Four Newbury Runners

What a mixed bag of weather we are having for the start of Spring!  There are flood warnings to the south of the country and blizzard warnings to the north, it is therefore unsurprising that there have been planned inspections at all four of todays meetings.  Fortunately Newbury, Sedgefield and Wolverhampton go ahead without any worries, although Doncaster, where they are supposed to be holding the first day of the flat turf season this afternoon have decided to inspect again at 9am...and to think that this time last year we were basking in temperatures of 21ºc!

The stable has four runners this afternoon at Newbury - they are Midnight Tuesday, African Broadway, Shotavodka and Prime Location and each will be partnered by stable jockey Tom Scudamore.  Shotavodka (pictured above) comes here in good form and is seeking a hat-trick, while both Midnight Tuesday and African Broadway should be nice and fresh after a short break.

Just think, should Doncaster get the go-ahead for their meeting this afternoon, the seventeen two year old's in the Brocklesby will know they have been in a race.  Most of them will not handle the ground, in fact most first time out flat horses will probably struggle to handle the prevailing conditions.  You could do far worse than to concentrate on horses that have been performing on the all-weather.

It's a funny card at Sedgefield this afternoon.  They host a very decent handicap hurdle that offers prize money in excess of £11,500 while on the same card there is another hurdle race that is worth only £1,900 - it doesn't make sense to me.

What a great performance from Victory Gunner to win at Chepstow yesterday at the age of 15.  He has now won fourteen races over a period of eleven years.  Personally, I love these veterans and it is great when they enjoy another deserved success - it is hard enough to keep them sound, nevermind still winning so great credit must go to connections.

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You have to feel sorry for poor Martin Dwyer who received a 56 day ban for his ride aboard Ice Age.  Certainly the favourite was only narrowly beaten, but anyone who has seen the head-on of his mount's wayward passage in the straight could sympathise with the rider's plight and marvel at how he actually managed to finish so close!  The Indian stewards obviously thought differently (remember they handed champion jockey Richard Hughes a 50 day ban last year).  Surely it's time for the flat boys to give India a swerve?

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England take on San Marino tonight and manager Roy Hodgson could probably send out the Torquay team to beat their opponents.  San Marino only have one professional player!