Allez Argent!

What a day for young Thomas Viel yesterday at Ffos Las.  The French amateur, who has been at Pond House on an internship was having his first ride in the UK and made it a winning debut with success aboard 16/1 chance Vif Argent (pictured above) in the 2m6f handicap hurdle.  He was on the same mark here as when winning over the larger obstacles at Wincanton last term and it would be no surprise to see him turned out again sooner rather than later.  The horse, an ex-French recruit obviously understood what his jockey was saying to him - well done Thomas!  Meanwhile, I thought that Western Diva also performed creditably when finishing fifth over at Punchestown.  The two mile trip looked to be on the sharp side (her Market Rasen success coming over 2m4f) although she showed more than enough to suggest that she should be capable of adding to that win.

It was a shame to see Quevega beaten at Punchestown last evening in her bid for a fifth World Series Hurdle.  She has been a great mare down the years and has a place in history for her remarkable six wins at the Cheltenham Festival.  It appears that she could now be off to stud and it will be fascinating to see what her offspring can do.

There are five meetings to look forward to this afternoon - three on the flat at Chepstow, Lingfield and Musselburgh, while there are also jumps fixtures at Fontwell and Bangor.  The stable has one runner; Ainsi Fideles at Fontwell in the 5.55pm race.  This former French winner has had a little break since disappointing on heavy ground but had previously been unlucky when coming to grief with a Sedgefield juvenile hurdle seemingly at his mercy.  Tom Scudamore is back from Punchestown and takes the ride, so hopefully he can put his best foot forward this evening.

There is a great race to look forward to at Punchestown today as reigning champion hurdler Jezki takes on former dual champion Hurricane Fly.  Can the ten year old get back to winning ways?  Also, it is A P McCoy versus Ruby Walsh...does it get any better than that?!

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I see that Chelsea have taken my advice and have invested in a striker.  They say that the deal for Diego Costa will cost £32 million in the summer to secure him from Atletico Madrid.  Do you remember the last striker who cost them £50 million?  He didn't score an awful lot of goals - let's hope this one works out a little better for them.

It would seem that Manchester United's stand in manager Ryan Giggs will not be the permanent boss.  It seems as though a deal is in place to take Dutch coach Louis Van Gall to Old Trafford.  I hope he doesn't upset the players.

While we are on the subject of football, it is only 43 days until England's first World Cup football match.  Every day there seems to be another player that pulls out...will Roy Hodgson actually be able to turn a team of eleven players out?!

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England cricket captain Alastair Cook has taken the painful step of sacking his boyhood hero Graham Gooch.  Surely when you are good enough to play cricket for England, you are no longer in need of a batting coach?  As far as I can tell you are either a batsman or a bowler...

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