Festival Trials Day!

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with three jump meetings from Cheltenham, Doncaster and Uttoxeter as well as an all-weather flat card from Lingfield.  It is a big day for the stable as it is Trials Day at Cheltenham and the stable has several well-fancied runners in Dynaste, Easter Meteor, Un Temps Pour Tout and Dell' Arca, while Bladoun is in action over at Uttoxeter.  It is a big day for Dynaste (pictured above) who runs in the Betbright Cup at Cheltenham over 3m1 1/2f and it should be an informative contest - if he is going to win a Cheltenham Gold Cup he will need to go very close this afternoon.  He would be giving weight away all round if this were a handicap so if he gets the trip, he will take plenty of beating and looks a good price at 11/4 with Ladbrokes.

Meanwhile Un Temps Pour Tout makes his eagerly awaited reappearance in the Cleeve Hurdle.  He showed excellent form last season as a novice and hopefully he can make the step up to the top grade this afternoon.  He has always looked as though he would improve for this three mile trip and while this is a hot race, he is an exciting prospect.

David is staying up at Cheltenham after racing - hopefully he will be celebrating, although there is a more serious purpose for his prolonged stay.  It is the Brightwells Sales after racing so if you are interested in joining the ownership ranks, get in touch with the office for a no obligation chat about your requirements.  There are some good former point-to-pointers in the catalogue, the advantage of which is you know they can jump and they are ready to run and win.

It is nice to see stable amateur jockey David Noonan getting a nice outside ride this afternoon at Uttoxeter as he takes the mount aboard Marie des Anges for trainer Anthony Honeyball.  He runs under a 7lbs penalty having bolted up at Exeter five days ago and he looks sure to go close again this afternoon.

I see that it is Josh Apiafi's 40th birthday.  Josh, who 'worked' at the stable many years ago was the founder of Rewards 4 Racing and he has done well for himself - I guess that is where a good imagination gets you.  Josh is playing golf at some of the most exclusively golf courses in the world including Dubai and Pebble Beach before heading off to the Superbowl next weekend - not a bad birthday at all!

Weren't Manchester United terrible last night as they couldn't put away Cambridge United in the FA Cup.  The final score was 0-0 and there was no semblance of a fluke about the result.  Cambridge are currently 75 league places below United.  As has become almost traditional, the manager blamed the referee, the pitch and crowd.  Personally I would just have said the players were awful and he had bought a lot of overpaid rubbish!  As far as I can tell, he doesn't look any better than poor old David Moyes.  Sir Alex certainly knew the right time to get out!

My football bets for the weekend are Derby at 4/7, Southampton at 8/13, Norwich at 3/4 and Wolves at 4/6...you heard it here first!