Four Worcester Runners

Today we have four meetings with flat action from Nottingham and Kempton as well as two jump fixtures from Wetherby and Worcester.  The stable has four runners at Worcester; The Bank Manager, Lady Of Longstone, Drumlee Lad and Dusk Till Dawn.  Lady Of Longstone (pictured above) ran a very good race at Newton Abbot last week finishing second from this mark of 95 under Michael Heard and he is in the plate again today.  She is set to go up by 2lbs in future handicaps so she must hold solid claims this afternoon.  Dusk Till Dawn was the impressive winner of an Irish point-to-point so this trip of 2m7f should be right up his street and a better run is expected this afternoon.

Tom Scudamore took a nasty tumble aboard Impulsive American yesterday afternoon at Huntingdon and was replaced aboard his other mount for the stable, Spending Time by Brendan Powell.  Tom does not ride again today so his mounts aboard The Bank Manager and Drumlee Lad will be taken by stable conditional jockey Kieron Edgar, while Conor O'Farrell will ride Dusk Till Dawn.

I see that a £1 million bonus has been put up for any horse that wins the Betfair Chase at Haydock, the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.  Kauto Star managed the feat in 2006 but how many Kauto Star's come along during the course of a lifetime?  Bookmakers Paddy Power have offered 20/1 about any horse completing the treble but I don't think they are exactly going to get knocked over in the rush to get on.

The New One makes his seasonal reappearance at Kempton on Sunday and he will have upwards of 24lbs in hand of his rivals.  This should cheer part-owner Gino up (so long as he wins by a distance).  Gino is certainly a hard task master!

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I watched some of the Pakistan versus England Test Match cricket yesterday and I have to say I have never seen so few people watching a match.  There were probably more spectators in my front room!  I thought the Pakistani's loved their cricket?  England dropped a load of catches in the field in what was a particularly shoddy display - the match already looks as though it is headed for a draw and I'm not sure I will be spending too much time glued to the set today.

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I was saddened to see Roger Federer lose in the first round of the Shanghai Masters tennis yesterday.  The defending champion is without a doubt the finest player I have ever seen but it could be that he is coming to the end of his career.  Let's hope that he does not start losing to players that he would have slaughtered in his prime.  One of the secrets of being a great champion is knowing when is the right time to call it a day.

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Patient:  Doctor Doctor!  I keep thinking I'm a cat!
Doctor:  How long have you thought that?
Patient:  Ever since I was a kitten!

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