Another Midlands National!

As if the week could not get any better, David goes and lands the Midlands National at Uttoxeter for the fourth consecutive year, this time with Goulanes ridden by Richard Johnson.  He was given a great hold-up ride and jumped brilliantly bar gettting in too close to the third last - he always looked likely to win and he looks to have a live chance in the Crabbies Grand National at Aintree next month.  I reckon this race should be renamed the Pipe Midland National following David's previous successes with Minella Four Star, Master Overseer and Big Occasion!

I thought that Legacy Gold ran a decent race when fourth in the big handicap hurdle at Kempton on Saturday.  She was only beaten a couple of lengths and was attempting to concede weight to the three that finished just ahead of her.

Today we have three meetings to look forward to - two on the level at Kempton and Wolverhampton and one jumps fixture at Southwell.  The stable has no runner this afternoon.

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What is going on with Manchester United?  They gave away three penalties yesterday as they were beaten 3-0 by Liverpool - it should have been four but the referee missed one.  The defenders look to be brain dead - if you dive in against the attackers you will always give a penalty away.  Mata and Fellaini look overpriced and are terrible signings.  United also look like they could do with replacing Rafael, Jones and Evra - luckily Vidic is leaving at the end of the season so they won't need to worry about him.  This is undoubtedly the worst United team of the last twenty years.

I was amazed that Arsenal managed to hang on for a 1-0 win at Tottenham at the weekend.  The gunners were completely outplayed by Spurs and Wenger looked justifiably delighted when the full-time whistle blew.

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On the snooker front I see that former world champion Shaun Murphy won his first ranking title in three years when he claimed the Haikou World Open yesterday - he beat Mark Selby 10-6 in the final.  Murphy has played bit of golf at my local course with former six times world champion Ray Reardon.

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