Both Likely For Betfair Chase

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps cards from Market Rasen and Wincanton, while there are all-weather flat fixtures from Lingfield and Chelmsford City.  Although the stable has no runners this afternoon, it looks as though our jockeys are going to be kept busy nonetheless with David Noonan and Conor O'Farrell heading to Wincanton for some outside rides, while Tom Scudamore makes the journey to Market Rasen for a couple of mounts.

It looks as though David is going to be doubly represented in the Betfair Chase at Haydock at the weekend with Dynaste and Ballynagour both likely runners.  They are currently third and fourth favourites in the market and there is precious little to choose between them - it is hardly surprising that Tom Scu has yet to choose which he will ride.  The top two in the market are Silviniaco Conti and Cue Card and they will be difficult to beat although I was toying with the idea of having a little wager on Ballynagour (pictured above).

The ground was atrocious at Chepstow yesterday and that view was backed up by the stopwatch.  One of the races was 1 minute and 5 seconds slower than standard, in fact all of the races were slow on the clock.

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I was amused to see British number one tennis player Andy Murray pictured with a pair of scissors as he prepared to cut his hair short.  Mind you, it might almost have been better if he couldn't see judged by the way he played as he was swept aside by Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-1.  Let's hope Murray returns to form in time for Britain's Davis Cup match against Belgium.  I am not sure if Nadal is back showing some of his old brilliance of whether Murray was just plain awful.

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Rugby player George Porter has never been so popular on Twitter.  Apparently he is getting loads of new followers everyday by people mistakenly following him rather than Hollyoaks turned I'm A Celebrity star Jorgie Porter.  I know who I would rather see in that white bikini...sorry George, it is not you!

As my regular reader will know, I am not a fan of rugby but even so it was sad to hear of the passing of New Zealand legend Jonah Lomu at the age of just 40.  Every sport needs it's stars like Lomu and he was a big star in every sense of the word - a great shame.

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What refreshing honesty from Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal who said that he does nothing and earns a lot of money!  His comments to the press were said with tongue in cheek, although I think a lot of football managers are in the same boat - they say that many a true word is spoken in jest.  I missed my vocation in life, football management seems like a right racket to me!

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My postman is very kind - all my packages marked fragile are thrown underarm!

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