Haldon Gold Cup Day

There are four fixtures this afternoon with three flat cards from Redcar, Southwell and Wolverhampton and a very good jumps card from Exeter which features their highlight of the season, The Haldon Gold Cup.  The big race has just six runners which is a little disappointing considering the prize money on offer but they have won 51 races between them so there is no shortage of quality.  It should certainly make for interesting viewing.  The stable has no runners this afternoon after Champers On Ice was taken out of the opening novices' hurdle.

Both of our runners performed creditably yesterday with Low Key finishing third in the Pertemps Qualifier just behind Silviniaco Conti - he looks like he will be suited by more of a test.  Meanwhile, Houston Dynimo returned to form with an excellent performance to finish 1 1/2 lengths second in the handicap chase under David Noonan.  But for a slow leap at the last he could have gone even closer.  I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him turn out again sooner rather than later.  Our runners are still hitting the crossbar - hopefully one will be able to hit the back of the net.

I thought that commentator Stewart Machin was in excellent form at Ludlow yesterday when he said, "If anyone is near a horse on the back straight please give me a ring to find out what's going on!"  I didn't think there were any houses on the back straight at Ludlow...it was exceptionally foggy though!

There was a fascinating end to the Melbourne Cup in Australia this morning with outsider Prince Of Penzance claiming a shock 100/1 victory under Michelle Payne - the first woman ever to win the race.  She beat the Willie Mullins trained Max Dynamite and Frankie Dettori into second while Ascot Gold Cup winner Trip To Paris finished fourth for Ed Dunlop.  There were a couple of sad footnotes to the race - Frankie Dettori was banned for a month and fined AUS$20,000 while grand old campaigner Red Cadeaux was pulled up after sustaining an injury.  He will most likely never race again - let's just hope he makes a sufficient recovery that he has a good quality of life in retirement...goodness knows he deserves it!  Full result:

1st  Prince Of Penzance (Michelle Payne)  100/1
2nd  Max Dynamite  12/1
3rd  Criterion  18/1
4th  Trip To Paris  5/1

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Frenchman Remi Garde look to have an impossible job at Aston Villa - they were beaten 3-1 at Spurs last night.  The new manager is already looking glum in the stands and the players didn't really look up for the fight.  Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho has been given a stadium ban and one of the players has gone on record as saying he would rather lose as Mourinho is his manager.  No matter what you think of your manager, you cannot say that and he should be banned or thrown out too!  Mourinho has problems with an ageing team and did well to win the Premiership last season.

There is some Champions League action tonight and Manchester United look worth a bet at 8/13 and I will be doubling them up with Benfica at 3/5.

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Finally, if you missed it yesterday below is another opportunity to see Kieron Edgar's video interview with Mike Vince where he gives his horse to follow for the season ahead.  Meanwhile, over on David's blog we have an interview with Tom Scu...enjoy!

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