cheesed off by now as neither one of the flat meetings can compete with the prize money on offer at Kempton this afternoon.

Our sole flat runner Purple 'N Gold finished third under Willy Twiston-Davies at Kempton last evening.  Leading until well into the final furlong, to me he didn't look like he quite stayed the extra two furlongs.  He may appreciate a return to hold-up tactics or a drop back in trip, either way he still looks more than capable of winning again before too long.

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Why on earth do the authorities employ seventeen year old ball boys?  I always thought that it was supposed to be young school boys...anyway, the lad in question from the Swansea versus Chelsea match the other night had certainly been watching too many professional footballers in action - he had his rollover practiced to perfection!  One of the Villa players Matt Lowton was obviously taught ball boy tactics by Neil Warnock...if you are leading don't throw the ball back and waste some time!  I was quite amused to read that the ball boy in question was a son of a major shareholder in Swansea - furthermore his following on social networking website increased by 15,000% to over 80,000!  I bet not all of the posts on there are thanking him!

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I bought some velcro down the shops yesterday and couldn't believe how expensive it was.  What a rip-off!  Keep smiling...