Kempton, Warwick Runners

There are five meetings taking place this afternoon and the good news is that Wetherby have cancelled their early morning inspection meaning that all fixtures will go ahead as planned.  There are jumps cards from Warwick, Kempton and Wetherby while there are all-weather flat meetings from Lingfield and Wolverhampton.  Stable jockey Tom Scudamore travels to Warwick today where he has three good rides for the stable - the best of them would appear to be in the Listed novices' chase at 1.50pm where he rides last season's Albert Bartlett third Champers On Ice (pictured above) at 1.50pm.  He was the best of these over timber and demonstrated his wellbeing with a facile success over the larger obstacles at Uttoxeter last time.  Tom also rides Saint John Henry in the Pertemps Qualifier at 2.25pm - he was a course and distance winner last time and a repeat of that effort would see him go well despite a 7lbs higher mark.  Doctor Harper runs in the Classic handicap chase at 3.35pm - it is a really competitive contest over 3m5f and after being narrowly beaten at Cheltenham last time it would be great if he could go one better, although he too has a higher mark to contend with.  All three of our Warwick runners look to have decent chances at fair prices.

Meanwhile, we look to have prospects at Kempton too with Poker Play a short price to get the ball rolling for us in the juvenile hurdle at 12.20pm.  He had some very useful form in France and is a nice mount for conditional jockey David Noonan.

I would love to know the rationale behind the closing of Kempton racecourse.  How on earth can closing any sports facility be good for the long term health of the sport concerned?  It has happened in greyhound racing and I don't want to see it happening with the horses too.  You don't hear of lots of planned developments for new jumps tracks and this sets a dangerous precedent.

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I see that Diego Costa could costa mint to play in China.  The Chelsea striker has been offered a £30 million per year deal - he has been axed today for the game against Leicester.  It is a sad state of affairs that today's players have no loyalty to their club - it is all about the cash, but how much does one person need?  Anyway, as I am not on £30 million a year I will be having a little wager on Stoke at 21/10, Watford at 6/4 and West Ham at 29/20.  Talking of West Ham, they are another side who might fare better when they have players who actually want to play for them!

Ronnie O'Sullivan has hinted that he could move into politics and could even become an MP.  The form world champion has said that 'some things are just not right, there is an imbalance'.  I think most of us know where the unbalance is!

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Thought for the day...I would go to the gym more often but I can never find a parking space near the front door.  Have a nice weekend...

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