Leicester Winner

There are three meetings taking place this afternoon with jumps action from Doncaster and Kelso while there is an all-weather flat card from Southwell.  David sends three runners to Doncaster today; Work, The Two Amigos and La Vaticane.  Work bids to make amends for her unlucky reverse on her hurdling debut - she was in front and going well when unseating Tom Scudamore at the penultimate hurdle at Ffos Las.  She showed plenty of ability on that occasion and I think a similar level of form would be good enough for her to get her head in front.

The Two Amigos contests the 2m3 1/2f novices' hurdle at 1.30pm and while he would need to improve on what he has shown so far, he was a winner of an Irish point-to-point and he could outrun his odds of 25/1.  La Vaticane run in the 3 mile handicap chase at 3.10pm.  Our slick jumping mare has top weight of 12-2 to carry but she is a well-made type who ran with plenty of credit over the National fences at Aintree last time.  Her best form would give her every chance and she is likely to be around the 6/1 mark.

David was among the winners yesterday when Rathealy (pictured above) struck in the selling hurdle at Leicester.  While it may not be the strongest form, he was conceding weight to a couple of horses who would have been giving him weight in a handicap.  Hopefully he can continue his rich vein of form.  Meanwhile, the shorter trip did not appear to benefit Father Edward although he did still pick up a bit of prize money.

Many happy returns to an old friend of mine.  Harvey Smith is 78 today - a lot of the youngsters won't remember Harvey but he was one of the very best show jumpers around.  He was a real character who was never afraid to speak his mind and knew exactly how many fingers to hold up!  I have a picture at home of myself with MCP and Harvey and it says '3 Old Geezers'!  Happy birthday Harvey.

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I am enjoying the darts from the Ally Pally and I have to say that Peter Wright is playing really well.  He could go quite a long way into the tournament if he can maintain this form.  Better still, his hair-do's just keep getting more and more outlandish!

*****

My dog used to chase people on a bicycle a lot.  In fact, it became such a problem in the end I had to take his bike away!  Have a nice day...

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