Leicester Runners

There are four meetings taking place this afternoon with three jumps fixtures from Leicester, Newcastle and Ludlow as well as an all-weather flat card from Kempton.  David has a couple of runners at Leicester; Prideofthecastle and Pilgrims Bay.  Prideofthecastle is having his first start for 690 days - he had some good form before his absence, winning four times including a success on heavy ground.  He has schooled well at home as you can see from the picture above and he will be partnered by Tom Scudamore.  Pilgrims Bay won last time out at Wincanton on soft ground and was put up a whopping 11lbs for winning by a head...I think the handicapper must have got out of bed on the wrong side that morning!  He has the latent talent to go close once again but Tom Scudamore will be holding on to him for as long as possible.

We had a couple of seconds at Taunton yesterday with Heath Hunter and Cork Citizen both running well in defeat.  Heath Hunter is still 5lbs above his last winning mark - maybe he will get dropped 5lbs?  Sorry, I am getting carried away now!  Cork Citizen produced an encouraging first effort for the stable - he seemed to be in trouble from some way out but kept finding more and only just failed to overhaul the winner.  He looks like he will appreciate an even greater test of stamina and should be up to winning something similar so long as the naughty man doesn't put him up too much!

A couple of the Pond House jockeys were on the mark yesterday at Taunton as they bookended the card.  David Noonan had been enduring a bit of a cold spell until riding a winner last week so it was good to see him on the mark in the opener - he has now had 25 winners this season which is obviously a very good achievement for a young jockey.  Meanwhile Kieron Edgar won the finale aboard Join The Navy.

*****

I was watching the football last night and was astonished as Aston Villa's Jordon Ayew elbowed West Ham's Aaron Cresswell in the face.  Obviously he wasn't thinking at all and he let all of his team mates down (not that I am complaining!) as ten man Villa were beaten 2-0 by the Hammers.  Leicester keep on winning and it is good to see that striker Jamie Vardy has committed to the club with a new 3 1/2 year contract.  He scored a wonder goal as they beat Liverpool 2-0 to stay atop of the Premier League - who would have thought that with 24 games played?  Meanwhile Arsenal drew at home to Southampton and it begs the question, why did they not buy a top-class striker in the recent transfer window?

I see that unretired boxer David Haye is trying to stir things up a bit by having a go at Anthony Joshua.  Haye is clearly a bit strapped for cash and needs to fight to earn a few quid.  Give it a year and I think he will retire Haye again.

*****

Record breaker Raja Thapa, 19 was crowned with the world widest mouth after he stuffed 138 pencils in his gob in Nepal...he was then lead away!  Keep smiling...

Tweet