Weekend Jottings

There are two jumps cards from Huntingdon and Sedgefield taking place this afternoon and the stable has one runner this afternoon.  For 'N' Against participates in the handicap hurdle at Huntingdon and gets in with bottom weight of 10-11.  Stable jockey Tom Scudamore is in the saddle and he should run a big race.  Champion jockey A P McCoy is also at Huntingdon and while he has four mounts and while none of them look to have outstanding chances, one of the things that stands the champ out from the rest is his ability to find a winner from somewhere.  Meanwhile, I see that jockey Conor O'Farrell is making the long trip north for one ride for trainer Brian Ellison.

I see that there are an incredible 1,906 entries for the races at this year's Cheltenham Festival and more than a third of them are Irish.  Irish champion trainer Willie Mullins will have loads of runners and I was amused to hear his story, "I was watching one of my staff, leading around at the course and realised that we hadn't even been entered for the Festival!"

There will be 240,000 pints of Guinness consumed during the four days of this year's Festival, but the good news is that at least there 156 new toilets...not a lot of people know that!

I was talking with one of my nutty mates the other day and he follows all of the trends and market movers.  He told me that the likes of Sire de Grugy, Beltor, Ma Filleule, Blood Cotil and Hostile Fire have all shortened in the betting.  I tried to explain to him that it doesn't mean they are all going to win, but he wasn't having any of it!

The more I watch of the Morning Line, the less I like the program.  They spent ages dissecting the Jason Maguire ride that ruled him out of the Cheltenham Festival.  He has been banned, his appeal has failed, why on earth do we need to go over it again?  It doesn't portray a positive view of the sport whether he was hard done by or not.

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There is a great football match on today between Liverpool and Manchester City and the kick-off is at noon.  City have to bounce back from a European loss earlier in the week, while Liverpool seem to have found some form at last.  I think a lot of these teams are closely matched, so will be chancing an investment on the home team at odds of 11/5.

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If you are at a loose end this weekend, you may be inclined to do a bit of DIY - if so, you really could be better off doing it yourself.  A recent B&Q survey revealed that 1 in 3 Brits claim that hired tradesmen have botched jobs.  I guess they have been screwed!  Have a nice weekend...