Charlie Hall Cracker!

It is a big day for racing with five meetings taking place with flat action from Newmarket and Wolverhampton as well as three good jumps fixtures from Ascot, Ayr and Wetherby.  The stable runs Purple 'N Gold and Unanimité at Ascot as well as Ballynagour and Dynaste at Wetherby.  Purple 'N Gold runs in the Listed handicap chase and leading amateur jockey David Noonan is in the saddle and claims a handy 7lbs off his back.  He never seemed to be going last time at Cheltenham and is clearly better than that - this is a £60,000 contest however so it is clearly a very tough assignment for him.  Daryl Jacob is aboard Unanimité and he has the latent ability to go well in the Listed handicap hurdle.

The race of the day is undoubtedly the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby and the stable runs stars Dynaste (pictured above) and Ballynagour.  There are some excellent horses in opposition including Many Clouds, Menorah and Cue Card, it could almost be a Cheltenham Festival race although with £100,000 up for grabs it is hardly surprising.  I saw Dynaste and Ballynagour work earlier in the week and they both looked well.  I must say that the race Dynaste had in France looks to have sharpened him up considerably.  Both of our runners receive weight from the rest of the field (with the exception of Cue Card) and if I had to put my neck on the block (and a few people would like me to!) I would just favour Dynaste.

Lady Of Longstone was disappointing in her hat-trick bid at Uttoxeter yesterday but unfortunately heavy overnight rain had got into the ground and it just didn't suit her.  I am sure there will be other days for her, but it will have to be when the going is much faster.

*****

There should be a fascinating football match between Chelsea and Liverpool this afternoon at 12.45pm.  I wonder what Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho will get up to today?!  You never know, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he had a go at the refs, medics, linesmen or maybe somebody in the crowd!  He could even get the yankee by doing all four!  Liverpool have drawn Chelsea at just the right time and could be worth an interest at odds of 14/5.  Meanwhile Manchester United travel to Crystal Palace and are odds against at 11/10.  I will have a little 'away' treble on those two teams along with Stoke who are 2/1 to win at Newcastle...you heard it here first!

*****

I see that former Formula One world champion Nigel Mansell says that technology has become more important to drivers than skill and courage - he says that in his day the difference came down to how the driver could manage the car and it was skill that overcame any problem.  My F1 mate tells me that is a little ironic as the year Mansell won the world championship, his car was sporting a revolutionary 'active' suspension that no other team had and did most of the hard work for him!  I have to agree with the sentiment that technology is ruining the sport.

*****

Why can't your nose be twelve inches long?  Because it would be a foot!  Have a nice weekend...

Tweet