No Action Down South!

With the abandonment of Ayr this afternoon due to waterlogging we are left with just Wolverhampton on the all-weather, while there are jumps cards from Sedgefield and Southwell.  It is a shame if you are a fan of racing that lives in the south of the country.  David has no runners this afternoon but Tom Scudamore has picked up an outside ride at Southwell, while David Noonan has also come in for an outside ride aboard Geegeez Geegee - I love that name!  Tom was aboard a winner yesterday when he steered Next Sensation to victory for his brother Michael, mind you he had won the 2015 Grand Annual at the Cheltenham Festival and was a stone lower than that so with a clear round he had to go close.

I see that it is sports presenter John Inverdale's 59th birthday today.  The Racing Post says that he was the part-owner of Make A Stand but that was before he won the Champion Hurdle.  In fact, he owned the horse when Martin claimed him and he rejected the offer to buy back into him when offered afterwards...I bet he is still kicking himself over that one!

Fancy taking your horse all the way up to Hamilton for a claimer, win the race and then lose the horse for £10,000 to northern based trainer Brian Ellison.  Well, that is what happened to Laura Young yesterday - without wishing to be rude, I wouldn't have thought she had that many horses to train.  Still, I am sure she knew the possible outcome when she entered the horse.

The last race at Newton Abbot yesterday was a selling hurdle.  I wonder why on earth they saved that for the last race of the day?  Apart from the fact that it is the lowest grade of race, you need as many people bidding at the subsequent auction as possible to help raise funds for the track.  Aramadyh was a decent winner for local trainer Jimmy Frost who bought the five year old mare in for just £4,000.

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My sporting heroes were Cassius Clay and Arnold Palmer and now the pair are sadly no longer with us.  I don't think we have anyone around at the moment who you could say has done so much for their sport as these two...with the possible exception of Sir A P McCoy.  Palmer, Player and Nicklaus...did it get any better than that?

I see that legendary arrowsmith Phil 'The Power' Taylor's career earnings hit £7 million after he won the Champion's League of darts.  I bet when he threw his first dart he never imagined he would become a multi-millionaire on the back of it.

I wonder how many players Spurs will rest in Russia tonight?  CSKA are 23/10 and Leicester are 13/10 to beat Porto - that's where my money will be going.

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Sometimes I google myself just to see what I have been doing!  Have a nice day...

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