Weekend Jottings!

Today just for a change we have a bit of balance to a Sunday fixture list - there is a flat card from Brighton and a jumps meeting from Worcester.  Navanman, who was due to make his debut for the stable is now a non-runner in the bumper at Worcester.  The bumpers always used to be the last race on the cards - I don't know why they changed it, the only reason I can think of is to get more racegoers to watch them rather than shoot off before the last race.  As usual A P McCoy looks to have a strong book of rides, in fact he has six rides for six different trainers - it is always good to be in demand!

I have often wondered why some of the Irish trainers bother coming across to England.  Gordon Elliott brings one over (Dancing Meadows)  for the bumper which has just £1,624 in prize money up for grabs to the winner.  Even assuming they win, there surely will not be an awful lot of change once travelling expensed have been covered...perhaps races in this country are just easier to win?

While I am having one of my regular rants about the state of prize money in this country, consider this...there is a fishing competition taking has just finished where the winner picked up £3,000!  I know that is nothing when you consider the prize money on offer in golf or tennis, or the wages paid to footballers, but it is still more than quite a lot of races.  Winner Lee Edwards hooked a 15lb12oz on the Warwickshire Avon to land the prize, pardon the pun!  I used to do quite a bit of fishing in my younger days, in fact only last week I fished off St Mary's Bay and caught loads of mackerel and pollock - they say you never lose it!

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Andy Murray is back to winning form having beaten world number 235 M Bachinger in the US Open.  The press are already saying that Murray has rediscovered his best form...I am clearly missing something, if you are ranked in the top ten in the world, surely you should take care of a player ranked 235?

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There is a great football match on this afternoon at 1.30pm.  We will learn if Tottenham Hotspur are legitimate challengers for the title this season when they take on Liverpool at White Hart Lane.  The bookies can barely seperate the two sides with Spurs a best priced 17/10 and Liverpool 9/5 (the draw is 13/5).  I thought that despite losing to Manchester City the other day, Liverpool looked quite handy.  Spurs will have to be at their best but they do have a good record at home - I could well be tempted to a little wager on Tottenham at 17/10!

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