Happy Birthday To Me!

There is a busy day ahead even though Huntingdon have abandoned their meeting following an early morning inspection.  There are still four fixtures taking place with Doncaster (also inspecting) will be joined by a further jumps fixture from Taunton while there are all-weather flat cards from Lingfield and Doncaster.  David has six runners at Taunton.  More importantly, did I mention that it is my birthday today?  As you can see from the photograph above, I am still cutting a dash in the fashion stakes - not bad for a 72 year old, eh?!

Anyway, back to the runners and David runs Celestial Path, Vincent's Forever, Arkadios, Ramses de Teillee, Red Square Revival and Sweettoothtommy at Taunton.  Celestial Path contests the 1.15pm race and the bookies make him favourite for the first division of the novices' hurdle.  He has only had one start to date over timber when pulling up in the Tolworth Hurdle - he is favourite on the back of his good flat form and should find this a good deal easier.  Getting the trip looks to be the biggest concern.  David runs another useful ex-flat horse in the same race; Vincent's Forever is more stoutly bred and is not without a chance.

We have three runners in the second division at 1.45pm; Arkadios, Ramses de Teillee and Red Square Revival.  Former Irish point-to-point winner Ramses de Teillee looked a nice prospect when finishing a close fourth in a competitive looking race at the track last time out - he should be sharper for the experience and should go well once again.  Arkadios was a winner on the level in France but would need to improve on what he has shown thus far over timber, while Worcester bumper winner Red Square Revival also needs to improve to figure.

Our final runner, Sweettoothtommy contests the staying handicap chase at 2.15pm - he has shown consistent form of late and has fair claims once again in the hands of Tom Scudamore.  It's a shame that Huntingdon is off as David was set to have three more runners there, hopefully there is a winner among his Taunton raiders!

*****

Manchester United had a close shave last night after losing the second leg of the FLC semi-final 2-1 to Hull.  They scraped through 3-2 on aggregate having won the first leg 2-0.  They will now face Southampton in the final and they will have to play better than they did last night to win.

England actually managed to win a cricket match against India yesterday, mind you it was only over 20 overs.

Onto tennis and the Williams' sisters play each other in the final of the Australian Open tennis.  It is the first Grand Slam final Venus has reached in eight years so it should certainly make for interesting viewing.  I don't suppose that Serena will be going easy on her as she is seeking a record 23rd victory in the modern era.  Are they that much better than everyone else or are the rest not very good?  A bit of both I suspect.

*****

If I had a pound for every time I leave something unfinished...

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