Brrrrrrrrrrrr!

As if all the rain wasn't enough to dampen the spirits, it isn't half getting cold as well!  Looking at the forecast it is only going to get chillier too - I would imagine that some of the tracks are starting to panic ahead of their next fixtures.  Today we have three meetings taking place, a jumps card from Catterick as well as two all weather flat fixtures from Southwell and Chelmsford City.  The stable has no runners this afternoon although stable jockey Tom Scudamore makes the long journey north for a couple of rides at Catterick, the best of which would appear to be Nail 'm in the 2.50pm race.  Of our runners yesterday I thought that Miss Gotaway ran a promising first race under rules to finish third and there definitely looks to be a similar contest in her, perhaps on slightly better ground while Top Wood finished fourth and looks as though he could do with dropping in the weights a bit.

Looking ahead to the Cheltenham Festival and I notice that following the entry stage for the Gold Cup earlier in the week the bookmakers are making the Irish 1/4 chances to take jumping's blue ribband back to the Emerald Isle.  Mind you, they are responsible for 18 of the 32 entries and do have 4 of the first 5 in the betting.  Speaking of which, Don Cossack runs this afternoon for the first time since his tumble in Kempton's King George on Boxing Day.  He is a 2/13 chance to resume winning ways at Thurles and will be extremely difficult to beat with a clear round.

Prize money for today's card at Meydan is a paultry £250,000 - it hardly seems worth going over there to compete for that sort of prize money...and sun!

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What a result for Sunderland last night as they beat fellow Premier League strugglers Swansea 4-2 courtesy of a hat-trick from Jermain Defoe...mind you two of Defoe's goals were miles offside and rookie referee Graham Scott had an absolute shocker of a game.

There were plenty of goals about last night as Liverpool drew 3-3 with Arsenal, Chelsea drew 2-2 with West Brom and I had better mention Stoke who beat Norwich 3-1 or Mr Reid will have the hump with me!

What about Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard being refused membership of the Hillside Golf Club in Southport because they thought he might shame their reputation?!  I could be wrong, but I always thought of the former Liverpool and England skipper as inspirational rather than a 'bad boy'.  He was nominated by two unknowns by the name of Kenny Dalgleish and Alan Hansen - he could get in my club at Churston even if I recommended him!

While we are on the subject of golf, I have had a little wager on Europe to beat Asia at 2/1 in the upcoming golf championship - you heard it here first!

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How do viking ships communicate?  By norse code!

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