3 Haydock Runners

It is a bumper day of action with no less than six meetings taking place - three on the flat at Bath, Kempton and Nottingham and a jumps card at Carlisle, Haydock and Newton Abbot.  Tom Scu heads north to Haydock in search of those elusive two winners that will give him his maiden century.  He rides Shotavodka, Heath Hunter and Vif Argent for the stable and thile they have chances, they are very competitive looking races.  Shotavodka (pictured above) competes in the £50,000 handicap and unsurprisingly, it is well contested.  I think the faster ground will suit him and his form with Holywell from earlier in the season reads well now.  It is owner Jane Gerard-Pearse's birthday too, so let's hope that she is celebrating a birthday winner.  There is a meeting at Newton Abbot as well, but very unusually there are no runners from Pond House at the Devon track.

It will be interesting to see what the ground is like at Bath this afternoon.  There is no watering system in place there and if the good weather continues I can see it getting pretty quick.  Veteran flat jockey Jimmy Fortune looks to have a good book of rides at the meeting.

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There are some very important football matches taking place this afternoon.  Chelsea have to beat bottom of the table Sunderland to keep them in touch in the race for the Premiership, while my team West Ham take on the most improved side in the league, Crystal Palace.  As far as I'm concerned Palace's manager Tony Pulis should be named manager of the year for what he has achieved there.  I see that Cardiff are trying to have three points taken away from Palace - talk about sour grapes!

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Former world number one golfer Lee Westwood is playing some unbelievable golf in the Malaysian Open.  For such a good tee to green player it seems that his putting let's him down in the major tournaments.  Could he be the best player never to win a major?

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Apparently there is tension building in the Mercedes Formula One garage - it is hardly surprising considering that team mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg seem to be the only possible winners of this season's drivers' championship (even at this early stage).  Rumour has it that clear the air talks have taken place since their on track tussle at the last race but that is not the case according to Hamilton when interviewed on Sky Sports...and by the tone of his voice there isn't going to be either!  Things could get tasty...

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